THE ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO & ASSOCIATED
ENSEMBLES - 50 YEARS ON
ENSEMBLES - 50 YEARS ON
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THE ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO & ASSOCIATED ENSEMBLES
ECM 679 2089 (21-CD Box Set) Comprising: Art Ensemble of Chicago Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, Famoudou Don Moye ECM 1126 Nice Guys / ECM 1167 Full Force / ECM 1211/2 Urban Bushmen (2-CD) / ECM 1273 The Third Decade Leo Smith with Lester Bowie, Kenny Wheeler, Charlie Haden ECM 1143 Divine Love Lester Bowie ECM 1209 The Great Pretender / ECM 1246 All The Magic! / ECM 1247 The One And Only Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy ECM 1296 Only Have Eyes For You / ECM 1326 Avant Pop Art Ensemble of Chicago Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, Famoudou Don Moye ECM 1808 Tribute to Lester Roscoe Mitchell & The Note Factory ECM 1651 Nine To Get Ready Roscoe Mitchell & The Transatlantic Art Ensemble ECM 1872 Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3 Evan Parker & The Transatlantic Art Ensemble with Roscoe Mitchell ECM 1873 Boustrophedon Roscoe Mitchell & The Note Factory ECM 2087 Far Side Roscoe Mitchell ECM 2494/95 Bells For The South Side (2-CD) Jack DeJohnette with Lester Bowie, John Abercrombie, Eddie Gomez ECM 1128 New Directions / ECM 1157 In Europe Jack DeJohnette with Roscoe Mitchell, Henry Threadgill, Muhal Richard Abrams, Larry Gray ECM 2392 Made In Chicago |
“The Art Ensemble of Chicago is alone in jazz history for reaching back conceptually to long before there ever was anything called jazz and moving toward a future beyond category.”
- Nat Hentoff
If the above quote seems a bit all-encompassing, then a cursory listen to the five albums by the AEC within this excellent (if large) box set merely affirm the accuracy of Hentoff's comment. Over the years since the final AEC album, and after the untimely passing of trumpeter Lester Bowie ECM has continued to record members of the Ensemble and most notably those that have been associated with the AEC, and thus building a substantial body of work that spans note only decades but multi-genre projects and albums that know no stylistic boundaries.
To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary since the formation of the original AEC, and by coincidence the rapidly approaching anniversary of ECM Records too, the label have released this 21 CD box set of recordings by the AEC and associated ensembles. This is ambitious undertaking, not so much by the ECM who have brought to our attention this wealth of music from their back catalogue, but for the listener with the amount of listening involved to simply get through the set in its entirety.
Not an easy undertaking perhaps, and one that requires commitment and endurance. Nice work if you can get it, and Chris Baber and Nick Lea have bravely volunteered to take on the task for Jazz Views of listening to the music and their findings and conclusions are presented in the following article.
- Nat Hentoff
If the above quote seems a bit all-encompassing, then a cursory listen to the five albums by the AEC within this excellent (if large) box set merely affirm the accuracy of Hentoff's comment. Over the years since the final AEC album, and after the untimely passing of trumpeter Lester Bowie ECM has continued to record members of the Ensemble and most notably those that have been associated with the AEC, and thus building a substantial body of work that spans note only decades but multi-genre projects and albums that know no stylistic boundaries.
To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary since the formation of the original AEC, and by coincidence the rapidly approaching anniversary of ECM Records too, the label have released this 21 CD box set of recordings by the AEC and associated ensembles. This is ambitious undertaking, not so much by the ECM who have brought to our attention this wealth of music from their back catalogue, but for the listener with the amount of listening involved to simply get through the set in its entirety.
Not an easy undertaking perhaps, and one that requires commitment and endurance. Nice work if you can get it, and Chris Baber and Nick Lea have bravely volunteered to take on the task for Jazz Views of listening to the music and their findings and conclusions are presented in the following article.
