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Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble: Jo'burg Jump
ByErnest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble is one such band that has benefited from the cities jazz tutelage. Formed in 1979, the NHE has maintained a solid core of musicians, releasing 3 discs for Sweden's Silkheart records. Like Edward Wilkerson's 8 Bold Souls, the NHE has the ability to sound larger than their collective five or six musicians. Dawkins write charts that draw from big band sounds pairing horns up to locomotive rhythms, something he took from his tenure with the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and his travel in South Africa.
But for all the talk of a Chicago sound, Jo'Burg Jump has more to do with Charles Mingus than the Art Ensemble Of Chicago. The NHE applies Mingus' urgent pulse throughout, just listening to the opener, 'Stranger, ' and the title track, I thought I had caught Charles, Jimmy Knepper, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, and Dannie Richmond. The NHE's music is that insistent. The band recorded on all but one track without their guitarist mainstay Jeff Parker who is devoting his time to other project like Tortoise and The Chicago Underground Trio. He does sit in on the 'Shorter Suite,' the one track that somewhat diverges from the hurried pace, to focus on shifting moods as a slow cooked blues. Besides Parker's guitar, trombonist Steve Berry takes a soulful solo. Dawkins displays his saxophone voice throughout coming from a lineage of Ornette Coleman and Roscoe Mitchell. On 'Turtle Island Dance' the direction shifts towards South Africa as the band blows flutes, toys and conch shells over hand drumming.
Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble is just one of many happening musical things vying for attention in Chicago, signaling out collective attention towards Illinois.
Track Listing
Stranger; Jo?burg Jump; The Gist Of It; Shorter Suite; Goldinger; Turtle Island Dance.
Personnel
Ernest Khabeer Dawkins ? Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Percussion; Ameen Muhammad ? Trumpet, Conch Shell, Percussion; Steve Berry ? Trombone, Percussion; Yosef Ben Israel ? Bass; Avreeayl Ra ? Drums, Percussion; Jeff Parker ? Guitar.
Album information
Title: Jo'burg Jump | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: Delmark Records