Kahil El’Zabar’s Ritual Trio Featuring Billy Bang
Live At The River East Art Center
(Delmark)

Delmark’s first DVD captures the Ritual Trio at one of their regular Ascension Loft Series performances at Chicago’s new facility for the arts. Joined by Ari Brown on tenor sax and Yosef Ben Israel on bass, El’Zabar kicks off the set with a lovely piece entitled “Big M” that makes good use of the kalimba and minimal
percussion. All of the songs share a deep spiritual vibe and Billy Bang adds just the right amount of drama with his inspired violin improvisations. You can opt for
just the audio by picking up the companion CD, but either way, it’s hard to go wrong with music as beautiful as this. - David Bassin