Although the 72-year-old drummer and bandleader is a jazz veteran, he has never been part of the mainstream. He has been a distinct individualist and innovator throughout his career. He has played with a number of top ensembles with artists such as Don Cherry, Dizzy Gillespie, and Stevie Wonder, but his crowning project is the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, with whom he has recorded 15 albums and which he will present in Prague. The repertoire of original compositions is complemented by standards and a masterfully rearranged version of Miles Davis's "All Blues." El'Zabar is a masterful composer, drummer, and percussionist, and belongs to that rare breed of musicians whose goal is to harmonize with others, listen to their bandmates, and not assert their ego. More