The AEC & Roscoe Mitchell Albums
Appraisal by Chris Baber
Back in the Chicago on the 1960s, no nightclub wanted jazz bands because everyone wanted to hear rock or soul music. Undeterred a loose collective of musicians gathered together at a settlement house called the Abraham Lincoln Centre and formed a musicians cooperative. Out of this, several bands emerged, including a hard bop quintet led by Jodie Christian, Phil Cohran’s Artistic Heritage Ensemble (playing a sort of pop-jazz), Troy Robinson’s Experimental Band (playing modal jazz), and groups led by Joseph Jarman, and Roscoe Mitchell; each one of the groups featured musicians who would form the backbone of the new jazz sounds of the '60s and early '70s. The cooperative called itself the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
Of course, this didn’t suddenly happen and the genesis, around 1963, of the cooperative was a group of Wilson Junior College students (Jarman and Mitchell, together with Malachi Favors, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill) and another group led by Muhal Richard Abrams and Rafael Garrett. Abrams also led a weekly jam, which produced the Experimental Band. Rather than playing in clubs, the groups would gig in tiny theatres, church halls, coffeehouses and at the University of Chicago. So, this was a collection of musicians who were outcast from the musical mainstream but welcomed in avant-garde performance spaces. This development helps make sense of the approach that the AACM took and, when Lester Bowie joined Roscoe Mitchell’s Art Ensemble (in 1967) there was already a sense of the commedia dell’arte in the way the members (Mitchell, Bowie, Favors, and Phillip Wilson on drums) took different musical roles and acted different persona on stage. So, Bowie would often sit patiently until it was his turn to solo and then all the drollery and humour that he’d been keeping inside burst into tunes that managed to both mock and revere their sources. Other times, the group would interrupt their playing to perform skits, or have poets join them on stage, or switch instruments. The group members would dress in a variety of African-inspired costumes, break into different songs, or pick up and play different instruments. In many respects, the Art Ensemble remind me of the Marx Brothers, not simply the presentation of different persona, nor the scattergun approach to improvisation, nor the enthusiasm for the well-placed raspberry or horn honk, but also the ability to both celebrate and lampoon significant institutions – often in the same breath. As Jarman pointed out, in the liner notes to ‘Nice Guys’, “…you use whatever is necessary to communicate the idea.”
There is also another analogy between the Art Ensemble and the Marx Brothers. While the latter built their shtick around being Jewish-Americans, casting Jewish wise-cracking humour in an American vein, the Art Ensemble built theirs around being African-American, casting American music in an African vein. I put it this way because the musical traditions that the group’s members had grown up with combined the many varieties of jazz and popular music with classical training and musical theory, and the way they developed their style of playing was to present these in an African inspired context. Musically there is much less African heritage in their sound than their appearance might suggest. However, their music has always celebrated the central role that African music has always played in jazz. Where they take ‘Africa’ as their inspiration (beyond the chants and the costumes) is in the collective use of the ‘little instruments’ (a large collection of percussion instruments and devices) to create shimmering rhythmic introductions, breaks and codas in many of their pieces. As Famoudou Don Moye, has said, “The term ‘jazz’ applies to only one of the idioms we deal with. It’s all great black music, and we respect all its forms…they’re part of our musical heritage.” Having recorded for a variety of labels (you can find Art Ensemble albums on Affinity, Nessa, Delmark, and the Japanese DIW label), they hit their stride with the set of albums on ECM, on which ‘Urban Bushmen’ is not only their best but also one of the best jazz records ever recorded. To make sense of their approach to music, there is a lovely section in the liner notes to ‘The Third Decade’ which says “Great Black Music dancing (a little bit out of step, by choice) prancing (by choice).” For me, it is the phrase in parenthesis (by choice) that sums up the controlled anarchy that the Art Ensemble unleash and that continues to speak to listeners and raise spirits.
