As the leader of New Horizons Ensemble,
Ernest Dawkins has performed music ranging from free bop to free form, occasionally displaying its links to the past while definitely looking ahead.
Dawkins remembered hearing
Anthony Braxton (a neighbor) practice as a youth. He originally played bass and then drums before settling on the saxophone in 1973. He attended the AACM school and studied music at the Vandercook College of Music and with the AACM "elders" (including
Joseph Jarman and
Chico Freeman). After playing with local ensembles (including the AACM Big Band, Ed Wilkerson's Shadow Vignettes big band, and Douglas Ewart's Clarinet Choir), in 1979
Dawkins formed New Horizons Ensemble which eventually grew into a pianoless sextet. His adventurous group (consisting in 1994 of
Dawkins, trombonist
Steve Berry, trumpeter Ameen Muhammad, guitarist
Jeffery Parker, bassist Yosef Ben Israel, and drummer
Reggie Nicholson) has performed regularly in Chicago, at festivals, and in Europe, in addition to making three recordings for the Silkheart label. ~ Scott Yanow