Search - Ethnic Heritage Ensemble :: Freedom Jazz Dance

This trio of percussionist Kahil El'Zabar, trombonist Joseph Bowie, and saxophonist Ernest Dawkins has been plying the jazz trade since the 1970s, always bending rules and working without the traditional harmonic rooting of a piano or rhythmic footing of a bass. In all their years, they've rarely approached the plateaus of Freedom Jazz Dance, named after the Eddie Harris tune that opens this set. Guesting as a fourth member is guitarist Fareed Haque, who supplies a weave of sound between Dawkins's alto and tenor, which frequently hop across stylistic fields from Ornette Coleman's quick-burn phrases to Sonny Rollins's agile, breathy fullness, and Bowie's guttural, blooming 'bone. As always with EHE, the percussion is more than top shelf, always playing polyrhythms with studied fierceness--but also with an emphasis on pacing. These tunes move gingerly, never rushing their growth and always emphasizing a groove-based, postbop sound that aims at the big target of all-jazz and meets the mark with ease. --Andrew Bartlett