Ernest ’Khabeer’ Dawkins (b. 1953) is an American post-bop/free jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and band leader from Chicago. He is a founder of several ensembles, including Ernest Dawkins New Horizons Ensemble, Aesop Quartet, Chicago Trio, and Ernest Dawkins Chicago 12, as well as a member of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and a founder of DAWK Music label. As a composer, Dawkins aims to reflect in his works the evolving collective cultural memory of the American jazz aesthetics.

Dawkins started playing music and learning bass and conga drums at the age of eight. When Ernest was nineteen, he became mesmerized by the saxophone sounds while listening to Lester Young records from his father’s jazz LP collection. In 1973, under the influence of Guido Sinclair’s music, Dawkins decided to focus on this instrument. He purchased a saxophone, clarinet, and a flute, and began studying with the members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), such as Joseph Jarman and Chico Freeman. Dawkins continued his education at the Vandercook College of Music.

The composer wrote commissioned works for the Banlieues Bleues and Sons d’Hiver Festivals, Black Metropolis Research Consortium, the Jazz Institute of Chicago, and the King Arts Complex of Columbus Ohio. Dawkins also founded the Englewood Jazz Festival, which took place annually for over a decade now, as well as Live The Spirit Residency, a non-profit arts organization committed to improving access to creative and improv music for underserved Chicagoan communities.

Throughout his career, Ernest Dawkins has worked with numerous outstanding musicians in a wide range of jazz-related genres, including Ramsey Lewis, Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell, Willie Pickens, Malachi Favors, Henry Threadgill, Amina Claudine Myers, Brother Jack McDuff, Famoudou Don Moye, Jerry Butler, The Dells, and Anthony Braxton, who coincidentally happened to be Dawkins’ childhood neighbor.