Kahil El'Zabar - Deeper Soul Remix Project (2006)

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Kahil El'Zabar - Deeper Soul Remix Project (2006)

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The double CD features three original recordings from El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble plus remixes from world-renowned producers Charles Webster, Osunlade, Henrik Schwarz, IG Culture (Bugz in the Attic) and more.

From the brawling streets of Chicago come an artist, a label, and an album that reflect the deep history, progressive ideas, and rich cultural make up of one of the worlds great Metropolises. The artist is Kahil El'Zabar, an internationally renowned percussionist widely considered one of the most prolific jazz innovators of his generation. The label is Deeper Soul Recordings, an imprint dedicated to bringing the art and soul back into electronic music. And the album is: The Deeper Soul Remix Project.

The works of Kahil El'Zabar are already celebrated around the planet. He has been awarded the “Artist of the Year" title by The Chicago Tribune, he received an “Album of the Year" award in Germany, and has already been the recipient of a “Lifetime Achievement" award from the Ebony Talent Association. He has lent his magical hands and his deep spiritual rhythms to such luminaries as Stevie Wonder, Dizzy Gillespie, and Paul Simon. And in the 70's while living in Geneva, he played with the great Nina Simone, he not only drummed in her band but he also designed her clothes. Yes, Kahil is a man with a wealth of talents, an author, a poet, and apparently a clothing designer as well.

But it is his musical genius that brought him to Deeper Soul's attention. His band, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, formed in 1973 and made up of highly respected musicians Joseph Bowie, the brother of Broadway arranger Byron K. Bowie and legendary trumpeter Lester Bowie, on trombone, Ernest “Khabeer" Dawkins, a fellow south-side native and award winning saxophonist, and Kahil manning the percussion. Critically lauded and regarded as the front runners in the avante garde jazz scene, this ensemble creates music as rich and deep as their ancestry; they have achieved an intellectual yet spiritual balance in their rhythms, making soulful, drum laden jazz with wide open breaths of space that emphasize the importance of each note played. Kahil studied in Ghana, and as he is the foundation of the group, you can hear the distinct West African instrumentation in their pieces. It is the kind of jazz that Deeper Soul Recordings ache to get their hands on, and once they did, they made it theirs.

For The Deeper Soul Remix Project there could not be just any artist remixing the music of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. These men are among the great artist of their generation, and if they are going to be remixed, they should be remixed by only the most talented and revered producers of this era. They should be unique, artful, and their musicianship had to fill the scope of the music they were working with. So Deeper Soul set out to acquire the cream of the crop on the cutting edge.

And they found them, names that perk up the ear of even the most discerning listener. Each one compliments the music with their unique style. Henrik Schwarz explores the far reaches of the Ethnics sound with his psychedelic dub influenced techno variation of “He's Got the Whole World In His Hands," with its bass bin blowing low end and tight warm string stabs. IG Culture takes it to the west end of London with a stomping Broken Beat house mix, lacing the entire track with Kahil's spoken word and jazz scat vocals, and with Daz-I-Cue in the studio engineering to give the mix that Bugz in The Attic snap. Osunlade, a perfect candidate since the idea for this projects inception, gives “Ancestral Song" the Yoruba afro house treatment he is celebrated for, and Charles Webster offers up in the lead single a stunning deep house piece that works the head as well as the hips. Djinji Brown serves up his dish hip hop flavored seasoned with soul, and Kemit Sources bless the album with a spiritual house mix as well as an original piece made with Kahil El'Zabar himself.

Built from the drum up, The Deeper Soul Remix Project is truly a work of passion; this is the sound of modern electronic genius manipulating the chords of ancient jazz, from the streets of Chicago to the soil of Africa, the roots of modern music have just stretched deeper.

Not to deprive the listener of the music's roots, the second CD features the original Ethnic Heritage Ensemble tunes, two of which are previously unreleased.

Label owner and executive producer of The Deeper Soul Remix Project, Josh Deep, will join the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble as they complete a short UK / European tour this fall. The tour will feature a guest performance on Gilles Peterson's World Wide Radio show on the BBC and will lead up to the dazzling 3 day Nova Arts Festival in Bordeaux, France November 3rd, 4th, & 5th. The festival will feature three days of art, music, and panel discussions, with non other than Montreal's HVW8 art collective, IG Culture, Charles Webster, Hernik Schwarz, Josh Deep, and Djinji Brown, alongside jazz performances by the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and Archie Shepp.

~ allaboutjazz.com

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Kahil El'Zabar - Deeper Soul Remix Project (2006)

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Kahil El'Zabar - Deeper Soul Remix Project (2006)

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Kahil El'Zabar - Deeper Soul Remix Project (2006)

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