Art Ensemble of Chicago
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The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz group that grew out of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in the late 1960s.[1] The ensemble integrates many jazz styles and plays many instruments, including "little instruments": bells, bicycle horns, birthday party noisemakers, wind chimes, and various forms of percussion. The musicians would wear costumes and face paint while performing. These characteristics combined to make the ensemble's performances both aural and visual. While playing in Europe in 1969, five hundred instruments were used.[2]
History
Members of what was to become the Art Ensemble performed together under various band names in the mid-sixties, as members of the
All of the musicians were multi-instrumentalists. Jarman and Mitchell's primary instruments were
They were known for wearing costumes and makeup on stage. Member Joseph Jarman described part of their style:
So what we were doing with that face painting was representing everyone throughout the universe, and that was expressed in the music as well. That's why the music was so interesting. It wasn't limited to Western instruments, African instruments, or Asian instruments, or South American instruments, or anybody's instruments.[3]
In 1967, Wilson left the group to join Paul Butterfield's band, and for a period the group was a quartet without a full-time drummer. Jarman and Mitchell served as artistic directors at the cooperative summer camp Circle Pines Center in Delton, Michigan, in August of 1968, during the same week that the Democratic Convention was in Chicago. After a farewell concert at the Unitarian Church in Evanston, Illinois, in fall, 1968, the remaining group traveled to Paris.[4] In Paris, the ensemble was based at the Théâtre des Vieux Colombier.[5]
Fifty years on
Lester Bowie died of liver cancer in 1999.[8] Malachi Favors died in 2004 of pancreatic cancer.[9] Joseph Jarman died on January 9, 2019, of respiratory failure.[10][11]
As of 2017-2019 Mitchell and Moye remained active, with new and previous collaborators as guest under the name Art Ensemble of Chicago - 50th Anniversary Large Ensemble. They released an album in 2019:[12][13][14][15]
- Roscoe Mitchell – saxophones;
- Famoudou Don Moye – drums, congas and percussion.
Guests:
- Babu Atiba - african drums and djembe
- Fred Berry - trumpet, flugelhorn
- Silvia Bolognesi – double bass
- Brett Carson – piano
- Jean Cook – violin
- Steed Cowart - conductor
- Rodolfo Cordova-Lebron – voice
- Dudu Kouaté – African percussion
- Edward "Eddy" Yoon Kwon – viola
- William Lang - trombone
- Nicole Mitchell – flutes
- Moor Mother – spoken word
- Erina Newkirk - soprano vocals
- Junius Paul – double bass and objects
- Hugh Ragin – trumpet, flugelhorn and piccolo trumpet
- Tomeka Reid – cello
- Stephen Rush - conductor
- Jaribu Shahid – double bass
- Abel Selaocoe - cello
- Simon Sieger – trombone
- Baba Sissoko – African percussion
- Titos Sompa - vocals, congas, mbira, bells
- , electronics
- Enoch Williamson - congas, djembe and percussion
and another in 2023 with a smaller ensemble of 20 musicians - The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris.[16]
Discography
Further reading
- Steinbeck, Paul. Message to Our Folks: The Art Ensemble of Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 2017.
- Lewis, George E. A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music. University of Chicago Press, 2008.
- Shipton, Alyn. A New History of Jazz. London: Continuum, 2001.
Films
- 1982 - Great Black Music - The Art Ensemble of Chicago Television documentary broadcast by Channel 4 in November 1982.
- 1982 - Live From the Jazz Showcase: The Art Ensemble of Chicago (directed by William J Mahin, the University of Illinois at Chicago). Filmed at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase in Chicago, November 1, 1981.
References
- ISBN 0-141-00646-3.
- ^ Jost, Ekkehard (1975). Free Jazz (Studies in Jazz Research 4). Universal Edition. p. 177.
- ^ Joseph Jarman interview Archived March 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Wilmer, Valerie (1977). As Serious As Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz. Quartet. pp. 122–123.
- ^ Jost, Ekkehard (1975). Free Jazz (Studies in Jazz Research 4). Universal Edition. p. 167.
- ^ Wilmer, Valerie (1977). As Serious As Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz. Quartet. pp. 122–123.
- ^ Jost, Ekkehard (1975). Free Jazz (Studies in Jazz Research 4). Universal Edition. p. 167.
- ^ Voce, Steve (12 November 1999). "Obituary: Lester Bowie". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 14, 2022.
- ^ "Obituary: Malachi Favors". The Guardian. 11 February 2004. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
- ^ Chinen, Nate (January 11, 2019). "Joseph Jarman, 81, Dies; Mainstay of the Art Ensemble of Chicago". The New York Times. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
- ^ Jazz Musician and Buddhist Priest Joseph Jarman Dead at 81: Pitchfork. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
- National Public Radio. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ^ Shteamer, Hank (March 25, 2019). "The Art Ensemble of Chicago on the Past and Future of Their 'Great Black Music'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ^ "The Art Ensemble of Chicago". AKAMU SAS di Lofoco Alberto. 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ^ a b c d e "The Art Ensemble Of Chicago". Discogs. 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ^ a b Fordham, John (January 27, 2023). "Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris review – devoted heirs carry the torch". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
External links
- Art Ensemble of Chicago – official website, but not updated since before 2004, retrieved May 21, 2019
- The Art Ensemble of Chicago - current webpage as of 2019, maintained by Art Ensemble's European booking agency, retrieved May 21, 2019
- Art Ensemble of Chicago - Discography at Discogs
- Art Ensemble of Chicago discography (archive), retrieved January 11, 2005
- Art Ensemble of Chicago biography on the AACM site, retrieved January 11, 2005
- Art Ensemble of Chicago return to Mandel Hallafter 32 years – report by Seth Sanders in the University of Chicago Chronicle, April 29, 2004, retrieved January 11, 2005
- Joseph Jarman interview at Furious, retrieved January 11, 2005
- Art Ensemble of Chicago photos, live in Salzburg/Austria 2006
- Art Ensemble of Chicago portraits by Dominik Huber at dominikphoto.com