#Kahil El’Zabar

[topoet]

Soulful Concertina

This is a fun eclectic mp3 collection of instrumentals  & jazz ending with some sort of unusual classical.It starts off with The Cecil Holmes Soulful Sounds: The Black Motion Picture Experience (1973), Music for Soulful Lovers (1973). Before Cecil became a founder of Casablanca Records he worked at a producer, arraigner at another label where he recorded these seminal semi-easy listening, with…

[dustedmagazine]

Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble — Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit (Spiritmuse)

Photo by Christopher Andrew

Celebrating 50 years of his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble bandleader, activist, educator and percussionist Kahil El’Zabar delves deeply into the music he has helped shape over his long career. Open Me is neither a valedictory nostalgia trip nor a lap of honor. Spanning spiritual and avant-garde jazz, African rhythms, soul blues and protest music, El’Zabar and his cohorts, trumpeter Corey Wilkes and baritone saxophonist Alex Harding, are joined by guests Ishmael Ali on cello and violinist James Sanders in collection of original tunes and finely wrought covers that look forward while linking the threads of El’Zabar’s musical legacy.

The quintet finds a devotional center to Miles Davis’ “All Blues”. El’Zabar plays on kalimba and bells, his hums and ululations a prayerful focus. The band play at a meditative pace with Wilkes pushing his tone through Davis’ modal calm into higher registers that evoke Don Cherry whilst Harding provides soulful counterpoint and a solo that carries the barest trace of Coltrane. Sanders’ short solo scratches then soars as if freeing itself from earthly concerns. “The Whole World in His Hands” feels reclaimed as El’Zabar lays down a rolling African beat and his vocal emphasizes the gospel blues root of the song. Behind, the horns and strings provide an intense group sound, with a call and response of short solos that mirror both church service and jam session. Their version of Eugene McDaniel’s “Compared To What” finds El’Zabar’s graveled vocal backed by Harding’s nimble baritone riff, a glorious clarion call from Wilkes and atmospheric flourishes from the strings. The spirit is to the fore, but this band also swings hard. “Hang Tuff” and McCoy Tyner’s “Passion Dance” are exuberant celebrations. The former graced by a dervish of a solo from Sanders and the latter played with all the power of a big band, the horns blasting the theme, El’Zabar all over his kit, the solos uniformly fiery.  

From Lester Bowie, Anthony Braxton and Pharoah Sanders to David Murray to Tomeka Reid and Isaiah Collier, El’Zabar’s career spans generations of forward-thinking musicians. The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is the longest running of his many musical projects and on Open Me, they produce a stirring mix of spirituality, groove and fire music. This is history very much alive and kicking.

Andrew Forell

[thewaysoundtravels]

(In My House • Kahil El’Zabar’s Spirit Groove ft. David Murray *NEW by Spiritmuse Records)

“Kahil El’Zabar’s ‘Spirit Groove’ on Spiritmuse Records is the latest musical inspiration from the spiritual jazz master, ft. the legendary tenor sax colossus, David Murray”.

Full album: https://soundcloud.com/spiritmuserecords/sets/kahil-elzabars-spirit-groove and https://spiritgroove.bandcamp.com/album/kahil-elzabars-spirit-groove-ft-david-murray

[diz-cover]

Kahil El’Zabar & Ethnic Heritage Ensemble Open Me, a Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit 2024

[burlveneer-music]

A new album from Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble today as well - "Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit"

This is the new offering from Kahil El’Zabar and his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, in conjunction with the legendary group’s 50th anniversary, Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit. Open Me is a joyous honoring of portent new directions of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble; it’s a visionary journey into deep roots and future routes, channeling traditions old and new. It mixes El’Zabar’s original compositions with timeless classics by Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, and Eugene McDaniels. Thus, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble continues affirming their indelible, half-century presence within the continuum of Great Black Music.  Open Me, El’Zabar’s sixth collaboration with Spiritmuse in five years, marks another entry in a run of critically acclaimed recordings that stretch back to the first EHE recording in 1981. The storied multi-percussionist, composer, fashion designer, and former Chair of the Association of Creative Musicians (AACM) is in what might be the most productive form of his career, and now in his seventies, shows no signs of slowing down. Few creative music units can boast such longevity, and fewer still are touring as energetically and recording with the verve of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.  The EHE was founded by El’Zabar in 1974 originally as a quintet, but was soon paired down to its classic form — a trio, featuring El’Zabar on multi-percussion and voice, plus two horns. It was an unusual format, even by the standards of the outward-bound musicians of the AACM: “Some people literally laughed at our unorthodox instrumentation and approach. We were considered even stranger than most AACM bands at the time. I knew in my heart though that that this band had legs, and that my concept was based on logic as it pertains to the history of Great Black Music, i.e. a strong rhythmic foundation, innovative harmonics and counterpoint, well-balanced interplay and cacophony amongst the players, strong individual soloist, highly developed and studied ensemble dynamics, an in-depth grasp of music history, originality, fearlessness, and deep spirituality.” With El’Zabar at the helm, the band’s line-up has always been open to changes, and over the years the EHE has welcomed dozens of revered musicians including Light Henry Huff, Kalaparusha Maurice Macintyre, Joseph Bowie, Hamiett Bluiett, and Craig Harris. The current line-up has been consolidated over two decades — trumpeter Corey Wilkes entered the circle twenty years ago, while baritone sax player Alex Harding joined seven years ago, after having played with El’Zabar since the early 2000s in groups such as Joseph Bowie’s Defunkt.  For Open Me, El’Zabar has chosen to push the sound of the EHE in a new direction by adding string instruments — cello, played by Ishmael Ali, and violin/viola played by James Sanders. The addition of strings opens new textural resonances and timbral dimensions in the Ensemble’s sound, linking the work to the tradition of improvising violin and cello from Ray Nance to Billy Bang, Leroy Jenkins, and Abdul Wadud.  Open Me contains a mixture of originals, including some El’Zabar evergreens such as “Barundi,” “Hang Tuff,” “Ornette,” and “Great Black Music” (often attributed to the Art Ensemble of Chicago but is, in fact,  an El’Zabar composition). There are also numbers drawn from the modern tradition, which El’Zabar uniquely arranges, including a contemplative interpretation of Miles Davis’ “All Blues.” As a milestone anniversary celebration and a statement of future intent, Open Me effortlessly carries El’Zabar’s healing vision of Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit.   All compositions by Kahil El’Zabar except tracks ‘All Blues’ by Miles Davis, ‘He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands’ spiritual folk by Unknown, ‘Passion Dance’ by McCoy Tyner and ‘Compared to What’ by Gene McDaniels All arrangements by Kahil El’Zabar Tapestry and Art Direction by Nep Sidhu

