Live at the River East Arts Center
Released 2005 |
Kahil El'Zabar -
Kalimba, Drums, Percussion
Ari Brown -
Tenor Saxophone
Yosef Ben Israel -
Bass
Billy Bang -
Violin |
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Live at the Hothouse Release 2000 |
Pharoah Sanders -
Tenor Saxophone
Kahil El'Zabar -
Drums, Percussion
Ari Brown -
Soprano and Tenor Sax, Piano
Malachi Favors -
Bass |
Previously unreleased Live recording available exclusively on I-Tunes |
Africa N'Da Blues
Released 2000 |
Pharoah Sanders -
Tenor Saxophone
Kahil El'Zabar -
Drums, Percussion
Ari Brown -
Soprano and Tenor Sax, Piano
Malachi Favors -
Bass |
Percussionist Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio has made some amazing
music that has a rootsy, if avant-garde, take on everything within the
jazz tradition--including the music's African roots. The band has
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." --Tad
Hendrickson, Amazon.com |
Conversations
Released 1999 |
Archie Shepp -
Tenor Sax, Piano on 3
Ari Brown -
Piano, Tenor Sax on 3 & 6
Malachi Favors -
Bass
Kahil El'Zabar -
Drums |
Conversations marks a relatively rare studio appearance and a
first-time collaboration with the Ritual Trio by saxophonist Archie
Shepp, a fabled instigator of the '60's avant-garde. Prior to this
album, Shepp has made only three recordings this decade and just one
under his own name. This album, a recording of unusual depth and
spiritual power, celebrates the vitality and accomplishments of bassist
Fred Hopkins who died weeks before this music was recorded and left an
important legacy. Perhaps it is that overriding concern with a
fallen warrior that accounts for the saxist's piquant invocation of
hidden spirits and faded aurae. |
Jitterbug Junction
Released 1997 |
Kahil El'Zabar -
African Drums, Drums, Thumb Piano
Ari Brown -
Tenor and Soprano Saxophone
Malachi Favors -
Bass
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Big Cliff
Released 1995 |
Kahil El'Zabar -
African Drums, Drums, Thumb Piano
Ari Brown -
Tenor Saxophone, Piano
Malachi Favors -
Bass
Billy Bang -
Violin |
Unique among the Ritual Trio's recording, Big Cliff brings together
elements of past and present, and in doing so generates some of the most
explosive music under this band's name. With the guest appearance
by Billy Bang on this album; there is a lineup that allows for two
Ritual Trios (one built around saxophone and violin, the other featuring
Ari Brown as pianist and casting the rhythm section in a more
traditional light). Recorded during the weekend of the 1994
Chicago Jazz Festival, in the most adventurous of the several club
sessions that now constitute a far-flung "alternative festival," this
performance marked the last occasion on which the late Clifton Blackburn
- dedicatee of this album and the inspiration for two of its titles -
heard the music made by his son, Kahil El'Zabar. |
Renaissance of the Resistance
Released 1994 |
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Magg Zelma Released 1985 |
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Sacred Love Released 1985 |
Kahil El'Zabar -
African Drums, Drums, Thumb Piano
Lester Bowie -
Trumpet
Malachi Favors -
Bass
Raphael Garrett -
Bass |
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