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Art Ensemble Of Chicago

The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz ensemble that grew out of Chicago's AACM in the late 1960s. The group continues to tour and record through 2006, despite the deaths of two of the founding members.

The Art Ensemble is notable for its integration of musical styles spanning jazz's entire history and for their multi-instrumentalism, especially the use of what they termed "little instruments" in addition to the traditional jazz lineup; "little instruments" can include bicycle horns, bells, birthday party noisemakers, wind chimes, and a vast array of percussion instruments (including found objects). The group also uses costumes and face paint in performance. These characteristics combine to make the ensemble's performances as much a visual spectacle as an aural one, with each musician playing from behind a large array of drums, bells, gongs, and other instruments. When playing in Europe in 1969, the group were using more than 500 instruments. [1] Contents

Members of what was to become the Art Ensemble performed together under various band names in the mid-sixties, releasing their first album, Sound, as the Roscoe Mitchell Sextet in 1966. The Sextet included saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, trumpeter Lester Bowie and bassist Malachi Favors Maghostut, who over the next year went on to play together as the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble. In 1967 they were joined by fellow AACM members Joseph Jarman (saxophone) and Philip Wilson (drums), and made a number of recordings for Nessa.

As noted above, the musicians were all active multi-instrumentalists: Jarman and Mitchell's primary instruments were alto and tenor saxes, respectively, but they played many other saxophones (ranging from the tiny sopranino to the large bass), flutes and clarinets. In addition to trumpet, Bowie played flugelhorn, cornet, shofar and conch shells. Favors added touches of banjo and bass guitar. Over the years, most of the musicians dabbled on piano, synthesizer and other keyboards.

In 1969, Wilson left the group to join blues singer/harmonica player Paul Butterfield's band. That same year, the remaining group travelled to Paris [2], where they became known as the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The immediate impetus for the name change came from a French promoter who added "of Chicago" to their name for purely descriptive purposes, but the new name stuck because band members felt that it better reflected the cooperative nature of the group. In Paris the ensemble were based at the Théâtre des Vieux Colombier [3] and their distinctive music with percussion roles dispersed throughout the quartet was documented in a range of records on the Freedom and BYG labels. They also recorded "Comme à la radio" with Brigitte Fontaine and Areski Belkacem as a drummerless quartet before welcoming percussionist Famoudou Don Moye to the group in 1970.

In 1970 the ensemble recorded two albums with singer Fontella Bass, then Lester Bowie's wife. These were The Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass and Les Stances A Sophie. The latter was the soundtrack from the French movie of the same title. Bass' vocals, backed by the powerful pulsating push of the band has allowed the "Theme De YoYo" to remain an underground cult classic ever since.

The ensemble returned to the United States in 1972, and the quintet of Mitchell, Jarman, Bowie, Favors and Moye remained static until 1993. Upon their return to the States, they came to prominence with two major releases on Atlantic Records: Bap-Tizum and Fanfare for the Warriers. Members of the group made the decision to restrict their appearances together, allowing each player to pursue other musical interests. It seems likely that this has contributed to the longevity of the ensemble. Despite the self-imposed limitations the Art Ensemble managed to release more than 20 studio recordings and several live albums between 1972 and 2004.

The makeup of the ensemble changed in 1993, when Jarman retired from the group to focus on his practice of Zen and Aikido. Bowie died of liver cancer in 1999, and the group continued as a trio (featuring a number of guest artists in their performances) until 2003, when Jarman rejoined the ensemble. In January of 2004 Favors Maghostut died suddenly during the recording of the group's latest album, Sirius Calling. The group was joined for their 2004 tour by trumpeter Corey Wilkes and bassist Jaribu Shahid, but it remains to be seen whether they will become permanent members of the ensemble, though a 2 CD live release by this quintet from 2004 is scheduled for release in 2006 on Pi Recordings.

Ensemble members embrace the performance art aspects of their concerts, believing that they allow the band to move beyond the strict limits of "jazz". Their operating motto is "Great Black Music: Ancient To the Future", which allows them to explore a wide variety of musical styles and influences; the band's distinctive appearance on stage also reflects this motto. As Jarman describes it, "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."
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Art Ensemble Of Chicago: The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris

Read "The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
July 23, 2023

Having first come to international prominence in Paris at the end of the '60s, it seems fitting for the Rogue Art imprint to celebrate the Art Ensemble Of Chicago's progression into their sixth decade in the same city. This double CD documents the performance of an extended AEC at the Sons d'hiver Festival in February 2019. Only reedman & composer Roscoe Mitchell and drummer Famoudou Don Moye survive from the original quintet but, rather than accept this as a limitation, ...

Album Review

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris

Read "The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
February 8, 2023

Recorded live in Paris in February 2020, The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris. presents Art Ensemble Of Chicago—as defiantly daring avant-garde as that first night in Paris, 1969 —giving no quarter whatsoever in their lifelong, diasporic pursuit of creation unbound. Breaking at the pace of a dream, surviving co-founders saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell and drummer Famoudou Don Moye return to the moment of conception with a two hour, double disc set The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris, ...

