Dwight Trible joins Kahil El'Zabar's EHE for 'Spirit Gatherer' salute to Don Cherry

Kahil El'Zabar's "Spirit Gatherer" tribute to forward-looking trumpeter and bandleader Don Cherry is out now via Spiritmuse.

Here's the scoop...

Visionary percussionist and veteran bandleader Kahil El’Zabar leads his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble in celebration of the legendary jazz pioneer Don Cherry and releases new album Spirit Gatherer and previews the first track ‘Don Cherry’. The fifth of a series of Spiritmuse recordings that began with 2019’s Be Known: Ancient/Future Music [Spiritmuse KEZ001], Spirit Gatherer finds the three-person Ethnic Heritage Ensemble joined by two storied guest artists: Dwight Trible, vocalist with the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, and multi-instrumentalist David Ornette Cherry, Don Cherry’s eldest son. Performed by a group of artists who intimately understand the profundity of Don Cherry’s contribution to universal musical and artistic culture, Spirit Gatherer is a powerful, spiritualised tribute to one of the giants of twentieth century music. 

Don Cherry was a true original. A pioneer of the jazz avant-garde, he first emerged as part of the Ornette Coleman group. After quickly establishing himself as a key figure in America, he eventually relocated to Europe, where he moved beyond jazz to pursue a universal spirit music. Cherry’s quest was spiritual, musical, social and political – open-hearted and profoundly humane, his life and art were dedicated to beauty and the betterment of all humanity. His music carries a crucial message for today, and Kahil El’Zabar and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble dedicate their new album Spirit Gatherer to him, both to honour his legacy and highlight his ever-growing importance. 

‘Don Cherry is the essential, iconic, urban shaman,’ says Kahil El’Zabar. ‘After doing America the Beautiful [Spiritmuse KEZ005] and speaking to the political, social times; and then believing that there has to be resolution, that's why there was A Time for Healing [Spiritmuse KEZ007]. Then after the time for healing, you have to acknowledge the mentors that actually expressed that healing, so that we can figure out better ways to use it. And I couldn't find a better example for now than Don Cherry to amplify that. And so that's why we call him the Spirit Gatherer, which is the name of the album.’ 

A legendary figure with over fifty years experience in jazz and improvised music (including a decade as the chair of Chicago avant-garde collective the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), El’Zabar brings a powerful heritage and a wealth of experience to his art, directing the songs on Spirit Gatherer with kalimba, voice, or cajon. ‘Don Cherry was griot of the community,’ he says, and this deeply spiritual and shamanic aspect of aspect of Cherry’s practice is echoed in El’Zabar’s own musical journey. ‘The whole key to the story is learn to own your voice. But first, you have to have the grace of history to inform you as you translate it into your individual idea… The was the journey of Don Cherry, and that’s a parallel in terms of my life choices – his model of eclecticism, his model of independence and individuality, his sense of style, his lyrical expressions of being: these were all things that I tried to emulate in my own character.’ 

For El’Zabar and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Cherry’s message has a particular resonance in our troubled times: ‘Against the atrocities of current day, the way that we saved ourselves is that we all went to our spirit at this time, and the arts were the conduit to the opening of our health, our wellness as human beings. And so we're all feeling a vibe now. It’s not just about the aesthetics of the music – it's about the utility of service that the music brings to you. And that's why Don Cherry is resonating with the current generation, because he was true to that energy.’ 

As well as several originals by the leader, the songs selected for Spirit Gatherer draw their power from Don Cherry’s legacy, and reach out the spiritualised milieu in which he worked and lived. The music calls forth the sanctified universal folklore of Cherry’s music and refracts it through the firmly rooted Africentric modal grooves now synonymous with El’Zabar’s art. Cherry’s first great collaborator, Ornette Coleman, is represented by his deathless composition ‘Lonely Woman’; in tribute to Cherry’s favourite composer, Thelonious Monk, the band tackle ‘Well You Needn’t’ with a low-key, funked-up read; and Coltrane, with whom Cherry collaborated at various times, is evoked through a musical prayer to A Love Supreme. 