[chansonsinternationales]

Kahil El’Zabar, hommage déraison – Libération

[twistedsoulmusic]

Prominent avant-garde jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer Kahil El’Zabar, with his The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, recently unveiled ‘Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit’ to commemorate the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble’s 50th anniversary. Needless to say, this is more than just an album; it is a proclamation of the group’s enduring legacy and joyous venture into new artistic territory.

[punisheddonjuan]

Favourite Music 2013-2023

As part of attempting to recover/reconstruct my blog here in the event that my old account is not restored, I'm reposting some old things that I've pieced together from Internet Archive scrapes of my old blog, personal files, and cross-postings elsewhere. A tradition I maintained on that blog over its ten year span was putting out a list of my favourite music releases at the end of every year.

I make it a goal to listen to fifty new releases every year, and I frequently manage over seventy or more, occasionally hitting one hundred. At the end of the year I distill all that listening down into a list of thirty-odd releases that I really enjoyed.

I've never much liked numbered and ranked lists so the lists are unranked and have been from the beginning. They are, however, partitioned into three categories. Two of these categories are self explanatory "Favourite Music" and "Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums" while the third "Honourable Mentions" acts as a holding tank for things that I either liked "fine enough alright" or which I was/am still digesting. I have not gone back and edited these lists in any way (except to alphabetize earliest ones), as that would be cheating. I wanted these lists to be a document of a moment in time, a personal record of what I was listening to in any given year. Consequently, the further back you go, the more likely it is my opinions have changed. Some albums and artists that were favourites fell out of my rotation entirely, a few honourable mentions graduated to favourites while others slipped off, but a good half or more stayed right where I placed them. Some lists are longer than others. I was more discriminating in the first few years and left a great many things off.

I'm posting this mostly for myself, but please, take a look if you're looking for something to listen to, there are hundreds of recommendations below, something for everyone. My favourites from 2023 are directly below, and 2013-2022 are below the "read more" in reverse chronological order.

Favourite Music 2023:

Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad — Jazz is Dead 16

Algiers — Shook

Anjumile — The King

Annelies Monseré — Mares

ANOHNI — My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross

Brighde Chaimbeul — Carry Them With Us

Chris Watson & Philip Jeck — Oxmardyke

Colin Stetson — When We Were That What Wept for the Sea

Danny Brown — Quaranta

The Drin — Today My Friend You Drunk the Venom

The Inward Circles — Before WE Lie Down in Darknesse

Jaimie Brand — Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))

Kahil El’Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble ft. Dwight Trible & David Ornette Cherry — Spirit Gatherer: Tribute to Don Cherry

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — The Silver Cord

La Baracande — La Baracande

Lankum — False Lankum

Meatraffle — Base and Superstructure

Oxbow — Love's Holiday

ØXN — CYRM

PJ Harvey — I Inside the Old Year Dying

Protomartyr — Formal Growth in the Desert

Squid — O Monolith

Tim Arnold — Super Connected

Tyvek — Overground

Yossari Baby — Inferiority Complex

Water From Your Eyes — Everyone's Crushed

Honourable Mentions 2023:

Gazelle Twin — Black Dog

Lonnie Holley — Oh Me, Oh My

Matmos — Return to Archive

The Mountain Goats — Jenny from Thebes

Mozart Estate — Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! And the Possibilities of Modern Shopping

The Murder Capital — Gigi's Recovery

Neil Young — Before and After

Peter Gabriel — i/o

The Pigeons — Bird Brain Gang

PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS — Land of Sleeper

Shame — Food for Worms

Sparks — The Girl is Crying in Her Latte

Stuck — Freak Frequency

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2023:

Alkemie — Pentiment (Original Game Soundtrack)

