2007 release (RARE)  ** "A Black Op'era (dedicated to Chairman Fred Hampton), written, directed and performed by Ernest Khabeer Dawkins (one of Chicago's most famous improvisers and president of the well-deserving and celebrated AACM), leader of the Chicago 12, which includes some of the best and most famous soloists on the Chicago scene. Ernest Dawkins, one of Chicago's leading artists (he has collaborated with musicians and groups such as Ramsey Lewis, Muhal Richard Abrams, Richie Cole, Jack McDuff, Joseph Jarman, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, Don Moye, Anthony Braxton, Kahil El-Zabar, James Newton, Henry Threadgill, Steve McCall, Fred Hopkins, Amina Claudine Myers, Douglas Ewart, Roscoe Mitchell, Charles Earland, Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, The Dells) and president of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) in the same city, dedicates a chapter of his Chicago Trilogy of Tragedy to the murder case of Fred Hampton. A work of great theatrical impact and great emotional involvement, A Black Op'era represents an extraordinary mix of reenactment of a news story, political interpretation, improvised poetry, jazz and African-American tradition, rap and hip hop, presenting in a single, compact narrative arc the entire cultural excursus of the African tradition in America. Surrounded by a group of exceptional musicians including trumpeter Corey Wilkes and double bass player Harrison Bankhead, Dawkins draws on numerous African-American musical sources, from the big-band sound reworked by Sun Ra to the dense and dark Mingusian writing up to the explicit recovery of the blues and archaic African-American chorality, creating a compelling, engaging and spectacular work."