Album Review

Art Ensemble Of Chicago: The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris

Read "The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala

by Giuseppe Segala
February 6, 2023

Parigi è città fatale per l'Art Ensemble of Chicago: nel 1969 fu traguardo del prodigio artistico e umano preparato negli anni precedenti da Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors e Joseph Jarman, che avevano incrociato le proprie esperienze dapprima al Wilson Junior College di Chicago, nel 1961, poi nel lavoro con la Experimental Band di Muhal Richard Abrams, che dal '66 vide anche la partecipazione di Lester Bowie. Infine, nella formidabile attività musicale, didattica e sociale dell'Association for the Advancement of Creative ...

Radio & Podcasts

Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (1966 - 1969)

by Russell Perry
December 31, 2019

As hard bop was running out of steam and rock & roll was becoming the music of choice for the younger audience, many musicians were building on the innovations of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane, creating a new approach to jazz—Free Jazz (after Coleman's 1960 release of the same name) or, simply, the avant-garde. For solidarity in the face of limited venues for performance and indifferent audiences, creative musicians in Chicago banded together to found the Association for ...

Live Review

Art Ensemble of Chicago 50th Anniversary

by Chris May
November 25, 2019

Art Ensemble of Chicago Barbican Hall Art Ensemble of Chicago 50th Anniversary London November 23, 2019 There is nothing in the rule book which says that a band celebrating its 50th anniversary must avoid new material and instead trawl through its back catalogue. And in any case, the Art Ensemble of Chicago (AEC) threw away the rule book the day it began playing. The band's founding mission-statement was to ...

Album Review

The Art Ensemble of Chicago: We Are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration

Read "We Are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala

by Giuseppe Segala
August 12, 2019

Quanta storia. Nel 1969 Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman e il più riluttante Malachi Favors, spinti dalla lungimiranza avventurosa di Lester Bowie, si trasferirono a Parigi, accolti dalla comunità degli artisti e degli appassionati con grande attenzione. Tra questi, c'era il batterista e promotore parigino Claude Delcloo, particolarmente attivo e in contatto fin dal 1968 con l'AACM di Chicago e il suo presidente Muhal Richard Abrams, come ricorda Paul Steinbeck nel suo Message to Our Folks: The Art Ensemble of Chicago, ...

Album Review

The Art Ensemble of Chicago: We Are On The Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration

Read "We Are On The Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
May 8, 2019

Bassist Malachi Favors, trumpeter Lester Bowie and saxophonist Joseph Jarman have all passed on, leaving the Art Ensemble of Chicago's remaining original members, saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell and drummer Famoudou Don Moye, to rebuild. We Are on the Edge is a double-CD package; it is a fifty-year celebration of the group, and a dedication to the departed members of the seminal offshoot of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). It is not a project that bears a clear ...

Book / Magazine

Holiday Gift Idea: New Book Features Kronos Quartet, Brian Eno, Ryuichi Sakatmoto, Arvo Pärt, Jon Hassell, Michael Price And The Art Ensemble Of Chicago

Source: All About Jazz
December 12, 2018

The Moderns vol.2 explores the world’s great avant-garde artists. BADD PRESS announces the launch of The Moderns vol. 2, the second installment of a series dedicated to the world’s great avant-garde artists. Featuring more than 200 reviews and interviews, the book introduces readers to established and emerging music leaders from around the world. “The first volume was so warmly received,” says author Kevin Press. “Since its publication at the beginning of this year, I’ve been sent music from all over ...
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Video / DVD

Weekend Extra: Art Ensemble Of Chicago

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
June 7, 2015

From the mid-1960s through the early years of this century, the Art Ensemble of Chicago crafted elements of free jazz into an ensemble personality that brought it extensive exposure. Often, as much attention went to the band’s costumes and makeup as to its wide range of influences from all eras of jazz and music of Africa, Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world. Apart from their primary instruments, the five musicians played an array of brass, reed, percussion ...
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179

Recording

Art Ensemble of Chicago: Nice Guys (ECM 1126)

Source: Between Sound and Space - An ECM Records Resource
April 13, 2011

Art Ensemble of Chicago Nice Guys Lester Bowie trumpet, celeste, bass drum Joseph Jarman reeds, percussion, vocal Roscoe Mitchell reeds, percussion Malachi Favors Maghostus bass, percussion, melodica Famoudou Don Moye drums, percussion, vocal Recorded May 1978 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg Engineer: Martin Wieland Produced by Manfred Eicher The legendary Art Ensemble of Chicago, currently in their fifth decade of activity, ended a five-year studio ...
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148

Event

"Sound" Concert Series Concludes with Rare Performance by Art Ensemble of Chicago Co-Founders Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman

Source: SASSAS
August 8, 2006

Summer series returns to the Ford Amphitheatre for final event of the 2006 season

SASSAS is pleased to present two towering figures in modern jazz, Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman, in a rare duo, on Sunday October 8 as a part of “sound." at the Ford Amphitheatre. As founding members of the legendary jazz collective the Art Ensemble of Chicago, these veteran multi-instrumentalists last performed together in Los Angeles as a part of the Ensemble in the mid-1970's. For this ...
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137

Obituary

Malachi Favors: Bassist with Art Ensemble of Chicago

Source: All About Jazz
February 29, 2004

Malachi Favors (Maghostus), bass Born: August 22, 1927 in Chicago, IL Died: February 2, 2004

One of the most respectably talented bassists in free jazz, Favors is renowned mostly for his membership in the Art Ensemble of Chicago for nearly forty years. A powerful swinger and excellent soloist, Favors tended to subsume himself beneath his bandmates, occasionally writing or stepping to the fore.

Favors took up the bass at fifteen and studied with Wilbur Ware and ...
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