Primer: AACM

AEC - Les Stances a Sophie
AEC - People in Sorrow
Roscoe Mitchell (more or less AEC under his name) - Old/Quartet

Sophie has been fairly available of late as a CD reissue. If the other two have ever been reissued, I've yet to see copies for sale anywhere.

Atlantic recently reissued two earlier AEC titles, Fanfare for the Warriors and Bap-Tizum--both quite nice, neither quite as charmed as any of the above.

There were two sets of music, four compositions were played during the first, and two during the last. I missed the first piece, but the second was quite interesting. El'Zabar played what was essentially his own unique version of soul music. At times, he was singing over only his own kalimba, with sporadic accompinament by Brown on flute and Dawkins on percussion. KEZ's singing was melismatic, but rooted in an older version of soul, without sounding nostalgic. My favorite line "surveillance is uncreative, all they can do is watch". The third piece involved KEZ playing a repeated pattern on his kalimba. brown played beautiful modal chords underneath dawkins' soloing on alto. the last piece was the most incredible one of the night. KEZ was on drums while both reed players took turns soloing. at the end, both reed players picked up two horns apiece. it was quite intense.

The second set consisted of another piece that featured KEZ on kalimba, and yet more mournful piano and fiery soloing. the last piece was their version of "Miles Mode" by coltrane, which is, if i remember correctly, a 12-tone piece with a retrograde. vatel cherry sat in on bass.

The best compositions of the night are on the albums "communion" and "freedom jazz dance", both by the ethnic heritage ensemble. Brown and Dawkins both have solo discs out on Delmark as well. all of the music has a modal/spritiual/eastern/african feel to it, but i would say that the music is a little more subtle than coltrane, and certainly not overly-derivative of him either.

Aaron you may like some of the Ahemd Abdul Malik stuff recently repressed on get back. The Phillip Cohran on Aerestrium (or something like that Hefty Records' represses) is wrth a listen too.

trivial information alert: in Zimbabwe, it's called an mbira

it was one of the first free jazz albums i ever bought. i was in south africa and bought it because of the psychedelic artwork. i was totally scared of it at first, but by the end of the trip, i was falling asleep to it. it's one of the most beautiful, post-coltrane, spiritual free jazz albums i've ever heard. there are moments of glass shattering, free-blowing and moments of gorgeous melody that could easily be lifted off of A Love Supreme. George Hines gruff vocals just lift this album into another dimension. super duper recommended.

There is an amazing amount of great music on those eight records. We're all really lucky that Chuck Nessa, Terry Martin and Bob Koester of Delmark had the wherewithal to record a lot the AACM stuff so early. There are many players who didn't record again for a while or were lost. The great Fred Anderson made his recorded debut on the above-mentioned Jarman Song For disc, and didn't record again for 12 years. Christopher Gaddy was a young pianist who passed away and can only be heard on that Jarman disc. Charles Clark a talented bassist who also died young, can be heard on the Jarman and Abrams discs.

I don't know if Henry Threadgill has ever made a bad record; if he has, I haven't heard it. I discovered the Air trio group right around the time I really started getting heavily into Jazz. Every record they made is full of astounding, sensitive interplay. Steve McCall and Fred Hopkins - both dearly departed and possibly the greatest rhythm section of a any post-60's jazz group. All of their records are great great great but I really like 80 degrees Below '82 for sentimental reasons as it was the first I heard. Threadgill's Very Very Circus group was the most exciting jazz going in the 90's. I haven't heard the two recent cds on PI, but they are on my wish-list.

But yeah, I would say my favorite jazz ensemble of all, let alone affiliated w/ the AACM, is the Art Ensemble of Chicago. I concert I saw Roscoe Mitchell and band perform in 1991 quite literally changed my life (hackneyed phrase, I know). I sort of went on a lark because it was on-campus and I was vaguely aware of some non-mainstream jazz stuff, but the sounds I heard that night were incredible. My first experience hearing extreme pointillist style improvisation, the circular-breathing techniques, the active "little instruments" approach that was the hallmark of the early AACM groups. Anyway, I can't recommend the Art Ensemble 1967/68 5 cd box set on Nessa enough, but I understand that's a hell of a bite to ask anyone to chew. People in Sorrow strikes me as their best individual album. I don't know if it is on cd but it would great if it was, as the lp comprises one long performance which has to be split over the two lp sides. The BYG/Actuel stuff they did is great, can't go wrong. Really you can't go wrong with any of their records (except maybe that fruit-juice-ad travesty they just released). I really love Urban Bushmen a double-live on ECM, and Live In Japan a double on DIW.

George Lewis, trombonist and recent winner of a MacArthur "genius" grant must be mentioned. I'm not as familiar with his work as I would like to be, but Homage to Charles Parker is a great late-70's date on Black Saint. Voyager on Avant, also w/ Mitchell, is a good introduction to the sounds he's exploring these days, engaging in interactive improvisation with a computer program he designed. Saw him perform a solo set of this stuff in the mid-90's and it was fantastic...

(God, I haven't listened to any of these in too long. Pardon me while I try and find Song For...)

