Africa N'Da Blues
Percussionist Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio has made some amazing music in the 1990s. All members of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), drummer El'Zabar and first-generation AACM members saxophonist-pianist Ari Brown and bassist Malachi Favors make stunning music that has a rootsy, if avant-garde, take on everything within the jazz tradition--including the music's African roots. The three have recorded as a trio, but they are at their best when they ask a friend to join in, andAfrica N'da Bluesfollows 1999's winningConversations(with guestArchie Shepp) with tenor saxophonistPharoah Sandersas the band's Y2K guest. With Brown on piano for most of the seven lengthy cuts,Africahas 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 ofColtrane's "Miles Mode" and the standard "Autumn Leaves."--Tad Hendrickson