The Beatles — 1962-1966

The Beatles — 1967-1970

Black Country, New Road — Live at Bush Hall

Devo — Art Devo 1973-1977

John Coltrane — Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy

Lingua Ignota — The End: Live at Islington Assembly Hall

Neil Young — Chrome Dreams

Nervous Gender — Music from Hell

The Replacements — Tim (Let It Bleed Edition)

Shizuka (静香) — Heavenly Persona 天界のペルソナ

Sonic Youth — Live in Brooklyn 2011

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 — These Things Remain Unassigned (Singles, Compilation Tracks, Rarities & Unreleased Recordings)

Various Artists — Happy Land: A Compendium of Alternative Electronic Music from the British Isles 1993-1996

Various Artists — The NID Tapes: Electronic Music from India 1969-1972

Favourite Music 2022:

Alison Cotton — The Portrait You Painted of Me

Bill Orcutt — Music for Four Guitars

Black Country, New Road — Ants from Up There

black midi — Hellfire

Cate le Bon — Pompeii

Decius — Decius Vol. 1

Diamanda Galás — Broken Gargoyles

Extra Life — Secular Works, Vol. 2

Fontaines D.C. — Skinty Fia

Gnod — Hexen Valley

Hercules and Love Affair ft. Anhoni — In Amber

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava; Omnium Gatherum

Magma — Kãrtëhl

Moundabout — Flowers Rot, Bring Me Stones

One More Grain — Beans on Toast with Pythagoras

Richard Dawson — The Ruby Cord

Sam Slater — I do not wish to be known as a Vandal

Sault — 151; Air; Earth; Today & Tomorrow; UNTITLED(GOD)

SCUDFM — INNIT

Shovel Dance Collective — Water Is The Shovel of the Shore

Special Interest — Endure

Viagra Boys — Cave World

Honourable Mentions 2022:

The Chats — Get Fucked

Lady Neptune — Noz

Omertà — Collection particulière

Suede — Autofiction

Trupa Trupa — B flat A

Weak Signal — War&War

Yard Act — The Overload

Yoo Doo Right — A Murmur, Boundless to the East

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks & Live Albums 2022:

The Beatles — Get Back: the Rooftop Performance; Revolver Super Deluxe Edition

Bog-Shed — The Official Bog-Set

David Bowie — Divine Symmetry

Diamanda Galás — The Divine Punishment

Iannis Xenakis — Electroacoustic Works

Norma Tanega — I’m the Sky: Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964–1971

Oliver Coates — The Stranger

Oxbow & Peter Br​ö​tzmann — An Eternal Reminder Of Not Today: Live At Moers

Sonic Youth — In/Out/In

Tomasz Stańko Quintet — Wooden Music I

Valentina Goncharova — Ocean: Symphony for Electric Violin and Other Instruments in 10+ Parts

Favourite Music 2021:

Ärabrot — Norwegian Gothic

black midi — Cavalcade

Richard Dawson & Circle — Henki

Desperate Journalist — Maximum Sorrow!

Dry Cleaning — New Long Leg

Gnod — La Mort Du Sens

Greg Coates — Witch Egg

Hawthonn — Earth Mirror

Hedvig Mollestad Trio — Ding Dong. You're Dead

Iceage — Seek Shelter

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — L.W.

Pharoah Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra — Promises

LoneLady — Former Things

Low — HEY WHAT

Marissa Nadler — The Path of the Clouds

Mirage — Mirage

Nick Cave & Warren Willis — Carnage

Nyx & Gazelle Twin — Deep England

Oliver Leath and Explorer Ensemble — 'Me Hollywood'

Parquet Courts — Sympathy for Life

SAULT — Nine

shame — Drunk Tank Pink

Shortparis — Яблонный сад

Sleaford Mods — Spare Ribs

Snapped Ankles — Forest of Your Problems

Sons of Kemet — Black to the Future

Squid — Bright Green Field

Taqbir — Taqbir (Victory Belongs to Those Who Fight For a Right Cause)

Viagra Boys — Welfare Jazz

William Parker — Mayan Space Station

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks & Live Albums 2021:

Can — Live in Brighton 1975

Can — Live in Stuttgart 1975

Coil — Love's Secret Domain 30th Anniversary Edition

Faust — 1971-1974

Gang of Four — 77-81

John Coltrane — A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle

The KLF — The White Room (The KLF Director's Cut)

Magma — Simples

Suburban Lawns — Suburban Lawns

Van der Graaf Generator — The Charisma Years 1970-1978

Various Artists — Do You Have the Force? (Jon Savage's Alternate History of Electronica 1978-1982)

Various Artists — Cameroon Garage Funk

Willie Dunn — Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: the Willie Dunn Anthology

Favourite Music 2020:

Aksak Maboul — Figures

All diese Gewalt — Andere

Baxter Dury — The Night Chancers

Bill Fay — Countless Branches

Bob Dylan — Rough and Rowdy Ways

The Chats — High Risk Behaviour

Cold Meat — Hot and Flustered

Crack Cloud — Pain Olympics

Duma — DuMa

Einstürzende Neubauten — Alles in Allem

The Heliocentrics — Infinity of Now

Hen Ogledd — Free Humans

Hey Colossus — Dances/Curses

Idris Ackamor and the Pyramids — Shaman!

Jeff Parker — Suite for Max Brown

Jennifer Walshe — A Late Anthology of Early Music, Vol. 1: Ancient to Renaissance

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — K.G.

