Kahil El'Zabar

Touring to promote his critically acclaimed Delmark release, Big M, A Tribute to Malachi Favors, with saxophone titan Ari Brown and NYC violinist Billy Bang, master percussionist Kahil El'Zabar comes to the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz on November 27th with three extremely talented friends, violinist Billy Bang, young monster reedist Rene McLean (Jackie's son), and rock-solid bassist Yosef Ben Israel for a night of thrilling and exploratory jazz. This group's music spans a tremendous amount of territory, branching African drumming to Chicago free jazz, creating a deep soul groove hybrid of contemporary ethnic folk and jazz music.

Internationally renowned percussionist and composer Kahil El'Zabar is considered one of the most prolific jazz innovators of his generation. Indeed El'Zabar is a true "Renaissance Man," with a musical style and content that flows from ancient Africa to the modern world. In his own words, "The spirit of one's approach comes first before the technical. All the facility in the world with nothing that comes from the heart doesn't make good music. The basis of the strength of any artistic evolution has come from ethnicity."

Hubert Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhythm-and-blues genres; moving effortlessly from one repertory to another. He has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, with the orchestras of Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Cleveland, Amsterdam, Japan, Detroit and with the Stanford String Quartet. He has given annual performances at Carnegie Hall, and has performed sold out performances in the Hollywood Bowl with fellow flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal and was a member of the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestras. In addition, he has appeared at the Montreux, Playboy, and Kool Jazz festivals; he performed with the Modern Jazz Quartet at the Hollywood Bowl in 1982 and with the Detroit Symphony in 1994. His recordings have won three Grammy nominations.

Mr. Laws has been involved in unique projects such as collaborations with Quincy Jones, Bob James, and Claude Bolling for Neil Simon's comedy California Suite, a collaboration with Earl Klugh and Pat Williams on the music for How to Beat the High Cost of Living: and film scores for The Wiz, Color Purple, A Hero Ain't Nothing but a Sandwich, and Spot Marks the X.

photo by Andrea Canter

Dubbed “the natural heir to the Boss Tenor crown worn so long and so well by Gene Ammons” (Bob Porter, liner notes for The Party), 72-year-old global performer Houston Person knows the music business inside out, from booking his own tours to producing his own albums. As eclectic as he is talented, Person has recorded everything from disco and gospel to pop and r&b, in addition to his trademark, souful hard bop. After years as producer and house tenor for High Note Records and touring with the late Etta Jones, Person is getting renewed recognition as a master of popular songs played in a relaxed, highly accessible style. On November 17th-19thh, Houston Person brings his swinging quartet to the Jazz at Pearl's in San Francisco and nothing beats bluesy, feel-good jazz as a time-out from fall chores.