| | Kahil El'Zabar Spirits Entering CD Kahil El'Zabar Discography of CDs
One of Kahil El'Zabar's greatest assets is his flexibility -- the Chicago-based drummer for the Ritual Trio and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble has never been afraid to hurl himself into a variety of avant-garde jazz situations, and his sense of adventure has served him well. This rewarding CD finds El'Zabar forming a duo with the distinctive violinist Billy Bang; not surprisingly, they enjoy a strong rapport and bring out the best in one another. Embracing mostly original material, the musicians favor an inside/outside approach and provide an album that is left of center but still quite musical. The influence of the AACM, which El'Zabar has been a member of since 1969, is impossible to miss on Spirits Entering; like so many AACM-minded releases, this CD opts for space rather than density. Tracks like Bang's "The Dream Merchant" and El'Zabar's Asian-influenced "The Ituri Fantasy" aren't harsh, abrasive, or confrontational -- they're probing and introspective in a spacey sort of way. World music is a strong influence on this release; African, Asian, and Middle Eastern elements are incorporated, and two traditional ethnic instruments that El'Zabar plays in addition to the drums are the African thumb piano and the Brazilian berimbau. While Spirits Entering isn't the first album to use these instruments in an avant-garde jazz setting, El'Zabar's thumb piano and berimbau solos demonstrate that they still have a lot of possibilities as jazz instruments. Those who have enjoyed El'Zabar's work with the Ritual Trio and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble will also find a great deal to admire about Spirits Entering. ~ Alex Henderson
Percussionist & drummer Kahil El'Zabar has created an impressive body of recordings with the Ritual Trio & Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Joseph Jarman & Kalaparusha have recorded with Kahil on Delmark. Billy Bang was a member o
liner notes by Howard Mandel.
Recorded at Riverside Studio, Chicago, Illinois on May 24-25, 1998. Includes
Personnel: Kahil El'Zabar (percussion); Billy Bang (violin).
Liner Note Author: Howard Mandel.
Recording information: Riverside Studio, Chicago, IL.
Photographer: Marty Perez.
Personnel: Kahil El'Zabar (drums, thumb piano, birimbau, percussion); Billy Bang (violin).
The Wire (10/01, p.59) - "...A bearskin rub-a-dub in 3D feel-o-vision..." CMJ (8/27/01, p.15) - "...Hypnotic, soulful and unique..." Kahil El'Zabar Spirits Entering Songs Spirits Entering Review
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Purchase Spirits Entering CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Cecil Taylor Looking Ahead! CD (1958)
Spirits Entering album
$8.25 Digitally remastered by Phil De Lancie (1990, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).
LOOKING AHEAD is pianist Cecil Taylor's second studio album. It was recorded in 1958, when Taylor was already a controversial figure on the jazz scene. His first album, the brilliant JAZZ ADVANCE, was released in 1956 and introduced alto saxophonist Steve Lacy. On this recording, it is Earl Griffith (vibraphone) who makes the fourth member of a quartet that includes Taylor, Dennis Charles (drums) and Buell Neidlinger (bass).
JAZZ ADVANCE had its roots in Monk and Ellington, and Taylor strained against those influences. Here, all the compositions are his own, and his ...
| | Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio Renaissance Of The Resistance CD (1994)
Spirits Entering CD music
$12.89 In 1993, drummer Kahil El'Zabar and his Chicago-based Ritual Trio (which also includes saxman Ari Brown and bassist Malachi Favors) joined the Delmark roster with Renaissance of the Resistance, an excellent inside/outside date that contains mostly original material. This CD underscores the fact that not all avant-garde jazz is atonal free jazz; on the whole, this is quite musical and melodic. That is true of the funky "Ornette" (as in Ornette Coleman), as well the evocative title song and the haunting "Sweet Meat." Meanwhile, "Trane in Mind" recalls John Coltrane's modal period of the early to mid-1960s -- it isn't the sort of hard bop that the saxman favored in the late 1950s, nor is it the sort of blistering, atonal free jazz that he got into during the last few years of his life. Unlike the bop snobs who are content to spend their ...
| | Kahil El'Zabar Big Cliff CD (1995)
Spirits Entering music CDs
$12.89 Dogma can easily nip a jazz musician's creativity in the bud. When an improviser insists that only one style of jazz is valid, it is as frustrating as listening to someone espouse religious dogma. Like the Christian fundamentalist who refuses to believe that there is anything good about Hinduism, Judaism, or Islam; or the equally oppressive Islamic fundamentalist who wants to see all other religions outlawed. Truth be told, there is something to be learned from all the world's major religions, and similarly, there is no "correct" way to play jazz. Everything from Dixieland to free jazz to fusion has its place. Thankfully, drummer Kahil El'Zabar hasn't let musical dogma get in the way of his Ritual Trio, which has been open to a variety of possibilities. ...
| | Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio Africa N'Da Blues CD (2000)
Spirits Entering songs
$16.29 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 ...
| | Buena Vista Social Club CD (1997)
Spirits Entering album
$15.05 BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Performance.
That Ry Cooder, you've got to keep an eye on him every minute, or he jumps into another cross-cultural collaboration. In the wake of his landmark recordings TALKING TIMBUKTU with Ali Farka Toure and A MEETING BY THE RIVER with V.M. Bhatt comes BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB, essentially a supergroup of traditional Cuban musicians with the addition of international agitator Cooder. Somehow, Cooder always finds just the right space to slide his sinuous slide guitar into, so that it works in almost any context. Here, amidst the multi-layered percussion, piano and Cuban guitar rhythms, Cooder's slide simultaneously finds a home and eggs the ensemble on. The natural beauty of the Cuban ...
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