Lonnie Holley — National Freedom

Nadine Shah — Kitchen Sink

Oranssi Pazuzu — Mestarin kynsi

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs — Viscerals

Protomartyr — Ultimate Success Today

Róisín Murphy — Róisín Machine

Sault — Untitled (Black Is); Untitled (Rise)

Shirley Collins — Heart’s Ease

The Sorcerers — In Search of the Lost City of the Monkey God

Wilma Archer — A Western Circular

Young Knives — Barbarians

Honourable Mentions 2020:

Algiers — There Is No Year

Christine and the Queens — La vita nuova

Fontaines D.C. — A Hero’s Death

fra fra — Funeral Songs

Idles — Ultra Mono

Pharoah Overlord — 6

Richard Skelton — These Charms May Be Sung Over a Wound

Sex Swing — Type II

Sparks — A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip

Thundercat — It Is What It Is

Torres — Silver Tongue

Wire — Mind Hive

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2020:

Beverly Glenn-Copeland — Transmissions: The Music of Beverly Glenn-Copeland

Black Sabbath — Paranoid Super Deluxe Box Set

Coil — The Gay Man’s Guide to Safer Sex

David Bowie — I’m Only Dancing (The Soul Tour ‘74); Ouvrez Le Chien (Live Dallas '95)

Fela Kuti — Perambulator

The Heshoo Beshoo Group — Armitage Road

The Jimi Hendrix Experience — Live In Maui

Neil Young — Homegrown

Pylon — Pylon Box

The Sun Ra Arkestra — Swirling

Sun Ra — Live Egypt 1971

Theotis Taylor — Brother Theotis Taylor

Uranium Club — Live for the Very First Time (In Italy)

Various Artists — Join The Future: UK Bleep & Bass 1988 - 1991

Various Artists — Interstellar Funk Presents Artificial Dancers: Waves Of Synth

Various Artists — Deutsche Elektronische Musik 4: Experimental German Rock And Electronic Music 1971 – 1983

Favourite Music 2019:

Alexander Tucker — Guild of the Asbestos Weaver

Ana Roxanne — ~~~

Årabrot — Die Nibelungen

BATS — Alter Nature

Beverly Glenn-Copeland — Primal Prayer

black midi — Schlagenheim

Cosey Fanni Tutti — Tutti

Damon Locks/Black Monument Ensemble — Where Future Unfolds

Drenge — Strange Creatures

Fat White Family — Serfs Up!

Holly Herndon — Proto

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — Infest the Rats’ Nest

King Midas Sound — Solitude

Lingua Ignota — Caligula

MEATRAFFLE — Bastard Music

The Mekons — Deserted

Michael Kiwanuka — Kiwanuka

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds — Ghosteen

Priests — The Seduction of Kansas

Purple Mountains — Purple Mountains

Richard Dawson — 2020

shortparis — Так закалялась сталь

Sleaford Mods — Eton Alive

Snapped Ankles — Stunning Luxury

Test Dept. — Disturbance

Vanishing Twin — The Age of Immunology

Honourable Mentions 2019

Angel Olson — All Mirrors

Cate Le Bon — Reward

Caterina Barbieri — Ecstatic Computation

CHAI — PUNK

Earth — Full Upon Her Burning Lips

Jenny Hval — The Practice of Love

Kim Gordon — No Home Record

Leonard Cohen — Thanks for the Dance

The Murder Capital — When I Have Fears

Pharmakon — Devour

Richard Skelton — Border Ballads

Sudan Archives — Athena

Swans — Leaving Meaning

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2019:

The Beatles — Abbey Road Super Deluxe Edition

Can — Live Rockpalast 1970

David Bowie — Conversation Piece

The Deontic Miracle; Catherine Christer Hennix — Selections from 100 Models of Hegikan Roku

Hildur Guðnadóttir — Chernobyl (Music From the Original TV Series)

His Name Is Alive — All the Mirrors in the House (Early Recordings 1979 - 1986)

Mort Garson — Mother Earth’s Plantasia

Patrick Cowley — Mechanical Fantasy Box

Various Artists — Nigeria 70: No Wahala: Highlife, Afro-Funk & Juju 1973-1987

Various Artists — Tarantismo: Odyssey of an Italian Ritual

Various Artists — Third Noise Principle: Formative North American Electronica 1975-1984

Various Artists — Further Perspectives & Distortion: An Encyclopedia of British Experimental and Avant‐Garde Music 1976–1984

Favourite Music 2018:

Ärabrot — Who Do You Love

Capitol K — Goatherder

The Caretaker — Everywhere At The End of Time, Stage IV; Everywhere At The End of Time, Stage V

Chris Carter — Chemistry Lessons Volume 1

Daughters — You Won’t Get What You Want

Die Nerven — Fake

Lonnie Holley — MITH

The Ex — 27 Passports

Gazelle Twin — Pastoral

Gnod — Chapel Perilous

Hen Ogledd — Mogic

Hawthonn — Red Goddess (Of This Men Shall Know Nothing)

Julia Holter — Aviary

Hot Snakes — Jericho Sirens

Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids — An Angel Fell

ILL — We Are Ill

Insecure Men — Insecure Men

Idles — Joy As An Act Of Resistance

KELD — You Are Wolf

Laibach — The Sound of Music

Lonker See — One Eye Sees Red

Low — Double Negative

Mamuthones — Fear on the Corner

Parquet Courts — Wide Awake!

