Label: Dalmark
Jazz
Percussionist Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio has made some amazing music in the 1990s. All members of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), drummer El'Zabar and first-generation AACM members saxophonist-pianist Ari Brown and bassist Malachi Favors make stunning music that has a rootsy, if avant-garde, take on everything within the jazz tradition--including the music's African roots. The three have recorded as a trio, but they are at their best when they ask a friend to join in, and Africa N'da Blues follows 1999's winning Conversations (with guest Archie Shepp) with tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders as the band's Y2K guest. With Brown on piano for most of the seven lengthy cuts, Africa has a classic quartet sound, but it's the performances that are truly landmark. Sanders sounds as robust here as he did in the 1960s, and with a trio this capable and outward-looking, his playing is the most adventurous it's been in years. El'Zabar pens most of the material, but there are also telling covers of Coltrane's "Miles Mode" and the standard "Autumn Leaves."
By Tad Hendrickson.
**
Kahil El'Zabar is one of Chicago's jazz treasures. A member of the AACM, music holds no boundaries for El'Zabar, who has not only played alongside a myriad of jazz greats, but was in the bands of Stevie Wonder, Cannonball Adderley, Dizzy Gillespie, and Nina Simone (who he also designed clothes for), as well as recording with rock bands like Sonia Dada and Poi Dog Pondering and heading up the jazz/house outfit the JUBA Collective. He was also chosen to do the arranging for the stage performances of The Lion King. This is in addition to leading his own longstanding Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and Ritual Trio.
The son of a drummer, El'Zabar took to music at an early age, and was playing with members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago by his teens. While attending college in the early '70s, El'Zabar was given the opportunity to study mime with Marcel Marceau in Paris, but instead opted to use the money to study in Ghana. He started the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble upon his return in 1973, and while the lineup has changed over time, they are still an active group. He has also released a great many albums under his own name, including a long-running relationship with Chicago's great Delmark label. Kahil El'Zabar is not just a master percussionist, either. His efforts as a musician, educator, and community leader led to his being named "Chicagoan of the year" in 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.
By Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide.
**
On Africa N'da Blues, Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio is joined by tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders -- and the group couldn't have asked for a more appropriate guest. Like drummer/percussionist El'Zabar, he is a very flexible musician who is comfortable with both inside and outside playing. Sanders' resumé includes everything from composing ethereal, gorgeous post-bop melodies to embracing the most blistering and atonal of free jazz on John Coltrane's post-1964 albums. Nothing on Africa N'da Blues could honestly be described as free jazz; this post-bop date generally favors an inside/outside approach and is more inside than outside. Most of the material, in fact, is quite melodic, this is true of "Pharoah's Song" and the title track (both written by El'Zabar), as well as performances of Coltrane's "Miles' Mode" and the standard "Autumn Leaves." Coltrane, of course, is Sanders' primary influence, and Ritual Trio members El'Zabar, Ari Brown (piano, tenor and soprano sax), and Malachi Favors (bass) are also big admirers of his work. The Coltrane who influenced this CD isn't the atonal Coltrane of 1965's Om but rather, the more accessible post-bop Coltrane of 1960-1964. Thanks to Sanders' participation, Africa N'da Blues is arguably the strongest album that
Ritual Trio recorded for Delmark in the 1990s.
By Alex Henderson, All Music Guide.
**
Kahil El'Zabar- Percussion, Drums
Ari Brown- Piano, Soprano Sax,Tenor Sax
Malachi Favors- Bass
and
Pharoah Sanders
**
01. Ka-Real [Take 2] (12:38)
02. Africanos/ Latinos (9:52)
03. Miles' Mode (7:21)
04. Autumn Leaves (11:26)
05. Africa N'Da Blues (7:34)
06. Pharoah's Song (11:42)
07. Ka-Real [Take 1] (10:45)
**
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