Wednesday, May 2, 2007

The Spoils of the Hunt



A few months ago I was meandering around the Internet and came upon the Zebulon Cafe Concert site. For those of you who haven't checked it out (www.zebuloncafeconcert.com), it has a really slick design and interface--definitelly one of the places on my list to check out on my next trip to New York. While I was browsing, I noticed this infectious flute track playing in the background of the site (playing in Flash?) and found myself returning ot the site the next day just so I could hear the track again. I tried to contact the Zebulon about the name of the track, but ended up getting a generic email back thanking me for visiting the site. Feeling a bit manic, I then decided to try and track down the people who designed the site (The Artbox). They were very helpful and friendly, but could only tell my that someone at the Zebulon had sent them the track a few years back for the site and that they couldn't remember the name of it. Not to be stopped (borderline compulsive now), I tried contacting the people at the Zebulon again with far better results. I finally got an email back from them with the info about this great group from Chicago (I hadn't heard of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble before) and the track info, only to find that the album in question was out of print! Thoroughly obsessed, I went on eBay and eventually found a used copy for a pretty good price. Was it all worth it? You had better believe it!

The music itself is phenomenal, but after a little research I found out why. Kahil El'Zabar, one of the founding members, was fresh from the AACM school when the group was formed. That would make a good start, right? Early on, the group also played with such notables as Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre and then just recently with Corey Wilkes (you might recognize his name as the trumpet player who stood in for Lester Bowie in the AEC after his passing). El'Zabar has also worked outside of the Ensemble with Pharoah Sanders, Billy Bang, David Murray, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors--the list goes on and on. How I hadn't heard of this group (or El'Zabar) I will never know, but they sure crossed paths with quite a few people I follow. El'Zabar feels like one of those people who you can go on and on about and still not do them justice.

The album itself has some great tracks. The thing that probably stood out the most to me after first hearing it was the amazing African rhythms that these guys knock out. It almost reminded me of certain Don Cherry projects, but this definitely has its own feel. The tracks "Jam for the Babas" (the flute track that I originally obsessed over from the Zebulon site) and "Great Black Music" are probably my favorites (funny how they cap the album), but the rest of the stuff also provides plenty of great listening. The use of the traditional African instruments also adds to the ethnic vibe, but the group still maintains a forward-thinking edge This stuff just feels so natural and fluid, and it all just pulls you right in. It grooves--you'll see!




Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
Ka-Real
2000
Silkheart
128 Rate AAC files (Equivelent to 192 rate MP3 files)

Line-up:
Joseph Bowie - Percussion, Trombone, Conga, Djembe, Photography
Ernest Dawkins - Flute, Percussion, Soprano, Sax (Alto), Sax (Tenor)
Kahil El'Zabar - Percussion, Drums, Mixing, Sanza
Atu Harold Murray - Flute, Drums

Tracks:
1. Great Black Music (El'Zabar) - 11:33
2. Sweet Meat (El'Zabar) - 5:52
3. Ka-Real (Bowie) - 7:49
4. Hang Tough (El'Zabar) - 9:42
5. Kampfumo Shuffle (Dawkins) - 9:15
6. The Christening (El'Zabar) - 7:33
7. Jam for the Babas (Murray) - 10:34


Here's some more links to related information:

http://www.kahilelzabar.com/ (El'Zabar's website)

http://www.fred.net/jbowie/ehe.html (More info about the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and FREE audio samples!)

58 comments:

Pelle said...

Just discovered your blog (through utter coincidence). This album is really really nice. Thank you so much, will have to check out your older posts.

Nuage fiché qui rêve said...

With the men involved this one surely must swing ! Thanks j.bombay

J-Bombay said...

Hey guys,

Glad you stopped by to enjoy some good tunes. Speaking of tunes, I just saw that the iTunes music store has some El' Zabar discs for sale. I would definitely recommend his two albums with the ritual trio featuring Lester Bowie. They are fantastic, and if you are a fan of the Art Ensemble of Chicago I have a feeling you will definitely love them--Malachi Favors appears on those as well. Unfortunately (fortunately?), they are in in print and very easy to find, or I would post them here. Not too sure how easy they are to find outside of the iTunes library though.