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs — King of Cowards

Protomartyr — Consolation EP

Pusha T — Daytona

Richard Skelton — Front Variations (I & II)

Rival Consoles — Persona

Simian Mobile Disco — Murmurations

Sons of Kemet — Your Queen Is A Reptile

Szun Waves — New Hymn to Freedom

Tropical Fuck Storm — A Laughing Death in Meatspace

Yves Tumor — Safe In The Hands Of Love

Honourable Mentions 2018:

Amen Dunes — Freedom

Amyl and the Sniffers — Big Attraction & Giddy Up

The Cavemen — Nuke Earth

Death and the Maiden — Wisteria

The Dirty Nil — Master Volume

Here Lies Man — You Will Know Nothing

Hop Along — Bark Your Head Off, Dog

Iceage — Beyondless

The Limiñanas — Shadow People

Lucy Dacus — Historian

The Messthetics — The Messthetics

Mitski — Be The Cowboy

Nine Inch Nails — Bad Witch

Ought — Room Inside the World

Sarah Louise — Deeper Woods

Scourge of Women — To End It All

Thou — Magus

U.S. Girls — In a Poem Unlimited

Tπc9 — Sekundenschlaf

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2018:

Art Ensemble of Chicago — Les Stances a Sophie

Austin Wintory — The Banner Saga 3 OST

Colin Stetson — Hereditary OST

Holger Czukay — Cinema

Holger Czukay & David Sylvian — Plight & Premonition/Flux & Mutability

Neil Young — Songs for Judy

Throbbing Gristle — Mission Of Dead Souls

Ursula K. Le Guin & Todd Barton — Music and Poetry of the Kesh

Various Artists — Uneven Paths: Deviant Pop from Europe 1980-1991

Various Artists — Deutsche Elektronische Musik 3: Experimental German Music 1971-1981

Various Artists — Onda de Amor: Synthesized Brazilian Hits That Never Were, 1984-1994

Various Artists — Venezuela 70 Vol. 2: Cosmic Visions Of A Latin American Earth: Venezuelan Experimental Rock In The 1970s & Beyond

Various Artists — Soul Of A Nation 2: Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The Preacher

Various Artists — African Scream Contest Volume 2: Benin 1963 - 1980

Favourite Music 2017:

Algiers — Underside of Power

Atlantik Wall — Atlantik Wall

Charlotte Gainsbourg — Rest

Circle — Terminal

Colin Stetson — All This I Do For Glory

Gnod — Just Say No to the Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine

Here Lies Man — Here Lies Man

Idles — Brutalism

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith — The Kid

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — Flying Microtonal Banana; Murder of the Universe; Polygondwanaland; Sketches of Brunswick East

The Moonlandingz — Interplanetary Class Classics

Nadine Shah — Holiday Destination

Oxbow — Thin Black Duke

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs — Feed the Rats

Protomartyr — Relatives in Descent

Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement — Ambient Black Magic

Richard Dawson — Peasant

Thundercat — Drunk

Waxahatchee — Out in the Storm

William Basinski — A Shadow in Time

The Yossarians — Fabric of Time

Zola Jesus — Okovi

Honourable Mentions 2017:

All Them Witches — Sleeping Through the War

The Caretaker — Everywhere at the End of Time (Stage 2); Everywhere at the End of Time (Stage 3)

The Chats — Get This In Ya

Chelsea Wolfe — Hiss Spun

The Dumpies — The Dumpies

Electric Wizard — Wizard Bloody Wizard

EMA — Exile in the Outer Ring

The Fall — New Facts Emerge

French Vanilla — French Vanilla

Game Theory — Supercalifragile

Japan Blues — Sells His Record Collection

Moon Duo — Occult Architecture Vol. 1; Occult Architecture Vol. 2

NSRD — The Workshop for the Restoration of Unfelt Feelings

Onus — Ratsickles

Priests — Nothing Feels Natural

St. Vincent — MASSEDUCATION

Torres — Three Futures

UUUU — UUUU

Wire — Silver/Lead

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2017:

Black Sabbath — The Ten Year War

The Fall — Singles 1978-2016

German Oak — Down In The Bunker

Husker Dü — Savage Young Dü

Midori Takada — Through The Looking Glass

Patrick Cowley — Afternooners

The Pentangle — The Albums

Pep Llopis — Poiemusia La Nau Dels Argonautes

Various Artists — Music From Saharan Cellphones Vol. 1

Various Artists — N.E.E.T (Not in Education Employment or Training)

Various Artists — Noise Reduction System: Formative European Electronica 1974-1984

Various Artists — Silhouettes and Shadows: A Gothic Revolution 1978-1986

Favourite Music 2016:

