Chicago’s legendary spiritual jazz shaman Kahil El’Zabar returns, leading an enviable ensemble of young masters from his hometown!

Kahil El’Zabar delivers yet another epic double LP’s worth of ancient/future music for the mind, body and soul. From swinging jazz that sings of his Chicago pedigree, to talking drums and soothing spiritual grooves that reconnect Black Classical Music with its African roots.

Multi-percussionist, band-leader, vocalist, composer, conductor and educator, Kahil El’Zabar has been at the forefront of the unceasingly creative avant-garde jazz scene in Chicago and beyond for over 4 decades. Considered the pioneer of spiritual groove and Afrocentric jazz, El’Zabar has recorded & performed with heavyweights such as Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, David Murray, Billy Bang, Lester Bowie, Nina Simone and Stevie Wonder, to name a few.

Returning to his natural home on Spiritmuse Records, ‘A Time for Healing’ answers the urgent questions posed by his sold-out ‘America The Beautiful’ album, addressing the state of affairs today whilst calling for a better tomorrow. Hugely successful and universally acclaimed, the album was championed by Pitchfork, the Guardian and Gilles Peterson. As ever, the Chicago legend surrounds himself with the hottest young talent. Sonic scientist, Isaiah Collier joins on saxophone. Following his recent acclaimed album, ‘Cosmic Transitions’ LP, he has been hailed as the new ‘Coltrane’. Suffice to say, he doesn’t disappoint, as El’Zabar leads the ensemble through hypnotic groove after groove, providing Collier with ample space to improvise and uplift, channeling the spiritual sound of Trane and Pharoah.

Following stand-out performances on ‘America The Beautiful’ and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble album, ‘Be Known Ancient/Future/Music’, El’Zabar disciple Corey Wilkes, considered one of best trumpeters in the world today, returns and shines once again. Having also worked with the likes of Roy Hargrove, Kurt Elling, Greg Osby and Marcus Belgrave, and who also filled the considerable shoes of Lester Bowie in The Art Ensemble of Chicago, leads stellar groups of his own, and has received plaudits from NPR and the Chicago Tribune.

Keyboard wizard Justin Dillard, who truly shone on his collaboration with El’Zabar on ‘Spirit Groove’, returns for another stellar performance, steeped in the heritage of Dr. Lonnie Smith and McCoy Tyner. Chicago Tribune puts it this way, “there’s something more to Dillard’s work as well; a quest for new ideas in music, in the manner of his AACM mentors”. His earthy Hammond grooves simultaneously ground and lift the quartet’s sound.

Kahil El’Zabar explores the gamut of Great Black Music in America, tracing its lineage through all the movements that’s flourished in Chicago, from the blues to R&B, soul, gospel, house music, spiritual jazz, and then back to all of its common African roots. This is captured brilliantly on the title track, where kalimba and spirit bowls evoke the ancestors, before the horns commence a yearning refrain, calling for guidance and healing. Then, El’Zabar’s new tomorrow hails its’ arrival on “The Coming Of Spring”, a beautiful swinging number full of joy and hope.

El’Zabar continues to pay homage to his mentors and idols, dedicating one “electrifying” number to tenor legend and electrified sax pioneer “Eddie Harris”. Long undervalued, his footprint nonetheless persists, as world renowned DJs no-less-than Theo Parris turn new audiences on to his avant-garde grooves. Elsewhere, “Resolution”, the central piece of Coltrane’s revered ‘Love Supreme’, is transformed by the quartet, with Dillard providing a fresh low-end groove on Hammond before delivering a stellar solo.

The album closes on a beautiful and hauntingly sparse treatment of Gershwin’s “Summertime”. Centered around El’Zabar’s legendary kalimba playing and a hummed groove. Wilkes, Collier and El’Zabar deliver the standard’s well-travelled melody with unheard depths and heart-wrenching spirituality.

Recorded in December 2020 in Chicago, ‘A Time For Healing’ is not only the answer to the urgent questions asked by El’Zabar’s ‘America the Beautiful’; its’ spiritual and ever probing human journey offers a regenerative opus in the face of growing global anxiety. What the world needs right now is exactly what El’Zabar and his quartet have on offer: A Time for Healing.

Spiritmuse Records proudly presents ‘Kahil El’Zabar’s America the Beautiful’, a tour de force musical testament that speaks directly to the heart, mind and spirit. Kahil El’Zabar composed, arranged and conducted ‘America the Beautiful’ to speak musically about the turbulent issues in America (and the world) today, as well as his hopes and love for a better tomorrow.

