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A landmark album in the history of post civil rights movement jazz, Kawaida is an essential album of spiritual modal jazz by drummer Kuumba-Toudie Heath (aka Albert Tootie Heath), featuring legendary jazz performers Don Cherry, Buster Williams, Mtume, Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Heath and Ed Blackwell. This early document of the experimental advancement from the modal concept (which Herbie Hancock mastered on Maiden Voyage and other albums from the mid-sixties) towards a sound with a stronger focus on African elements, highlights a lesser known period in which many African-American Jazz musicians gave themselves Swahili names to accentuate their African roots. Coming together here for a session that was very nearly lost to the history books, this record now stands as one of the strongest spiritual jazz sessions of the late 60s, and an essential piece of jazz history.