All diese Gewalt — Welt in Klammern

ANOHNI — HOPELESSNESS

Årabrot — Gospel

Car Seat Headrest — Teens of Denial

Cheena — Spend the Night With…

Controlled Bleeding — Larva Lumps and Baby Bumps

David Bowie — Blackstar

The Dwarves of East Agouza — Bes

Exploded View — Exploded View

Fat White Family — Songs for Our Mothers

Fear of Men — Fall Forever

Hedvig Mollestad Trio — Black Stabat Mater

Jozef van Wissem — When Shall This Bright Day Begin

The KVB — Of Desire

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — Nonagon Infinity

Leonard Cohen — You Want It Darker

The Mekons — Existentialism

Mélanie De Biasio — Blackened Cities

The Minneapolis Uranium Club — Human Exploration; All of Them Naturals

Moor Mother — Fetish Bones

Mütterlein — Orphans of the Black Sun

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds — Skeleton Tree

Parquet Courts — Human Performance

Savages — Adore Life

SHXCXCHCXSH — SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

True Widow — Avvolgere

White Lung — Paradise

Honourable Mentions 2016:

The Caretaker — Everywhere at the End of Time

Diminished Men — Vision in Crime

Dinosaur Jr. — Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not

Future of the Left — The Peace and Truce of Future of the Left

Hen Ogledd — Bronze

Jenny Hval — Blood Bitch

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani — Sunergy

The Limiñanas — Malamore

Marissa Nadler — Strangers

PJ Harvey — The Hope Six Demolition Project

Radiohead — A Moon Shaped Pool

Rangda — The Heretic’s Bargain

SubRosa — For This We Fought the Battle of Ages

Swans — The Glowing Man

Wrekmeister Harmonies — Light Falls

Wire — Nocturnal Koreans

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2016:

Big Star — The Complete Third

Cluster — 1971-1981

Nine Inch Nails — The Fragile: Deviations 1

Pere Ubu — Architecture of Language 1979-1982

Scott Walker — The Childhood of a Leader (OST)

Sun Ra — Singles: The Definitive 45's Collection 1952-1991

Various Artists — Close to the Noise Floor: Formative UK Electronica 1975-1984

Various Artists — Killed By Deathrock Vol. 2

Various Artists — Wake You Up! Vol. 1: The Rise and Fall of Nigerian Rock Music 1972-1977

Various Artists — Wake You Up! Vol. 2: The Rise and Fall of Nigerian Rock Music 1972-1977

Favourite Music 2015:

Bad Guys — Bad Guynaecology

Baron — Torpor

The Body & Thou — You, Whom I Have Always Hated

Chelsea Wolfe — Abyss

Circuit des Yeux — In Plain Speech

Couch Slut — My Life As a Woman

Die Nerven — Out

The Eccetronic Research Council — Johnny Rocket, Narcissist & Music Machine…I’m Your Biggest Fan

Feu! Chatterton — Ici le jour (a tout enseveli)

Ghold — Of Ruin

The Inward Circles — Belated Movements For An Unsanctioned Exhumation August 1st 1984

Institute — Catharsis

Jenny Hval — Apocalypse, Girl

Low — Ones and Sixes

MEATRAFFLE — Hi Fi Classics

The Mekons — Jura

Men I Trust — Headroom

Negative Scanner — Negative Scanner

Protomartyr — The Agent Intellect

Pyramids — A Northern Meadow

Thundercat — The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam

Torres — Sprinter

U.S Girls — Half Free

Viet Cong — Viet Cong

Honourable Mentions 2015:

Alessandro Cortini — Risveglio

Bell Witch — Four Phantoms

Container — LP

Gnaw Their Tongues — Abyss of Longing Throats

J.C. Satàn — J.C. Satàn

Księżyc — Rabbit Eclipse

LoneLady — Hinterland

Nadine Shah — Fast Food

Spectres — Dying

Titus Andronicus — The Most Lamentable Tragedy

Tropic of Cancer — Stop Suffering

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats — The Night Creeper

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2015:

Coil — Backwards

Harmonia — Complete Works

Patrick Cowley — Muscle Up

Peter Christopherson — Live At L'Étrange Festival 2004

Rose McDowall — Cut With the Cake Knife

Sun Ra And His Arkestra — To Those Of Earth… And Other Worlds

Swans — The Gate

Swans — White Light from the Mouth of Infinity/Love of Life

Van der Graaf Generator — After the Flood: At the BBC 1968-77

Various Artists — [Cease & Desist] DIY (Cult Classics from the Post-Punk Era 1978-82)

Various Artists — Next Stop Soweto: Zulu Rock, Afro-Disco and Mbaqanga 1975-1985 Vol. 4

Various Arists — Small Town Country, Vol. 1

Favourite Music 2014:

Angel Olsen — Burn Your Fire for No Witness

Ben Frost — A U R O R A

The Body — I Shall Die Here

Burial Hex — The Hierophant 

Current 93 — I Am the Last of All the Field That Fell

Die Nerven — Fun

Einstürzende Neubauten — Lament

English Heretic — The Underground Service

Fear of Men — Loom

Feu! Chatterton — Feu! Chatterton

Grouper — Ruins

Hedvig Mollestad Trio — Enfant Terrible

Inga Copeland — Because I'm Worth It

The Inward Circles — Nimrod Is Lost in Orion and Osyris in the Doggestarre

Leonard Cohen — Popular Problems

Pharmakon — Bestial Burden

The Proper Ornaments — Wooden Head

Protomartyr — Under Color of Official Right

Pye Corner Audio & Not Waving — Intercepts

Richard Dawson — Nothing Important

Scott Walker & Sunn O))) — Soused

Silo — Work

Swans — To Be Kind

Thou — Heathen

White Lung — Deep Fantasy

Honourable Mentions 2014:

The Antlers — Familiars

Cult of Youth — Final Days

Earth — Primitive and Deadly

East India Youth — Total Strife Forever

EMA — The Future’s Void

Flying Lotus — You’re Dead!