Appraisal by Chris Baber
Back in the Chicago on the 1960s, no nightclub wanted jazz bands because everyone wanted to hear rock or soul music. Undeterred a loose collective of musicians gathered together at a settlement house called the Abraham Lincoln Centre and formed a musicians cooperative. Out of this, several bands emerged, including a hard bop quintet led by Jodie Christian, Phil Cohran’s Artistic Heritage Ensemble (playing a sort of pop-jazz), Troy Robinson’s Experimental Band (playing modal jazz), and groups led by Joseph Jarman, and Roscoe Mitchell; each one of the groups featured musicians who would form the backbone of the new jazz sounds of the '60s and early '70s. The cooperative called itself the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
Of course, this didn’t suddenly happen and the genesis, around 1963, of the cooperative was a group of Wilson Junior College students (Jarman and Mitchell, together with Malachi Favors, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill) and another group led by Muhal Richard Abrams and Rafael Garrett. Abrams also led a weekly jam, which produced the Experimental Band. Rather than playing in clubs, the groups would gig in tiny theatres, church halls, coffeehouses and at the University of Chicago. So, this was a collection of musicians who were outcast from the musical mainstream but welcomed in avant-garde performance spaces. This development helps make sense of the approach that the AACM took and, when Lester Bowie joined Roscoe Mitchell’s Art Ensemble (in 1967) there was already a sense of the commedia dell’arte in the way the members (Mitchell, Bowie, Favors, and Phillip Wilson on drums) took different musical roles and acted different persona on stage. So, Bowie would often sit patiently until it was his turn to solo and then all the drollery and humour that he’d been keeping inside burst into tunes that managed to both mock and revere their sources. Other times, the group would interrupt their playing to perform skits, or have poets join them on stage, or switch instruments. The group members would dress in a variety of African-inspired costumes, break into different songs, or pick up and play different instruments. In many respects, the Art Ensemble remind me of the Marx Brothers, not simply the presentation of different persona, nor the scattergun approach to improvisation, nor the enthusiasm for the well-placed raspberry or horn honk, but also the ability to both celebrate and lampoon significant institutions – often in the same breath. As Jarman pointed out, in the liner notes to ‘Nice Guys’, “…you use whatever is necessary to communicate the idea.”
There is also another analogy between the Art Ensemble and the Marx Brothers. While the latter built their shtick around being Jewish-Americans, casting Jewish wise-cracking humour in an American vein, the Art Ensemble built theirs around being African-American, casting American music in an African vein. I put it this way because the musical traditions that the group’s members had grown up with combined the many varieties of jazz and popular music with classical training and musical theory, and the way they developed their style of playing was to present these in an African inspired context. Musically there is much less African heritage in their sound than their appearance might suggest. However, their music has always celebrated the central role that African music has always played in jazz. Where they take ‘Africa’ as their inspiration (beyond the chants and the costumes) is in the collective use of the ‘little instruments’ (a large collection of percussion instruments and devices) to create shimmering rhythmic introductions, breaks and codas in many of their pieces. As Famoudou Don Moye, has said, “The term ‘jazz’ applies to only one of the idioms we deal with. It’s all great black music, and we respect all its forms…they’re part of our musical heritage.” Having recorded for a variety of labels (you can find Art Ensemble albums on Affinity, Nessa, Delmark, and the Japanese DIW label), they hit their stride with the set of albums on ECM, on which ‘Urban Bushmen’ is not only their best but also one of the best jazz records ever recorded. To make sense of their approach to music, there is a lovely section in the liner notes to ‘The Third Decade’ which says “Great Black Music dancing (a little bit out of step, by choice) prancing (by choice).” For me, it is the phrase in parenthesis (by choice) that sums up the controlled anarchy that the Art Ensemble unleash and that continues to speak to listeners and raise spirits.
Art Ensemble of Chicago line-up on these ECM discs:
Lester Bowie: trumpet, celeste, bass drum; Joseph Jarman: tenor / alto / soprano / sopranino saxophone, clarinet, flute, conch shell, vibes, gongs, congas, whistle, vocal; Roscoe Mitchell: alto / tenor / soprano saxophones, piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, gongs; Malachi Favors Maghostut: double bass, percussion, melodic; Famoudou Don Moye: ‘sun percussion’, drums, bells, bike horns, congas, tympani, marimba, bongos, chimes, conch shell, whistles, wood blocks, cowbells.
