Kahil El'zabar's Ritual Trio Featuring Billy Bang Big M, A Tribute to Malachi Favors (2006)

The diminutive but mighty acoustic bassist Malachi Favors was a charter member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio, and since his passing both groups have suffered. This recording for El'Zabar and his revamped trio including longtime member saxophonist Ari Brown and guest violinist Billy Bang is the first offering with bassist Yosef Ben Israel filling the chair of the late Favors…

Forty years before recording this very interesting CD, keyboardist Sun Ra made his debut on records on a duet with violinist Stuff Smith, playing a haunting version of "Deep Purple." For this CD (one of Ra's final sessions) the quartet workout with violinist Billy Bang finds Ra doing a new version of "Deep Purple" and performing a variety of tunes associated with Smith. Actually, Ra was a bit hemmed in by the concept, and his conception of time was different than Bang's, so there is a certain amount of tension in the music. Also, Billy Bang has a much rougher sound and a freer style than Stuff Smith, but the end results are well worth hearing.

Billy Bang long ago earned his reputation as an engaging leader and violin soloist in avant-garde circles. Luckily that has not stifled his abilities and ambition to play in more straight-ahead settings as he does on Big Bang Theory…

Best known for vibrant live concert performances, Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio feature jazz from an African improvised perspective, and the precepts of the Association For The Advancement Of Creative Musicians based in Chicago. This club date at Chi-town's Hot House in the fall of 2000 is released eight years after being recorded. It marks a prior coming of age for El'Zabar, who plays the drum kit almost exclusively (he is featured on the booklet with a giant mbira), and always honors the celebratory aspect of music making…

On Once Around The Room ECM recording artists and key jazz musicians from several generations unite in a small ensemble to celebrate the musical legacy of drum icon Paul Motian in a big way. Joe Lovano and Jakob Bro lead a party of seven through fiery originals that recall the idioms and idiosyncrasies which Motian brought to light over six influential decades behind the drums. Lovano and Motian had been intimate colleagues for many years with their most notable collaboration being the groundbreaking trio featuring Bill Frisell – the lineup released three albums on ECM. Jakob Bro on the other hand made his ECM debut on Paul’s album Garden of Eden (2006). On Once Around The Room, compositions by Joe and Jakob appear alongside collective improvisation and Motian’s own “Drum Music”, seamlessly tied together and developed by an accomplished musical collective with stalwarts Larry Grenadier, Thomas Morgan and Anders Christensen respectively on bass as well as drummers Joey Baron and Jorge Rossy.

Zubin Mehta's reputation is an (undeservedly) mixed one. Following an excellent term as director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mehta's career was marked by a rocky period with the New York Philharmonic in which he was caricatured by the NY press as a showman with little substance to his music making. A series of lackluster recordings with that group did not help. This wonderful collection goes a long way to demonstrating how incorrect this assessment is. The six CD set highlights some of Mehta's best music-making in performances captured in wonderful sound by Decca. Appropriately enough, most of the recordings are with Los Angeles, where Mehta made his reputation.