Funny how that place has some real gems--they even had that Larry Young album that was posted on Destination Out a little while back. Hit and miss I guess.

J

Anonymous said...

Ahhh,
this looks like a great album,
but all of the files are m4a. I can't play them!
Good blog though...

freejazzcat said...

Great blog - I only recently found your site and it is great to see some of this stuff out here and being appreciated.

I was very hopeful when I saw an earlier post of Hamid Drake/Mats Gustafsson and the For Don Cherry Okka pressing. Is there any chance that it will be re-upped anytime? I have seen both Mats and Hamid perform numerous times and that limited edition is much coveted (by me for sure!). Thanks and cheers!

J-Bombay said...

Ricky,

I assume you are on a PC (or you would probably already be using iTunes to play this), so I would suggest either downloading iTunes (available as a PC download on the Apple website) or checking out the following link. It appears to be able to convert AAC files (mp4) to other formats.

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/

Hopefully this helps!

J-Bombay said...

Hi FreeJazzCat,

Glad to hear that you like the stuff on the blog here--your comments and visit are much appreciated! As for your request, I hope the following link below makes your weekend just a little bit better...

http://tinyurl.com/2yqg4b

Enjoy!

freejazzcat said...

Wow, now that is the hippest thing anybody has done for me lately! Much appreciated, I am gonna snag it tonight...Cheers!

centrifuge said...

i'm really enjoying this j - it's taken me a long time to get round to it (so far behind that i gave up thinking about it) but this is really interesting, great-sounding music... khalil el'zabal, shit, i can't even remember where i DID come across him first - it will have been some project or other played on bbc r3. this is real aacm stuff, though, isn't it - as serious as your life. in mood and tempo, very unlike most of what i've been into lately, but so similar in so many respects!

centrifuge said...

oh yeah - part of the reason i like this is because it reminds me at times of african head charge :)

Pelle said...

Thanks for the Gustafsson link! I find the album really nice, maybe becuase it's dynamic and doesn't dwell in the top 1% of the intensity scale all the time.

SOTISE said...

gorgeous share ,j bombay
thanks

centrifuge said...

you've gone very quiet, j... everything ok?

Nuage fiché qui rêve said...

I was also wondering...

Anonymous said...

me too

centrifuge said...

j man, we're still wondering what became of you! that is, i am still wondering, and the site hits continue to creep upwards so apparently i'm not the only one...

hope everything is ok

centrifuge said...

so, apparently i'm the first to welcome you back... anyone would think i had nothing better to do ;-)

**welcome back, j-bombay..!**

*^"*fireworks*"^*

looking forward to hearing more in due course - thanks for your words at the other place.

J-Bombay said...

Hey Centrifuge,

Thanks man! I definitely appreciate the welcome back! I am working on a post right now, but unfortunately have been slowed up by the imminent delivery of 500 yards of soil to our property. That's a lot of dirt! I get to go be a manly-man and prep the area by chopping down some small trees, ripping down a fence and cutting stuff (--hopefully not myself...). In the meantime, thank you for being patient!

Sincerely (and sincerely thankful that the weather here has cooled off into the low 70's)
J-Bombay

Nuage fiché qui rêve said...

Dear J-Bombay,

It's good to see you back ! Now let's see this new post... I don't know this one ! The name Ketchaoua reminds me of Archie Shepp in Alger though...Panafrican Festival...

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
radenko said...

Thanks. I had the opportunity to see the EHE live couple of months ago, and it was one of the most exciting concerts i have ever seen.

I'm uploading an OOP recording of them called "hang tuff" and will post it next month on my blog.

and one more thing - can some one direct me to the dl links? I seem to have missed them...

Thanks.

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Oh, to have been a fly on this wall...

Oh, to have been a fly on this wall...
For those of you who don't know, this is a photo of Peter Brotzmann, Evan Parker and Anthony Braxton, reed gods incarnate.