***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** News Release

JAZZ CONCERT: The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble FEATURING: Kahil El’Zabar, Ernest Khabeer Dawkins, and Corey Wilkes HOSTED BY: Jessica Care Moore DATE: Tuesday, February 28th, 2012. Doors open 6pm, Performance 7pm. Tickets $10, $15 at door LOCATION: N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, 52 E. Forest Ave., Detroit, IL 48201 CONTACT: Sineknsh Shibshe, 313.831.8700 / [email protected]

The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble Presented by The N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art

DETROIT, MI – THE N’NAMDI CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART will feature a performance by trio Kahil El’Zabar, Ernest Khabeer Dawkins, and Corey Wilkes on Tuesday, February 28th, 2012. Boasting an impressive repertoire, the band’s members have rubbed shoulders and collaborated with greats like Wynton Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderly, and Stevie Wonder. The 36 year old ensemble comes to Detroit following a performance at the House of Blues, Chicago. Renowned Detroiter Jessica Care Moore will host the event. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Advance tickets can be purchased online at http://ethnicheritageensembleatthennamdi.eventbrite.com/.

Member Kahil El’Zabar formed Ethnic Heritage Ensemble in 1976 and the group has remained active ever since with varying lineups. The band’s music is a free-spirited jazz incorporating vocals, different kinds of African percussion, sax, , and guitar. The performance will feature El’Zabar on percussion and vocals, Ernest Khabeer Dawkins on reeds, and Corey Wilkes on trumpet.

The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble was formed shortly after percussionist Kahil El'Zabar graduated from the school of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in 1976. He teamed up with tenor saxophonist Edward Wilkerson, Jr. to play music that combined contemporary African American musical styles, like jazz, with more traditional African instrumentation and rhythms. The duo would frequently grow to a trio in these first years, adding musicians like saxophonist Light Henry Huff and Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre. In 1988, they added trombonist and conga player , who is the leader of the jazz- group Defunkt. In 1997, Wilkerson was replaced by Ernest "Khabeer" Dawkins who is the leader of New Horizons Ensemble.

Jessica Care moore is a internationally renowned poet, playwright, actor, activist, producer and CEO of Moore Black Press and founder of Black Women Rock! She is the author of The Words Don't Fit in My Mouth, The Alphabet Verses The Ghetto, God is Not an American, and a forthcoming book of essays, Conduit: Literary Apartheid and other Essays. She has performed her poems and solo theater shows all over the United States, in South Africa, and across Europe. From her Broadway performances at Carnegie Hall, or Harlem's Apollo Theater, London's Institute of Contemporary Arts, to New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center, moore believes poems belong everywhere and to everyone.

The N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, founded by G.R. N’Namdi Gallery owner/founder George N’Namdi and located in the sugar hill arts district in Detroit, consists of an expansive 16,000 square feet complex including: 4 exhibition spaces, indoor and outdoor performance spaces, an outdoor sculpture garden, and a movement/yoga center. Also housed in the N’Namdi Center are independently run businesses: Seva, a vegetarian restaurant making its debut to the Detroit area, a gift and bookstore, a wine bar, and two art galleries.

For further information or to request an interview with the artist, please contact Sineknsh Shibshe at [email protected] or (313) 831-8700.

### http://nnamdicenter.org/

The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble

Corey Wilkes

Kahil El’Zabar

Ernest Khabeer Dawkins

Jessica Care Moore