The East New York Ensemble is a group that had a wide range of cultural and musical ideas. In the liner notes accompanying the album, Bilal Abdurahman writes that musically we are especially concerned with modulating from one groovey layer of polyrhythmic texture and colors to the next. Music from a variety of cultures will be available to listeners, including an improvisation that is based on a Turkish religious melody, and “Sunflower”, which features an old reed instrument that was given to Abdurahman in Pusan, Korea. The East New York Ensemble’s sole album, At the Helm, features a wide range of musicians who demonstrate a variety multicultural influences. The vinyl edition was reissued in 2011. from http://www.folkways.si.edu