In fact, we just lost a member last week, trumpeter Ameen Muhammad. He was a member of Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble. I just listened to their first recording last night, After the Dawn has Risen on the Open Minds label. It's a great, stretched-out live recording of mostly modal compositions. Ameen was a resourceful player prone to short, fast runs and colorful smears. Even on that first record he sounds strong, confident; I'm looking forward to re-listening to the rest of the NHE records.

They've made I believe five more records, the most recent one on Delmark, the rest on Silkheart. Dawkins' composing gets more interesting on the later records. All records except the first also feature AACM-er (and Tortoise member) Jeff Parker. They're actually playing a previously scheduled gig tonight at Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge, sure to be a solemn affair. I'm planning on attending, perhaps I'll write up a quick review.

Of course, all of Anderson's records are certainly worth getting. I'll leave it at that before I gush too much. The recent Dark Day reissue on Atavistic's Unheard Music imprint is a great place to start, as are all the records he's done for OkkaDisc. The two volumes of Fred Anderson Quartet Live at the Velvet Lounge on the AsianImprov label are outstanding but I don't know how good their distribution is outside Chicago.

Ed mentions Thrill Jockey stuff; I assume you mean the Eight Bold Souls? All their records are fantastic, rich ensemble works from composer Ed Wilkerson. I admit being a little let down by the Thrill Jockey one; perhaps that was due to the 6 year layoff between recordings. I highly recommend the second and third records, Sideshow and Ant Farm, both on Arabesque. Wilkerson also has a fine solo date on Sound Aspects, which features a couple 8 Bold Souls compositions reworked for quartet.

Probably the most exciting group these days is the Black Earth Ensemble, led by flautist Nicole Mitchell. It's kind of a revolving ensemble of anywhere from 6-8 players with good AACM-ers young (David Boykin) and old (Hamid Drake). She has self-released two cds on her Dreamtime label, the most recent one just last fall. Anyone into the kind of Afrocentric style jazz mentioned above (by Jason in reference to Maurice McIntyre and Aaron in reference to the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble), would probably really enjoy this stuff.

John Litweiler's chapter on the AACM in his book The Freedom Principle is a great resource, particularly because he witnessed most of this shit firsthand (he worked at Delmark records back in the day). Another great reference is the first part of Ronald Radano's book on Anthony Braxton New Musical Figurations. If you just want to learn about Braxton the Locke book is best, but it doesn't focus so much on his early biography. The Radano book, while taking a more academic approach to analysing Braxton's music, is valuable for the biography which spends a lot of time detailing the early activities of the AACM. Oh shit, I realize I didn't deal w/ Braxton in my first post. Um, all the really great records are sadly out-of-print, but many good ones - all the stuff he recorded for Arista - are readily available on used vinyl. Creative Orchestra Music and For Trio for starters. Get Back just did the two early trio records he recorded with Leo Smith and Leroy Jenkins, both outstanding.

Oh shit Leo Smith and Leroy Jenkins! Fuck I'll stop now.... (get Jenkins' Themes and Improvisations on the Blues on CRI!)

henry threadgill is also pretty great, especially his work in air. some of the 80's more "inside" stuff is really nice - he has a unique compositional sense that looks both to the past and the future.

roscoe mitchell's "sound" really opened some doors for me. it's not a record i hear talked about very often.

The two Braxton/CCC albums for BYG are also great - This Time, and the other one with the diagrammatic title (sorry I'm at work just now and don't have the records to hand) which includes street recordings of vox pops and riots, Paris '68. FANTASTIQUE!

The best beginner's guide to Braxton - which again sadly isn't, I don't think, out on CD yet - is The Montreux/Berlin Concerts which Arista put out as a double in '77. 1 1/2 sides of the Wheeler/Holland/Altschul quartet at Montreux; 1 1/2 sides at Berlin with Lewis replacing Wheeler; and side four is an orchestral piece with Braxton and Lewis soloing.

And anyone wanting a potted history of music - side two, title track, of People's Republic by the Revolutionary Ensemble (A&M Horizon, 1976) does it better than most.

yes they are: the boxset as a whole is just terrific and if you were to d/l one CD I'd recommend numbers 1 and 2 on CD3 (I actually d/l the whole thing).

People in sorrow is a great set and should be reissued on CD.

Lately I have been listening to and enjoying the following LPs:

Lester Young - 1 & 2
Joseph Jarman - Song For...
Roscoe Mitchell - Sound, the Flow of Things
Maurice McIntyre - Humility In the Light Of The Creator, Forces and Feelings
Claude Delcloo - Africanasia (lots of AACM players on this one.)

I haven't really heard that many Art Ensemble records; just "Fanfare For The Warriors" (my very beat up copy; sad.) and the double/reissue "Paris Sessions" on Arista Freedom. I think the Actuel titles are available on affordable vinyl reissues; so I ought to head towards those, right? How about the later material? There's a Muhal Richard Abrams record from 83 kicking around here that I haven't listened to yet. He also plays on a late-seventies Barry Altschul LP that I quite enjoy.

