Nov. 05--No one is ever going to accuse Chicago percussionist-bandleader Kahil El'Zabar of dreaming small.
His various bands, global tours, multimedia arts events and far-flung educational programs long ago made him a center of gravity in musical Chicago and beyond.
But his latest effort seems to combine all the above into perhaps the most ambitious undertaking of his career: the Chicago Academy of Music, which aims to immerse students in jazz, blues, contemporary classical, world music and what-not.
To celebrate its recent opening in Hyde Park and to raise money for its expansion into other locations across the city, El'Zabar will lead upward of 50 musicians in a marathon concert, plus art exhibition and fashion show Saturday evening at Block 37 in an event he calls "Elevation." As always with El'Zabar's "Elevation" events, various art forms will converge, the free-ranging nature of the endeavor serving as a metaphor for his vision of the emerging Chicago Academy of Music.
"We're going to have an entire floor of art and expression and (debut) the Creative Art Music Orchestra," says El'Zabar of the event, which also will feature live painting by Lewis Achenbach, art exhibition by Sandro Miller and Lucy Slivinski, fashion by Katrin Schnabl and Sarar and more.
On strictly musical terms, El'Zabar plans to lead a 20-minute set by a Latin band, a 20-minute performance by a classical ensemble and a 20-minute segment featuring singer Tammy McCann with a jazz band. After all of that, El'Zabar will convene the musicians for a half-hour grand finale.
The scale of the performance might seem a tad grandiose, but I've seen El'Zabar pull off these heady cultural bazaars before, his dynamism as musician-bandleader-instigator somehow holding it all together.
When you see which Chicago musicians El'Zabar has convened for the event, you know something significant is likely to happen. Among the players: jazz trumpeters Corey Wilkes and Victor Garcia; classical trumpeter Stephen Burns (artistic director of the Fulcrum Point new music project); jazz pianist Robert Irving III, classical pianist Kuang-Hao Huang, jazz saxophonist Ernest Dawkins, drummer Ernie Adams and others.
All of these musicians are listed as faculty at the Chicago Academy of Music, which to date has 38 students in the institution's newly opened home at 5655 S. University Ave., says El'Zabar. The site holds historical resonance for him and for music in Chicago.
"I did a concert in 1972 with Douglas Ewart and George Lewis at what was then called the Blue Gargoyle, and I'm now in that same building, which is now University Church," notes El'Zabar, citing two fellow members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
"Jimmy Ellis had a big band that rehearsed there on Wednesdays. The AACM had concert series there."
What El'Zabar is trying to create in the space builds on the precedents of the AACM, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and always has been fearless in merging musical languages and artistic forms. So even though Chicago happens to be rich in major universities with nationally known music schools, El'Zabar believes the Chicago Academy Music can offer something different.
He's trying to build a school that functions "across disciplines and focuses on the jazz aesthetic of improvisation," says El'Zabar, who serves as the organization's executive creative director. "We're going to create something Chicago never has had: A Juilliard/New School sensibility in a Chicago music values system."
By Chicago music values, El'Zabar refers to the improvisational techniques that course through jazz, blues and gospel, all musical idioms that this city has played a key role in developing during the past century or so. Add to this ethnic musical traditions from around the world and contemporary classical expression, which also often embraces improvisation to one degree or another, and you surely have a distinctive perspective on how music can be created, taught and studied.
El'Zabar believes the aforementioned Creative Art Music Orchestra will articulate in sound what the school is all about, which is why Saturday's performance stands as a kind of fanfare for the educational venture. Ultimately, El'Zabar hopes to build "an ongoing institution."
Whether he can make this happen remains to be seen, but it's certainly never a wise idea to underestimate the man's imagination, musicianship or tenacity. Certainly he has few peers as percussionist-bandleader, his powerhouse performances difficult to forget once you've experienced them.
Above all, he believes this experiment can succeed because of the nature of the city where it's being launched.
"I've always said you couldn't have a Charlie Parker without Kansas City: You have to have an audience that understands genius," says El'Zabar. "Chicago has great audiences that we have to galvanize and inspire. We have to get them to realize that this is a collective experience -- nobody is on the sidelines.
"When you think about the great (artistic) movements: the Bauhaus or bebop or the Sun Ra Arkestra, it was always about collaboration. Great artists inspire great artists."
Through the decades, El'Zabar has inspired artists and audiences alike. Now he's taking his concept to the institutional level.
If he and his colleagues succeed, many will benefit.
hreich@tribpub.com
Creative Art Music Orchestra
When: 6 p.m. to midnight Saturday
Where: Block 37, 108 N. State St.
Tickets: $50; www.chicagoacademyofmusic.org
"Portraits in Jazz": Howard Reich's e-book collects his exclusive interviews with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and others, as well as profiles of past masters such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. Get "Portraits in Jazz" at chicagotribune.com/ebooks.
