Formed in 1999, Enuma Elish was born of a vision to create a cohesive synthesis of world music, free jazz, and electronica. They are distinguished from most live/electronic hybrids by their use of loops created from original field recordings, acoustic percussion, ethnic strings and winds, in addition to conventional electronic instruments.

Woodwind player Warren Jones relocated from Wichita, Kansas to the Boston area in 1999 to study ethnomusicology at Tufts University. Prior to this, he had gained an extensive jazz education at Wichita State University, which encouraged his tendencies towards free expression, world music, and technology. He delved deeper into world music and culture through travel: Spain, Morocco, India, Egypt, and China were among the countries he visited and documented with his own field recordings. Before moving to Boston, Warren recorded a solo demo featuring compositions employing rock rhythms, acoustic percussion, found objects, homemade instruments, and snippets of field recordings. This would later become a blueprint for Enuma Elish.

Almost immediately upon his arrival in Boston, Warren met Yuri Zbitnoff, a veteran of the Boston music scene for the past decade, who had been in of a number of eclectic projects including prog rockers Xixxo, free jazz big bands led by Raqib Hassan, and the faux jazz exotica studio project Conundrum. More recently, Yuri has contributed his talents to a variety of other rock and improv oriented bands, including the Lockgroove spin-off Caduceus, Sky Saw (with former Blue Man Group electric zither player Core Redonnett), postmodern lounge groove unit Mission Creep, PEK's honk/tweet free improv outfit, Leap of Faith, ambient dub metal scientists Teledubgnosis, and neo Krautrock heroes Cul de Sac.

By fusing modern technology and improvisational techniques with a lush world of ancient sounds, Enuma Elish have carved out a unique place in 21st century music.

Live Soundtracks

In January 2006, Enuma Elish entered a new phase with the premiere of their original live soundtrack to the 1973 cult classic Fantastic Planet. Since then, Enuma have performed this piece to enthusiastic audiences at some of the most prestigous venues around the country including the Coolidge Corner Theater (Boston, Ma), AS220 (Providence, RI), Hampshire College (Amherst, MA), The Red Vic Movie House (San Francisco, CA), University of Oregon, Eugene, and the Capitol Theater (Olympia, WA).

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"One of the most far ranging neo- psychedelic ensembles... "
Eugene Weekly
March 2007