Is jaxon still really into this stuff or has he forsaken it entirely in favor of obscuro seventies rec room rock?

I also have Mitchell's "Old/Quartet" at home but haven't listened to it any time in the past few months. It really blew me away when I first got it, though.

The couple Actuel reissues I have are great - Message to Our Folks and one other one... also have Bap-Tizum, which is fantastic (altho I don't think Actuel has done a reissue of that one...?)

did lester bowie ever go funk/r&b??? i realize i'm starting to qualify for 'posts very much in character' soon

get everything on the nessa and america labels.

lester bowie was married to fontella bass, dude.

see first track on Les Stances a Sophie

i should clarify i mean more fusion-y, like that jaxon thread, i know the art ensemble did some older school-sounding r&b interpolations

I remember Lester being on some Impulse "acid jazz"/"rare groove" kinda comp that included a bunch of collabs with rappers and hip-hop producers in the early 90s - I forget which song of his was included tho, lemme look that up...

This article is about the musician. For the World of Warcraft gamer, see Leeroy Jenkins.

the latter article is four times as long, naturally

Is jaxon still really into this stuff or has he forsaken it entirely in favor of obscuro seventies rec room rock

Ha. It's been a while since I've really dug on jazz, but I just posted a really great AEOC track to my site a few days ago. Besides Le stance, the closest to super funky they've gotten.
http://www.robotsinheat.com

http://cgi.ebay.com/ART-ENSEMBLE-OF-CHICAGO-1967-68-5xCD-box-RARE-OOP-jazz_W0QQitemZ270152170123QQihZ017QQcategoryZ307QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

that would give you a lot of worthwhile early aeoc in one fell swoop, ian.

hahaha wow, you put "rock out" on there, jaxon. good stuff. that site really takes the cake re: mp3 blog, btw.

"Funky AECO"!! that has to be straight-up funkiest jam they recorded. but, it's "80's period" so it always flies under the radar of all the Les Stances hipsters, let alone the Brigette hipsters. Lester all over it, btw

Some of Lester's Brass Fantasy stuff like 'THe Great Pretender' at least approaches what Deej seeks, I'm feeling. but it has been a few years since I pulled out those records.

btw, GREAT article by Peter Margasak on Nicole Mitchell in this week's Chicago Reader, whose great group I raved about upthread all those years ago (yikes! where did those years go) -

http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/nicolemitchell/

i think i heard that Funky AECO track on the Souljazz New Thing comp. i'll look for that record.

am i mistaken that Lester recorded some albums in the 90s where he covers rock, pop and hip hop songs with a sort of big band?

jaxon that's the brass fantasy stuff, i think.

Surely someone here has read this? Read an interesting rev of this yesterday.

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/236682.ctl

MUST HAVE THIS

NY Times piece on said book and other things.

“This is a book about mobility and agency,” Mr. Lewis said. He links this impulse conceptually to the Great Migration, illuminating how the association’s first generation came from families that had moved to Chicago from a postslavery South. He examines the continuing debate over the organization’s exclusion of nonblack musicians, shedding new light on the phrase Great Black Music, which many in the association adopted.

“What a lot of us are looking for,” he added, “is a much more open-ended conversation than any simplistic prescriptions of blackness will allow.”

This is the book I've been waiting to read for a long time. Very much looking forward to it.

Looks great!

Coincidentally, I just picked up Anthony Braxton "For Alto" the other day.

This is one of the few threads to mention Roscoe Mitchell.

Anyway, I saw him play last night (preceded by an incredible Alex Cline performance of one of his compositions) and it was totally incredible. Straight fire. There were a lot of walkouts when Roscoe went really far out and the percussion started "playing"/rubbing a bright yellow childrens' party balloon, but I dug it. Dude didn't say a word before or after the performance but his suit and (particularly) his shoes were immaculate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu3TsGrdQ5A

How fantastic is that? God I miss playing this stuff.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/aacm-mca-exhibit-freedom-principle-beckwith-africobra/Content?oid=18223562

http://media1.fdncms.com/chicago/imager/u/magnum/18225565/mus_fea-neworleansgroup-magnum.jpg

http://www2.mcachicago.org/exhibition/the-freedom-principle-experiments-in-art-and-music-1965-to-now/

https://fperecs.bandcamp.com/album/mandorla-awakening-ii-emerging-worlds

i love this so far

nepotism (i'm the music editor at this paper) but i'm really happy with this piece a writer just did on a new Art Ensemble book

https://southsideweekly.com/ancient-to-the-future-review-message-to-our-folks/

Yeah, I reviewed that book for The Wire; the bulk of it is great. I just wish he didn't fast-forward through everything post-1980 (1975, really).

And the Nicole Mitchell album's great, too. I'm writing that up for Stereogum.

haha your review was actually the one that tipped me off on it getting released, sent it to the author when he pitched me about it—great piece.

george lewis' book is a remarkable thing, a really beautiful picture of what musical collectivity can be. hope i get to check out this steinbeck one soon.

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/downtown-castles-can-never-block-the-sun

not even sure it belongs here, but this genre mangling thingy is amazingly good.