Thu Feb 13 6 pm early show!
$16 advance/$20 door
Thunderbird Cafe, 4023 Butler St., Lawrenceville
an evening with Chicago’s progressive jazz legends leaders of the AACM
together for 40 years!
ETHNIC HERITAGE ENSEMBLE
Kahil El-Zabar – percussion & vocals
Ernest Dawkins – saxophones
Corey Wilkes – trumpet (from Art Ensemble of Chicago)
tickets on sale now at: Sound Cat (Bloomfield), Dave’s Music Mine (South Side), Caliban Books (Oakland), Acoustic Music Works (Sq Hill), and online at http://www.thunderbirdcafe.net/
For only three men, Chicago’s Ethnic heritage Ensemble brings a wealth of history, variety and versatility to the stage. Rising from the 1970s era of Chicago’s famed AACM collective, founder and percussion genius Kahil El Zabar can play just about anything with a membrane, specializing in African instruments such as shekere, kalimba and talking drums. He’s kept the beat for Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderley, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and Nina Simone.
Ernest Dawkins, founder of the New Horizons Ensemble, is best known as a saxophonist who has worked with Ramsey Lewis, Lester Bowie, Henry Threadgill, and Jerry Butler. A composer and teacher, Dawkins splits his time between the Windy City, Paris and Durban, South Africa.
Finally, trumpeter Corey Wilkes replaced the late Lester Bowie in the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and has collaborated with contemporary jazz icons Wynton Marsalis and Roy Hargrove and neo-soul artists Meshell Ndegeocello and Soulive.
Recording for such labels as Delmark, Silkheart and Leo, the EHE now stands proudly in its fourth decade as one of the longest continuously playing groups in the genre of progressive jazz.
And the newest development came this year:
BE KNOWN, a no-holds-barred documentary film about the life and work of Kahil El-Zabar has been released, directed by Dwayne Johnson-Cochran.
Facebook page for the film BE KNOWN:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1442468965971269/
Chicago Tribune review of the film: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-jazz-kahil-el-zabar-film-20140122,0,319601.column