Kahil El'Zabar: Jazz as spiritual experience

There's something voyeuristic about a Kahil El'Zabar performance. The Chicago drummer, percussionist and leader of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (which performs in Washington each year during Black History Month) comports himself with tremendous dignity and restraint between his tunes, then during performance unleashes a spiritual fervor. His manner as a musician -- grunting, grimacing, bellowing lyrics, humming behind his soloists and dancing in place -- is raw, primal and open, in a way that ne...