NICE GUYS (1979)
The closing track, ‘Dreaming of the Master’, is dedicated to Miles Davis and is, I guess it is a sort of riposte to Miles 'He loved him madly'. I say this because both tunes work chords reminiscent of Duke Ellington's work. On this track, a slow-walking bass line underpins Bowie’s trumpet licks, which recall Cat Anderson or Ray Nance. Then, suddenly, the revere is broken and the piece gallops into high-paced clattering drumming with squawking sax and trumpet, before a delicate bass solo returns the piece to a stately pace. In this near 12 minute piece you have a near perfect ‘suite’ that contemplates the transition of jazz from Ellington’s bands to hard bop to free jazz and back again. Many of the most successful of the Art Ensemble’s pieces are able to bring this rich sense of history in the mixture of improvised and composed, and the rapid switching of styles. So, here you also have the masterful ‘5 9 7 – 5 9’ (both of these pieces were composed by Jarman) Elsewhere on this set you get them at the other extreme, where the mixing doesn’t quite pay off, like the slip in pastiche reggae in ‘Ja’, although the rest of this track has some great playing.
FULL FORCE (1980)
The long opening track, ‘Magg Zelma’, is full of percussive menace, building a haunting soundscape that wouldn’t be out of place in a horror film. The sounds, made with trumpet mouthpieces, sound variously like dogs barking, babies crying or police sirens wailing. Again, the piece gains unity when the bass draws in the saxophone and then a further shift in the tension towards the collective improvisation that so markedly characterised the group’s live performance. The pieces ends abruptly and then, just as abruptly, the group launch into a short fanfare of a piece that wouldn’t have out of place as a theme tune to a ‘70s comedy show, ‘Care Free’, and then into a delicately balanced mix of composed and improvisation with a solid bass lines that provide a fitting tribute to ‘Charlie M’, with trumpet growls that recall Mingus tunes like Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting or Boogie Stop Shuffle. Like Mingus, the band are able to convey a sense of Political comment, although, unlike Mingus this is entirely unspoken. Where vocals are used, as in the closing track ‘Full Force’, these are not meaningful but vague, repeated snatches of part-words that give a sense of Dadaist theatre.
URBAN BUSHMEN (1982)
A two CD live set, recorded in Munich, Germany, which captures the group at their best, Urban Bushmen presents a roller-coaster ride across the history of jazz presented in a theatre of the absurd. In the beautifully produced booklet that accompanies this collection, there is a nice line from a review in Musician, that Urban Bushmen, “demonstrates, as clearly as any album they’ve made, what a five-brained band this is”. For me, this is quite simply one of the best jazz albums ever recorded. Not only do you have the broad brushed anarchy of the group in a live context, but also the complexity of the compositions that seem to draw directly from the way that Ellington and Mingus organised their music - moving from the controlled to the explosive and leaving plenty of space for soloists to develop their ideas. A stand out track from this set is 'New York is Full of Lonely People' with Bowie's mournfully lyrical trumpet setting up the tune.
THE THIRD DECADE (1985)
After a break of a few years, this CD opens with a synthesizer piece (not unlike the music that Vangelis was making at time) which, given the instrumentation of their previous outings, is quite alien to the group. Gradually, the synth tune is joined by flute and sax to create something akin to a slow-motion folk song. The piece is entitled ‘Prayer for Jimbo Kwesi’ – who, according to the album’s liner notes, was the first Black officer to die in the British Army. “The tragedy of Jimbo Kwesi is (the story goes) that he was mistaken for the enemy and killed by his own troops.” As the piece develops in and out of its hypnotic theme, suggestions of other rhythms and tunes come and go but the piece retains a stately pace that befits a funeral dirge. Following this is ‘Funky AECO’ which, as so often on Art Ensemble sets, is something completely different – a strutting funk bass line over which the soloing trumpet is assailed on all sides by horns, clanging cymbals and shakers – a similar vibe is worked in the closing track ‘Third decade’. The CD continues to shift between styles and genres, finding different ways to swing and continuing to explore the relationship between rhythm and harmony.