This incredible album features Kahil El’Zabar with an extended ensemble of woodwinds, brass, strings and an array of Afro-percussion, showcasing extraordinary players such as Corey Wilkes, Tomeka Reid, James Sanders, Josh Ramos, Miguel de la Cerna, Ernie Adams and Hamiet Bluiett (to whom this album is dedicated, as this was his last recording).

El’Zabar developed the initial inspiration for this project from his musical origins in the above mentioned documentary, and later added new works that would explore issues related to current affairs and past histories of America and the globe, regarding race, ecology, economic disparity, and his hopes, aspirations and love for a better world yet to come.

The album’s theme is a unique reworking of the anthem ‘America the Beautiful’ into a multi-layered cacophony of altered harmonies and contrapuntal rhythms that speak to the bittersweet ironies of American society. Familiar classics such as ‘Express Yourself’, ‘How Can We Mend a Broken Heart’ and a killer, Afrocentric version of ‘Afro Blue’, have all been re-written with El’Zabar’s original arrangements and conducted by him in way that engages the listener in an audible landscape of thoughts and emotion that transverse the greater meaning of living in these times. El’Zabar’s powerful new compositions such as “Freedom March”, ‘Jump and Shout (For Those Now Gone’) and “That We Ask Of Our Creator”, further explore the adventure of melody to dissonance within the romance and passion of creative improvised music.

The album speaks to the times that we are living in today, in the wake of a worldwide pandemic, despotic leadership, mass social discontent, disproportionate poverty, Black Lives Matter and other disenfranchised peoples’ movements and the ecological and economic disparity of our planet. It is time to express ourselves with compassionate art that will hopefully propel better and clearer thoughts about where we are now and where we are going in the future.

Kahil El’Zabar’s ‘America the Beautiful’ is an inspirational message channelled through powerful, spiritual music, that speaks with love, urgency and hope to our current times!

The legendary multi-percussionist and spiritual jazz master Kahil El’Zabar continues his quest of spirit through groove in his collaboration with tenor sax colossus, David Murray. ‘Spirit Groove’ is the divining moment upon their incredible journey to meaningful art. This is a phenomenal album, adding an entirely new, elevated dimension to the Spirit of Groove!

In Kahil El'Zabar's own words ‘Spirit Groove’ "intends to move you nakedly with a deep sense of dance on a Mind/Body/Spirit level. From the mouths of Bebop music masters, who were my mentors and that I also had the distinct honor to play with – such as Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderley, Eddie Harris, Malachi Favors, Jodie Christine, Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, they all expressed to me that in the beginning of Bebop, people everywhere danced with Spirit to the music of Charlie Parker! This is the moment to rekindle the motion of social relevance within the legacy of jazz as an improvised people’s movement for social change!”

Kahil El’Zabar - multi-percussion & voice David Murray - tenor sax Emma Dayhuff - acoustic bass Justin Dillard - synth, piano, organ

Art & Art Direction - Nep Sidhu

All compositions by: Kahil El’Zabar except ‘Necktar’ by David Murray and ‘One World Family’ co-written by Kahil El’Zabar & David Murray All arrangements by: Kahil El’Zabar

Kahil El’Zabar - multi-percussion & voice David Murray - tenor sax Emma Dayhuff - acoustic bass Justin Dillard - synth, piano, organ

Art & Art Direction - Nep Sidhu

All compositions by: Kahil El’Zabar except ‘Necktar’ by David Murray and ‘One World Family’ co-written by Kahil El’Zabar & David Murray All arrangements by: Kahil El’Zabar

Tracks 1, 3, 4 & 7 recorded 2nd June 2019 at The Promontory, Chicago; live sound, recording, editing and mixing by: Gene Nemirovsky, Joy of Audio, Chicago Tracks 2, 5 & 6 recorded 6th – 7th June 2019 at Rax Trax Recording, Chicago; recording and mixing by: Rick Barnes, Rax Trax Recording

Mastering by: Frank Merritt at The Carvery, London Liner Notes by: Paul Bradshaw, Straight No Chaser Cover photos by: Siobhan Bradshaw photography, London for Kahil El’Zabar Ave Pildas photography for David Murray Videography & liner photo by: Christopher Andrew, Stoptime Live, Chicago Sequenced by: Mark Gallagher & Thea Ioannou