“There have come to pass these agents of deconstruction and thank God they’re here or else everybody’d be on a square lunch and nobody’d eat,” says Chicago percussionist Kahil El’Zabar.


Who knows what he means, but the crowd digs it, whether he’s talking about current events or the loud cigar-smoking jerks at a nearby table in the cozy HotHouse. More than anything else, he looks weary and yet more wiry than usual, because he’s been pulling double-duty along with the rest of his storied Ritual Trio. The same goes for suavely dressed New York violinist Billy Bang, who has been on the road in and around recording sessions for his latest project — he is billed as a guest artist sitting in with the Trio, but he likewise has to work for a living, with his already explosive bow-and-string execution given that much more attention at tonight’s gig. Why? Sadly, Ritual Trio bassist Malachi Favors checked into the hospital yesterday and is under observation for high blood pressure, so the group (plus guest) shrinks to a true trio.
Opening with Kahil’s standard “Ornette,” the Trio more than makes up for the missing rhythmic anchor, and then some. Kahil’s conga work creates a well-worn groove to fit a rotating cast of amazing guests, in this case accommodating Bang’s blazing, frenzied violin work with surprising, novel results. And as always, Kahil’s emotive, hypothalamic grunts and digestive noises play along the edges of jazz scat and soul slather, slurring twisted variations on what sounds like “baby,” “get it,” and “girl.” He and saxophonist Ari Brown set up Bang to shine on an instrument that smacks of somber classical tone while improvising beyond its usual registers. And when Brown switches to piano, the Western instruments wrap in and around the African percussive backbone, even when Kahil goes to kalimba or the drum kit to make a crashing cymbal tempest point up Bangs’ and Brown’s wending solos. “With Bang, it’s a whole new feel,” says Kahil, “and without Malachi, even more.” In this case, less does not necessarily mean more, but it provides an opportunity to hear the two Trio-ists and the amazing Bang in a set that was seemingly meant to happen with three voices sounding like four or five. Well, thank goodness for those agents of deconstruction who give us something different to eat every now and then.
30 November 2001, Illinois Entertainer

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