Kahil El'Zabar is a contemporary Chicago area jazz percussionist. He is a longtime member and former president of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and collaborates with many musicians from that music collective. He is a founding member of Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio comprising him and Ari Brown (sax) and Malachi Favors (bs), and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble alternately with Ernest Dawkins and Ed Wilkerson, Jr.. El'Zabar frequently collaborates with Billy Bang and has also collaborated with Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp. Kahil El'Zabar's music has many elements from African music; he himself aside from drum set also plays African thumb harp and djembe, among numerous other percussion instruments from all across the world. El'Zabar's pieces are typically groove-oriented and innovative, though by no means inaccessible.