Gazelle Twin — Unflesh

Iceage — Plowing Into The Field Of Love

Off — Wasted Years

Slim Twig — A Hound at the Hem

Sd Laika — That's Harakiri

Somali Yacht Club — The Sun

St. Vincent — St. Vincent

Tindersticks — Ypres

Ty Segall — Manipulator

White Fence — For the Recently Found Innocent

Wovenhand — Refractory Obdurate

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2014:

Austin Wintory — The Banner Saga (OST)

Jack Ruby — Hit and Run

John Coltrane — Offering: Live at Temple University

King Crimson — Starless

The Spies — The Battle of Bosworth Terrace

Various Artists — Native North America, Vol 1.: Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985

Various Artists — Sombras: Spanish Post-Punk and Dark Pop 1981-1986

Favourite Music 2013:

Chelsea Wolfe — Pain Is Beauty

David Bowie — The Next Day

Dawn of Midi — Dysnomia

Destruction Unit —Deep Trip; Void

The Devil — The Devil

The Dowland Project — Night Sessions

The Fall — Remainderer EP

Fat White Family — Champagne Holocaust

Iceage — You’re Nothing

Industrial Park — Cold White

Jozef Van Wissem — Nihil Obstat

Low — The Invisible Way

New War — New War

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds — Push the Sky Away

Pharmakon — Abandon

Protomartyr — No Technique, All Passion; Colpi Probiti EP

SubRosa — More Constant Than The Gods

Savages — Silence Yourself

True Widow — Circumambulation

Veronica Falls — Waiting for Something to Happen

Wire — Change Becomes Us

Honourable Mentions 2013:

Catholic Spray — Amazon Hunt

Darkside — Psychic

Diarrhea Planet — I'm rich beyond your wildest dreams

Jenny Hval — Innocence Is Kinky

The Limiñanas — Costa Blanca

Mark Mulcahy — Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You

Merchandise — Totale Night

My Bloody Valentine — m b v

Nadine Shah — Love You Dum and Mad

Nine Inch Nails — Hesitation Marks

Suede — Bloodsports

Tropic of Cancer — Restless Idylls

Ty Segall — Sleeper

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats — Mind Control

Unknown Mortal Orchestra — II

Favourite Reissues, Compilations, Soundtracks and Live Albums 2013:

Bob Dylan — Another Self Portrait (1969-1970): The Bootleg Series Vol. 10

The Conet Project — Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations

Earth Dies Burning — Songs from the Valley of the Bored Teenager 1981-1984

Jozef Van Wissem & SQÜRL — Only Lovers Left Alive (OST)

King Crimson — The Road to Red

Neil Young — Live At The Cellar Door 1970

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds — Live From KCRW

Patrick Cowley — School Daze

Swans — Not Here/Not Now

Various Artists — Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2: Experimental German Rock And Electronic Musik 1971-83

Various Arists — Everything's Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals

Various Artists — Scared to Get Happy: A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989

Various Artists — Sorrow Come Pass Me Around: A Survey of Rural Black Religious Music

[epistrophyarts]

[chez-mimich]

KAHIL EL’ZABAR, “SPIRIT GROOVE”

Diciamo la verità: "groove" e spiritualità sono come mele e pere, che come diceva la mia maestra delle elementari, non si possono sommare. E allora l'impresa di Kahil El’Zabar, grandissimo percussionista e uno dei più celebrati sassofonisti al mondo e David Murray, appare ancor più meritoria. Completa la formazione del favoloso "Spirit Groove", Emma Dayhuff al basso acustico e Justin Dillard a synth, piano e organo. Che l'esperimento non solo sia riuscito, ma sia entusiasmante, lo si capisce subito dopo le prime, quasi sommesse, percussioni di "In my House" che apre l'album: quasi un carillon, accompagnato da un tamburello, e dallo stentato mugulare di Kahil, una specie di preghiera laica e "distonica", a cavallo tra uno spiritual e un blues, con il sax di Murray che sembra bastare a se stesso. Più si procede nell'ascolto e più il progetto si fa convincente, come in "Necktar" con la voce di Kahil in grande evidenza, passando per il brano "Songs of May self" completamente strumentale, ricchissimo di interazioni tra i musicisti, poi "Katon" con il suo incipit, quasi afro-etnico, che si trasforma, mano a mano, con il sussurro poderoso e disarmonico del sax di Murray e per finire, come è cominciato, con le percussioni dolci ed evocative di El'Zabar. Ed è ancora la sua voce ispirata, calda e spirituale a condurre la magnifica "In the Spirit", cuore dell'album. Completano il lavoro "Trane in the Mind", il brano jazzisticamente più tradizionale, se così si può dire, e "One Word Family", sul quale vale spendere qualche parola in più, visto che potrebbe essere la dichiarazione d'intenti di "Spirit Groove". El’Zabar e David Murray (e conseguentemente Emma Dayhuff e Justin Dillard), sono convinti che il jazz svolga e debba continuare a svolgere una funzione sociale. Non si tratta di un messaggio nuovo, ma è certamente un messaggio che va ribadito in tempi di spietato cinismo, di dilagante razzismo, di preoccupante indifferenza e non credo ci fosse maniera migliore di farlo; "One Word Family" porta con sé un un concetto apparentemente semplice, ampiamente intuibile già dal titolo, ma lo fa con la voce innervata di anima di Kahil El'Zabar, che punteggia il brano di sottolineature e rafforzature vocali e spirituali che vanno persino oltre al grande messaggio di fratellanza universale. Un disco così pregno di senso, di ricerca musicale e di novità sonora, non poteva avere confezione migliore della copertina di Siobhan Bradshaw, fotografa e artista canadese trapiantata a Londra, la cui attività creativa è sempre stata influenzata da jazz. Un disco da ascoltare, sul quale meditare e, e da tenere a portata di mano.

