Chicago drummer/percussionist and bandleader Kahil El'Zabar and Rochester are no strangers. He appeared at the Bop Shop in February 2000 with the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (with sax player Ernest Khabeer Dawkins and trombonist Joseph Bowie) and then came to play in a couple of duo configurations, once with violinist Billy Bang and once with saxophonist David Murray, which was recorded and issued on the Delmark label as We Is: Live At The Bop Shop. In 2005 the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble played two exciting sets in Kilbourn Hall as part of the Rochester International Jazz Festival.

The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble—with the line up from the Jazz Festival of El'Zabar, Dawkins and the newest member, trumpeter Corey Wilkes—is returning again to play at the Bop Shop on Sunday, February 22nd at 8pm, at the Bop Shop Atrium to kick off the 2009 Jazz in the Atrium series put on by Bop Arts, Inc., a non-profit formed by Bop Shop owner Tom Kohn. A $10 donation is requested. The Bop Shop Atrium is at 274 N. Goodman St., at the Village Gate.

Come on out to see these innovative musicians in what is likely to be one of the jazz highlights of the year and to support Bop Arts and Tom Kohn in presenting unique artists and groups like EHE in Rochester. You can find out more about the EHE and its members on the Bop Shop's website.