Ari Brown hasn’t often sought the spotlight, but his blend of bebop rigor and avant-garde daring puts him on par with the likes of Fred Anderson and Von Freeman.
Tag: Kahil El’Zabar
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Legendary percussionist Kahil El’Zabar brings the Afrocentric spiritual-jazz explorations of his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble to Evanston
Prolific musician Kahil El’Zabar has hardly gone unnoticed, but I wish every music fan knew about this living legend. The son of a drummer, El’Zabar was born Clifton Blackburn in Chicago in 1953, and raised on the city’s south side. He joined the Association of the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) at age 18, and […]
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Guitarist Dave Specter on the young stars building the future of the blues
Current musical obsessions of recording artists Dave Specter and Nicholas Tremulis and Reader associate editor Jamie Ludwig
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Drummer Kahil El’Zabar elevates groove to a transcendent plane
The leader of the Ritual Trio and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is also a teacher, a connector, and an ambassador for Afrocentric jazz.
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With his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Kahil El’Zabar explores the legacy of jazz while building toward the future
Amid Chicago’s vast pool of talent are a handful of jazz-related percussionists subject to some combination of local renown and international attention. They include Hamid Drake and Avreeayl Ra—each an integral part of the city’s most adventurous wing of astral-reaching jazz—as well as drummer Kahil El’Zabar, who’s been performing and recording since the early 70s […]
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Revisit the soulful hypnosis of the late Kelan Phil Cohran’s Artistic Heritage Ensemble
Phil Cohran recorded the Artistic Heritage Ensemble’s dazzling, multifaceted debut with some of the most important musicians in Chicago history.
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Jazz grows under Ernest Dawkins’s feet
By staying put in his hometown, this Chicago saxophonist has nurtured generations of musicians—and a south-side festival that’s now in its 16th year.
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Adolf Hitler, Charles Dickens, Tom Clancy, and the rest of this week’s screenings
New reviews and notable screenings in this week’s issue
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African Festival of the Arts 2012
George Clinton, Nona Hendryx, the Chosen Few DJs, and more at the African Festival of the Arts
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Battling the Jazzosaurus
KAHIL EL’ZABAR QUARTET WITH DAVID MURRAY BELMONT HOTEL, JULY 29 Artists express themselves–their tastes, interests, limitations–not only in the projects they choose to do, but in the projects they choose not to do. Restraint often shows good taste, or at least good judgment. Unfortunately, in today’s shriveled support system, artists are forced to look hard […]