As ever, El’Zabar leads the album on multi-percussion, steering the group and setting the pace with his trademark combination of peerless rhythmic invention, melodic subtlety and grounded spiritual direction. Support from regular frontline collaborators Corey Wilkes on trumpet and Alex Harding on baritone sax builds out the sound, with Wilkes channelling the quicksilver improvising brilliance of Cherry himself while Harding embarks on deep-rooted thematic investigations. But Spirit Gatherer is lifted even higher by the presence of two illustrious guests: Dwight Trible and David Ornette Cherry. 

Don Cherry’s eldest son, the multi-instrumentalist, educator and composer David Ornette Cherry, has an intimate familial understanding of his father’s musical philosophy. He played with Don from the age of sixteen, and has collaborated with many jazz greats including Billy Higgins, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell. His latest album, Organic Nation Listening Club (The Continual), was released on Spiritmuse in 2021, to critical acclaim. On Spirit Gatherer, he adds spiritual warmth and energy on piano and melodica, and invokes the instantly recognisable language of his father’s music when playing douss’n’gouni, the West African hunter’s harp. 

Vocalist Dwight Trible is a key figure in Los Angeles renowned community jazz collective, the Pan Afrikan Peoples’ Arkestra. Founded by Horace Tapscott, the Ark has been the seed-bed for three generations of Los Angeles jazz musicians, and it grew out of the same Central Avenue soil that Don Cherry himself was rooted in. Trible, a vocalist who combines both operatic power with deepest blue jazz sensibility, brings electrifying presence and lyrical richness to the session. 

In this exalted company the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble’s sonic odyssey goes from strength to strength, opening up new spaces of healing in our present tribulation, new connections to the wisdom of the ancestors, and new vistas onto mended futures. We hope that you enjoy the journey of the Spirit Gatherer. 

As on previous Spiritmuse albums from El’Zabar, stunning original album artwork by multi-disciplinary artist Nep Sidhu accompanies the music. The album is presented with archive images of Don Cherry, courtesy of the Cherry Archive, Estate of Moki Cherry. 

Get a copy of the Spirit Gatherer: Tribute To Don Cherry album by Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble via Bandcamp right here. Check out the title track and an interpretation of Pharoah Sanders' "Harvest Time" followed by the track listing and credits. 

Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble – Spirit Gatherer: Tribute to Don Cherry

1. Don Cherry, composed by Kahil El’Zabar 

2. Lonely Woman, composed by Ornette Coleman * 

3. Evocation, composed by Kahil El’Zabar 

4. Degi-Degi, composed by Don Cherry * 

5. Sketches of a Love Supreme, based on the original composition by John Coltrane * 

6. Bop On, composed by Kahil El’Zabar 

7. Holy Man, composed by Kahil El’Zabar 

8. Well You Needn't, composed by Thelonious Monk * 

9. The Opening, composed by Kahil El’Zabar 

10. Harvest Time, composed by Pharoah Sanders * 

11. Spirit Gatherer, composed by Kahil El’Zabar 

Kahil El’Zabar – multi-percussion / balafon / kalimba / voice 

Corey Wilkes – trumpet/ spirit bowls/ percussion 

Alex Harding – baritone sax 

Dwight Trible – voice 

David Ornette Cherry – piano / melodica / douss’n gouni 

Except Tracks 3, 8 & 9, with the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble only 

Kahil El’Zabar – multi-percussion / balafon / kalimba / voice 

Corey Wilkes – trumpet/ spirit bowls/ percussion 

Alex Harding – baritone sax

Chicago's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble hits the Redwood Theatre, Friday

Trumpeter Corey Wilkes and master percussionist Kahil El'Zabar are joined by saxophonist Alex Harding for EHE's Toronto show.

