Jazz Articles about Art Ensemble Of Chicago

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Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Meeting

by Dan McClenaghan
October 4, 2003

The average jazz listener's evolution into jazz-fan-dom might start in New York with Charlie Parker and Ellington, then fly across country to Los Angeles for Birth of the Cool and Miles Davis and Gerry Mulligan, sticking with the major label offerings based on the two coasts. Chicago (or Madison, Wisconsin today) can slip under the radar of less devoted music fans.Which is a shame, because the Art Ensemble of Chicago is an essential experience.Trumpeter Lester Bowie ...

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Art Ensemble Of Chicago: The Meeting

by Mark Corroto
October 4, 2003

We speak of the Art Ensemble of Chicago circa 2003 as being in a post-Lester Bowie era. The group's mighty founder and trumpeter passed away in 1999. Meanwhile, this recording and the trio session Tribute To Lester (ECM 2003) have been the only AEC recordings made in this new era.

But you may remember that the AEC was once distinguished as pre- and post-Joseph Jarman when he left the band in 1993. His return here doesn’t substitute ...

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Art Ensemble of Chicago: Tribute to Lester

by Frank Rubolino
August 25, 2003

It seems like only yesterday when the groundbreaking Art Ensemble of Chicago burst onto the scene as the second wave of free improvisers carrying the torch lighted by Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and others. Their music had infectious qualities that made it impossible to typecast and impossible to ignore. Of course, it wasn’t yesterday but the mid-1960s that found the five Chicagoans making their entrance on a world stage. They gained hope for acceptance by inspiring European audiences much more ...

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Art Ensemble of Chicago: Rarum: Selected Recordings of the Art Ensemble of Chicago

by AAJ Staff
July 5, 2002

If there's one thing Chicago brought into the jazz tradition, it's a palpable sense of freedom. Not just in the sense of “free jazz" (which certainly has its own deep roots in the Windy City), but also in the sense of free personal expression. Individuality is a premium export from Chicago, and few groups have brought this spirit to the listening public like the Art Ensemble. Since the mid-'60s, the AEC has combined an enduring respect for the roots of ...

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The Art Ensemble Of Chicago: Live In Milano

by Glenn Astarita
December 1, 2001

This outing was originally issued as a bootleg LP ( Among the People ) amid some disagreements between the band and the producer, yet all concerns have since made amends as Live In Milano is officially released for the first time. The opening piece, “Tutankhamun," is an eighteen-minute extravaganza featuring Malachi Favors Magoustous's prominently conveyed walking bass lines, trumpeter Lester Bowie's emotionally driven attack, and Famoudou Don Moye's astute utilization of various percussion instruments. However, the group's often animated methodology ...

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Art Ensemble Of Chicago: Coming Home Jamaica

by Jim Santella
February 1, 1999

With the front and back covers of Down Beat magazine paying respects to the current swing revival, and record stores everywhere reminding us that generations do have common interests, it’s no surprise that “Grape Escape" opens the album with walking bass, drums on two and four, and horns swinging together. Since Joseph Jarman left the Art Ensemble of Chicago over six years ago in an act of religious determination, they’ve not recorded until now. Founded in 1966 by Jarman, Lester ...