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The Art Ensemble of Chicago: We Are On The Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration
ByBut much like the AACM's theme "Great black music ancient to the future," the 2-CD release We Are On The Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration reignites some AEC classics and sets sail to the future. Recorded at and around the 2018 Edgefest in Ann Arbor, Michigan, this disc is the fourth AEC release by Pi Records and it follows Non-Cognitive Aspects Of The City -Live At Iridium (2006). Gone are Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, and Joseph Jarman. But certainly their spirits live in this expanded lineup, which includes the relatively new AACM members Nicole Mitchell and Tomeka Reid and Mitchell collaborators Hugh Ragin, Jaribu Shahid, and Fred Berry.
The discs are split between a studio session and a live performance. In studio the AEC revisits music from Chi-Congo (Decca, 1972) to Coming Home Jamaica (Atlantic, 1998) and Mitchell's "Bell Song." The studio session boosts the afrofuturist poetry and vocals of Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) and the lush vocals of Rodolfo Cordova-Lebron. Mitchell flexes his classical leanings alongside minimal soundscapes, percussive excursions, and an eternal groove "Saturday Morning" that lingers long after the music stops.
With this extended ensemble size Moye and Mitchell are in their element, and the live disc, which repeats five compositions from the studio recordings, takes the affair to another level. You come to the realization why the early AEC recordings were live. There was a concerted effort to capture the band's essence, and that is this music is a living entity. Indeed, the set from the Bethlehem Church of Christ in Ann Arbor is as vibrant as any of the music the AEC released these past 50 years. Long live the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
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Art Ensemble Of Chicago
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Title: We Are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Pi Recordings
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