Caliban Arts Theatre Presents

KAHIL EL'ZABAR & ETHNIC HERITAGE ENSEMBLE

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17

@ THE REDWOOD THEATRE

1300 Gerrard Street East, Toronto

7:30 pm doors, 8:30 pm concert

Tickets: $45 advance

The legendary Ethnic Heritage Ensemble has toured internationally, as well as recorded innumerable celebrated projects over the last 49 years. The current lineup features Corey Wilkes (trumpet) Alex Harding (baritone sax) and the band's founder, Dr. Kahil El’Zabar (multi-percussion/composition).

The EHE is a must-see ensemble, that’s truly making history with each performance! They are 21st-century griots, making great black music for the mind, body, and spirit! Get tickets right here. 

Watch the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble perform in the hour-long video Free Jazz From The Sanctuary below.  

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble @ 918 Bathurst, Friday

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble  “Raise The Spirit Tour 2020” 

Chicago's legendary Ethnic Heritage Ensemble has toured internationally, as well as recorded numerable celebrated projects over the last 45 years leading up to their recent album, Be Known released in June. The current line up – featuring Corey Wilkes (trumpet), Alex Harding (baritone sax) and the band’s founder, Dr. Kahil El’Zabar (multi-percussion/composition) – will be playing a special Valentine's Day show in Toronto at 918 Bathurst on Friday, February 14th. Doors at 7:30 pm, show at 8:30 pm. Tickets are $40 via Caliban Arts.

Dr. Kahil El’Zabar is considered by his peers to be one of the most prolific innovators of his generation. He has recorded more than sixty well–received projects, and won numerous international awards as a musician and composer. In 2014, Mr. El’Zabar was knighted by the Counsel General of France, and christened as a “Chevalier Medal of Letters”. In 2012, President Barack Obama’s administration awarded him the International Ambassador’s Award in the Arts. In 2006, The Chicago Tribune named Kahil El’Zabar Chicagoan of the Year. In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed El’Zabar to the National Task Force on Arts in Education.  Mr. El’Zabar has worked with such luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderley, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Pharoah Sanders, Neneh Cherry, Nina Simone, David Murray, Lester Bowie, and the extensive list goes on and on. Dr. El’Zabar holds a PHD in Inter–Disciplinary Arts from Lake Forest College (2006), and is Executive Creative Director and Director of Curriculum Planning/Teaching and Music Strategies at the new Chicago Academy of Music. He has also taught and held the position of Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln) and at the University of Illinois (Chicago), and served on several prestigious panels such as the National Endowment of the Arts, the NPN (National Performance Network) and the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund. El’Zabar is a former Chairman of internationally acclaimed, AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians).

Corey Wilkes has established himself as one of the best improvising trumpeters in the modern era. Having the skill to approach mainstream repertoire of jazz standards with his own unique sensibilities, he combines them with his deep appreciation of hip–hop.  Mr. Wilkes continues to bring his brand of musicianship and talent to the forefront of the genre. He has also shared the stage with numerous jazz masters including but not limited to; Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, James Moody, Kurt Elling, Von Freeman, Greg Osby, Roscoe Mitchell, Marcus Belgrave, Clark Terry, Harry “Sweets” Edison and Mulgrew Miller. His soulful notes can be heard gracing a variety of contemporary projects including sets by DJ Logic and Osunlade; tracks on Hidden Beach Recordings Presents: Unwrapped Vol. 4, Kahil El Zabar’s Ascension Loft Series as well as Nona Hendryx, Soulive, Meshell Ndegocello and Ledisi.

Alex Harding is considered one of the top baritone players in New York City. He has been a fixture on the New York jazz seen since 1993 performing touring and recording with the Julius Hemphill Saxophone Sextet, Hamiett Bluiett Baritone Nation, David Murray Big Band, Oliver Lake Big Band, Craig Harris, Joseph Bowie’s Defunkt, Aretha Franklin, Lester Bowie, Andy Gonzalez, Muhal Richard Abrams, Jayne Cortez and the Fire Spitters, Abdullah Ibrahim and the Tony award–winning Broadway show Fela! Alex Harding has several recordings of his own as a leader as well as sideman with other artists.