Kahil El’zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble at Bird & Beckett Books and Records

Every February, the brilliant Chicago percussionist Kahil El’Zabar, a renowned leader in avant garde African-American music for five decades, takes his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble on the road, criss-crossing the continent with a brilliant program of music — “advanced frequencies” deeply rooted in America’s true classical music, the music we most frequently call “jazz,” a music itself deeply rooted in four centuries of African-American experience, and rooted more deeply still in the cultures and histories of a range of African cultures from which hundreds of thousands of people were abducted, brought in chains and held in slavery. A devastating history from which a rich, beautiful and indomitable culture has flowered time and again....

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Every February, the brilliant Chicago percussionist Kahil El’Zabar, a renowned leader in avant garde African-American music for five decades, takes his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble on the road, criss-crossing the continent with a brilliant program of music — “advanced frequencies” deeply rooted in America’s true classical music, the music we most frequently call “jazz,” a music itself deeply rooted in four centuries of African-American experience, and rooted more deeply still in the cultures and histories of a range of African cultures from which hundreds of thousands of people were abducted, brought in chains and held in slavery. A devastating history from which a rich, beautiful and indomitable culture has flowered time and again.

For three of the last four years, Bird & Beckett has been the first stop on the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble’s Black History Month tour! From here, Kahil, with his bandmates Corey Wilkes on trumpet and Alex Harding on baritone sax, first cross the Bay and then travel down the Coast to the famous World Stage in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park, and thence roll through Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto, Michigan, Washington DC, Maryland, Georgia, New York and Wisconsin — 24 concerts in 30 days from January 31st to February 29th! Raising the Spirit with superhuman grit and spiritual elevation.

$20 to $40 sliding scale cover charge. Help these musicians with your cover charge to embark across the country, raising the spirit and spreading the joy of Black History!

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