Epistrophy Arts presents…Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
Wednesday February 19, 2014 8pm
at The North Door
502 Brushy St.
epistrophyarts.tumblr.com
http://www.ndvenue.com/
Austin, TX, 78702 (map)
$16 General admission. $20 door
Kahil El Zabar (Chicago) - drums, percussion, kalimba, voice
Ernest Khabeer Dawkins (Chicago) – reeds
With special guest
Hamiett Bluiett (Chicago) - baritone saxophone
(Austin, Texas) – Epistrophy Arts presents the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, a long-lived, much loved, ensemble that developed out of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians(AACM). Founded in 1965, the AACM was and remains a collective of dynamic and visionary artists formed to celebrate great Black Music, to expose and showcase their original compositions, and to create an outlet for the development and performance of their music. One dimension of this program was the training of Chicago’s youth through the AACM School of Music, and it was shortly after graduating from there in 1976 that Kahil El’Zabar founded the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble with Edward Wilkerson, Jr. to explore music that combined African-American musical styles with traditional African instrumentation and rhythms. Over the years, membership has fluctuated and included such luminaries as Light Henry Huff, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Joseph Bowie, and Fareed Haque. In 1997, Wilkerson was replaced by Ernest Khabeer Dawkins, and in 2007, Corey Wilkes joined as a full-time member rounding out the trio as it currently stands. While Wilkes is unable to make this performance, St. Louis Black Artists Group co-founder and baritone saxophonist-extraordinaire Hamiet Bluiett has been invited to join the group in performance at the North Door on Wednesday, February 19, 2014. ...
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Epistrophy Arts presents…Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
Wednesday February 19, 2014 8pm
at The North Door
502 Brushy St.
epistrophyarts.tumblr.com
http://www.ndvenue.com/
Austin, TX, 78702 (map)
$16 General admission. $20 door
Kahil El Zabar (Chicago) - drums, percussion, kalimba, voice
Ernest Khabeer Dawkins (Chicago) – reeds
With special guest
Hamiett Bluiett (Chicago) - baritone saxophone
(Austin, Texas) – Epistrophy Arts presents the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, a long-lived, much loved, ensemble that developed out of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians(AACM). Founded in 1965, the AACM was and remains a collective of dynamic and visionary artists formed to celebrate great Black Music, to expose and showcase their original compositions, and to create an outlet for the development and performance of their music. One dimension of this program was the training of Chicago’s youth through the AACM School of Music, and it was shortly after graduating from there in 1976 that Kahil El’Zabar founded the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble with Edward Wilkerson, Jr. to explore music that combined African-American musical styles with traditional African instrumentation and rhythms. Over the years, membership has fluctuated and included such luminaries as Light Henry Huff, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Joseph Bowie, and Fareed Haque. In 1997, Wilkerson was replaced by Ernest Khabeer Dawkins, and in 2007, Corey Wilkes joined as a full-time member rounding out the trio as it currently stands. While Wilkes is unable to make this performance, St. Louis Black Artists Group co-founder and baritone saxophonist-extraordinaire Hamiet Bluiett has been invited to join the group in performance at the North Door on Wednesday, February 19, 2014.
Internationally renowned percussionist and composer Kahil El'Zabar is considered one of the most prolific jazz innovators of his generation. El’Zabar grew up in a South Side Chicago neighborhood where he heard music in the streets everyday – doo-wop, R&B, gospel, blues, and jazz. In 1973, he attended the University of Ghana to study African music firsthand. At eighteen, he joined Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and by 1975 he was chairman of the organization. He credits
his community with providing direction towards an African sensibility. "I grew up in a period when African Americans, as a large body, finally started addressing our roots." During the early 1970s, El'Zabar formed his own musical group, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, and later another group, the Ritual Trio, both of which still perform. Music holds no boundaries for El'Zabar, who has played alongside Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderly, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone (who he also designed clothes for), and Paul Simon.
His talents have also extended to the theatrical arena, scoring and appearing in several feature and independent films, as well as arranging music for the stage production of The Lion King. From 1996 to 1999, El'Zabar organized Traffic at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, an inter-arts program featuring music and poetry. His efforts as a musician, educator, and community leader led to his being named the Chicago Tribune’s "Chicagoan of the Year" in 2004.
Ernest Dawkins is one of Chicago's premier jazz saxophonists and is the founder and leader of his own group, New Horizons Ensemble. Dawkins started his musical career at the age of twelve when he learned how to play the bass and conga drams, later learning the drums before settling on the saxophone in 1973. He holds a Masters in Music Education from Governors State University in University Park, Illinois and has studied music at the Vandercook School of Music, as well as the AACM School of Music where he studied with Joseph Jarman and Chico Freeman. His association with the AACM has led Dawkins to work with veteran members Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, Edward Wilkerson, Jr., Henry Threadgill, Amina Claudine Myers, Anthony Braxton, and Don Moye. He has also played with music greats such as Ramsey Lewis, Jack McDuff, Jerry Butler, and The Dells. Additionally, Dawkins has a strong international presence. He has performed at the Hugh Masekela Club J&B in Johnanesburg and with Zina Nggawana in Pretoria, both in South Africa. He is also a consultant to The Jazz Club De Maputo in Mozambique. In 1994 he was commissioned to write a three-piece suite honoring Rahsaan Roland Kirk for the King Arts Complex in Columbus, Ohio. In 1995, he composed music for the documentary film "Malcolm" under the direction of Alan Siegal. Currently Dawkins spends his time living, teaching, and performing in three world-class cities: Chicago; Durbin, S. Africa; and Paris, France.
The most prominent baritone saxophonist of his generation, Hamiet Bluiett plays both with technical mastery and a solo voice unlike any other. As a child, he studied piano, trumpet, and clarinet, but from the age of ten was attracted to the baritone saxophone. After attending Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and serving in the Navy, Bluiett moved to St. Louis in the mid-1960s, where played with many of the musicians -- Lester Bowie, Charles "Bobo" Shaw, Julius Hemphill, and Oliver Lake – with whom Bluiett would co-found the musicians' collective known as the Black Artists Group (BAG). Bluiett moved to New York in 1969 where he joined Sam Rivers' large ensemble and worked freelance with a variety of musicians. From 1972 to 1975, Bluiett played in one of Charles Mingus' last great bands, which also included pianist Don Pullen. In December of 1976, Bluiett played a one-shot concert in New Orleans with Murray, Lake, and Hemphill. That supposedly ad-hoc group continued to perform and record as the World Saxophone Quartet, which in different formations continues to present day. Throughout his performing and recording career, Bluiett has also led his own ensembles and recorded a number of strong albums, as well as recorded and concertized with an list of musicians ranging from his fellow BAG alums to artists such as Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. In 2002, Bluiett moved back to his hometown of Brooklyn, Illinois, but returned to New York City in 2012 where he continues to play music.
For more information:
Kahil El'Zabar website: http://www.kahilelzabar.net/
Ernest Dawkins on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Dawkins
Corey Wilkes website: http://www.coreywilkes.com/
Hamiett Bluiett on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamiet_Bluiett
About Epistrophy Arts:
Epistrophy Arts is a grass-roots cultural organization dedicated to presenting the finest in adventurous and improvised music in Austin, Texas. Since January of 1998 we have presented over 70 concerts with living legends, unsung heroes and rising talents in the field of adventurous music.
This project is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services Office/Cultural Arts Division believing an investment in the Arts is an investment in Austin’s future. Visit Austin at NowPlayingAustin.com.
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