[seymourmusicclub]

Kahil El’Zabar - Holy Man

[zaphmann]

In Memory of John Peel Show 201218 Podcast & Playlist

In Memory of John Peel Show 201218 Podcast & Playlist

lloyd Thayer The final show of the year (except for the Festive Fifty One) is full of epic tracks, but also those odd twisted ones… >>> the best new music, independent of the industry system – back this show on patreon Paypal to zaph@zaphmann.com heard in over 90 countries via independent stations  https://radiopublic.com/in-memory-of-john-peel-show-6nVPd6/ (RSS)Pod-Subscribe for free here or…

[gustojazz-blog]

Kahil El’Zabar’s Ritual Trio - Where do you want to go. From  Alika Rising!, 1990.

Bass – Malachi Favors

Drums – Kahil El'Zabar

Saxophone – Ari Brown

[dreimalfuermich]

Dienstag, 1.11.2022

KAHIL EL’ZABAR-COREY WILKES-JUSTIN DILLART-ALEX HARDING  

Samstagabend das Konzert von Kahil El’Zabar. America The Beautiful und anderes. Das Wort nach diesen anderthalb Stunden wäre: Unwiderstehlich, also: kann man sich nicht gegen wehren, falls man das denn wollte, sich wehren. The purest stuff. Ich war richtiggehend e n t s e t z t. Hin und wieder wird einem klar, wird einem vorgeführt, dass es einen Unterschied gibt zwischen Performance und Kunstäusserung. Dieser Unterschied ist niemals im Material begründet, niemals in den Werkzeugen, Instrumenten, Aufbauten etc., sondern, wie jetzt bei Kahil und den drei anderen Männern aus Chicago: es werden nicht Stücke aufgeführt, sondern sie ENTSTEHEN geradezu nochmal neu vor einem, für die Musiker selbst, und für uns. Und sei das selbst auch nur ein Trick, dann ist es dieser Trick eben. Der Keyboarder, ein thick boy, mit ultrafreundlichem, sanftem Gesicht, lugte immer  fast verschlagen von seinem Hammond Synthesizer auf, den er einfach direkt auf seinem Schoß liegend spielte, bediente, teilweise drei Stimmen gleichzeitig, denn vom Keyboard her kamen an diesem Abend Bass, Gitarre und andere Sounds. Auch noch nicht gesehen sowas. Das ganze Konzert über, und das ist schon, nach meiner Beobachtung, etwas spezifisch black american-mässiges: der Eindruck einer ständigen Kommunikation der Männer untereinander, Zurufe, Lachen, Nicken, Kopfschütteln, eine Form der Tiefenkonzentration, die weniger auf den Ausdruck von Versenkung geprägt ist, sondern eben: nach aussen hin geht. Bei jedem Stück veränderte sich der Gesamtsound der Band auf eine wirklich verblüffende Art, denn es wurden ja keine Intsrumente gewechselt. War das erste Stück noch sehr fleischig und soulful, und von der Konsistenz her eher sirupartig, verschob sich fürs zweite auf einmal komplett der Frequenzraum, auf einmal wurde es perlend und klirrend, die Trompete und das Bariton-Saxofon gingen in die Mitten, und von den Triolen auf dem Ride-Becken kam die Perlenschnur, an der sich das alles langzog, das war dann richtig amtlich Hard Bop Sound, aber mit Bass und Gitarre vom Synthesizer. Das dritte Stück kam leise, fern, wie von hinter den Dünen vom Meer herübergespült, die Message war LOVE, ich kam nicht klar, und damit kam ich gut klar, so schön wars. Bier war auch gut, Zigarettchen eh.

[burlveneer-music]

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble - Be Known Ancient/Future/Music - new LP from Kahil El’Zabar & co.

New spiritual jazz album by the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, led by legendary Chicago percussionist Kahil El’Zabar, an artist in a league of his own, acknowledged throughout the world as the leader in the vanguard of spiritual and afro-futuristic jazz. Alongside El’Zabar on multi-percussion & vocals is Corey Wilkes on trumpet, Alex Harding on baritone sax and Ian Maksin on cello. This is beautiful Afro-centric spiritual jazz on the forefront of the current popular jazz scene. The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble’s music… “seeks to spark a time in which heightened sensibility and higher consciousness will universally be known”. This is Be Known: Ancient / Future / Music for your mind, body and soul. Coming up on Spiritmuse Records in 10 MAY 2019 on deluxe gatefold DBL vinyl, CD & digital Kahil El’Zabar multi-percussion, voice and composition Corey Wilkes trumpet, percussion Alex Harding baritone sax Ian Maksin cello