Kahil El’Zabar & David Murray – We Is: Live at the Bop Shop

Delmark 557

A reciprocal loyalty exists between Delmark and its roster of artists. Crease back the pages in the label’s catalog a few years and the same names keep cropping up. Percussionist Kahil El’Zabar ranks as one of the most representative with a half dozen albums released and a backlog of several in the can. His strong associations with saxophonist David Murray go back a ways too. Each man approaches his art with a deep veneration for African American culture and expression. This live set from 2000 (evidence again of El’Zabar’s bottlenecked queue) marks their fourth commercially released recording together. If only the music was as uniformly direct and concise as the disc’s proclamatory title.

Part of the problem stems from a recycling of material. Two of the tunes are lifted from earlier albums. The other three work from motifs that never stray far from El’Zabar’s usual groove-centered rhythms. True these are live versions, rendered solely with reeds and drums, but a sense of déjà vu pervades just the same. Holding court in front of a captive audience at a small record store El’Zabar and Murray offer moments of copasetic brilliance interspersed with indulgent stretches of filler. At eighteen minutes the meandering “Blues Affirmation” feels long-winded, but El’Zabar’s luminous mbira patterns and the ruddy-textured blusterings of Murray’s tenor save it from ruin.

“One World Family” weaves a convincing crosshatch of percussive bass clarinet and palpitating hand drums, only to unravel in its second half when El’Zabar recites mawkish lyrics. The title cut reveals his shortcomings behind a standard kit as his wall of thrashing drums yields a surprisingly static backdrop for the yelps and growls of Murray’s hornet-stung horn. It’s energy music alright, but with the cork of control often completely blown off. As such the results come across more histrionic than dynamic in cast.

The set’s opening and closing cuts work better, but are still flawed. “Groove Allure” starts with Murray blowing a richly braided ribbon of cerulean riffs over the drummer’s percolating hand percussion patterns. Soon El’Zabar’s soulful chants boost the emotion quotient and push Murray to harden his articulation in a spate of honking skidding bleats. But the built inertia and focus sieves swiftly from the piece in its closing half as El’Zabar engages in a circumlatory solo. “Sweet Meat” falters under another frothing display by the drummer that douses the audience in a deluge of hopped-up cymbal splashes. More combative swagger from Murray around a simple riff theme and the pair take the show out on a raucous note. The Bop Shop crowd dutifully shows appreciation with a surge of whoops and claps.

It’s hard to fault El’Zabar his positioning as one of Delmark’s trusted and prolific hires. And there are strong sections to this album that are engagingly entertaining. I just wish he didn’t seem so complacent in coasting on an approach and style he’s already done to death.

~ Derek Taylor