TRIBUTE TO LESTER (2003)
On this album, Mitchell, Favors Maghostut and Don Moye lament the death of Lester Bowie. The liner notes have heartfelt eulogies to their bandmate and the music seeks to balance grief with a celebration of his life. The ‘Suite for Lester’ begins with a little drumming and the sax plays lines that seem to invite a response, phrases that build up to a point that ought to be taken on but there is no one there to complete or repeat them, and then a mournful sax plays over low arco bass and sadly beating drums. This segues into a flute solo of such brightness that it gambols like a Baroque dance, pulling the pizzicato bass behind it, before the piece closes with a drum tarantella and bass saxophone works a skipping but simple bop tune. Likewise, ‘He speaks to me often in dreams’, begins with the ‘little instruments’ creating a dreamlike atmosphere of quietly insistent rhythms segue into ethereal bell chimes and occasional saxophone chirrups and squawks – conjuring an atmosphere somewhere between a séance and a Buddhist funeral. While there is not so much ‘musical’ development in this piece, it does what the Art Ensemble do so well which is to a create and sustain a soundscape that completely envelopes the listener and brings you directly into the logic of their music.
It is, perhaps, a pity that there is nothing in this collection where Joseph Jarman leads a group, but he has always been chronically under-recorded outside the Art Ensemble. What we do get in this set are some fine recordings from Roscoe Mitchell.
Lester Bowie: trumpet, celeste, bass drum; Joseph Jarman: tenor / alto / soprano / sopranino saxophone, clarinet, flute, conch shell, vibes, gongs, congas, whistle, vocal; Roscoe Mitchell: alto / tenor / soprano saxophones, piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, gongs; Malachi Favors Maghostut: double bass, percussion, melodic; Famoudou Don Moye: ‘sun percussion’, drums, bells, bike horns, congas, tympani, marimba, bongos, chimes, conch shell, whistles, wood blocks, cowbells.
NICE GUYS (1979)
The closing track, ‘Dreaming of the Master’, is dedicated to Miles Davis and is, I guess it is a sort of riposte to Miles 'He loved him madly'. I say this because both tunes work chords reminiscent of Duke Ellington's work. On this track, a slow-walking bass line underpins Bowie’s trumpet licks, which recall Cat Anderson or Ray Nance. Then, suddenly, the revere is broken and the piece gallops into high-paced clattering drumming with squawking sax and trumpet, before a delicate bass solo returns the piece to a stately pace. In this near 12 minute piece you have a near perfect ‘suite’ that contemplates the transition of jazz from Ellington’s bands to hard bop to free jazz and back again. Many of the most successful of the Art Ensemble’s pieces are able to bring this rich sense of history in the mixture of improvised and composed, and the rapid switching of styles. So, here you also have the masterful ‘5 9 7 – 5 9’ (both of these pieces were composed by Jarman) Elsewhere on this set you get them at the other extreme, where the mixing doesn’t quite pay off, like the slip in pastiche reggae in ‘Ja’, although the rest of this track has some great playing.
FULL FORCE (1980)
The long opening track, ‘Magg Zelma’, is full of percussive menace, building a haunting soundscape that wouldn’t be out of place in a horror film. The sounds, made with trumpet mouthpieces, sound variously like dogs barking, babies crying or police sirens wailing. Again, the piece gains unity when the bass draws in the saxophone and then a further shift in the tension towards the collective improvisation that so markedly characterised the group’s live performance. The pieces ends abruptly and then, just as abruptly, the group launch into a short fanfare of a piece that wouldn’t have out of place as a theme tune to a ‘70s comedy show, ‘Care Free’, and then into a delicately balanced mix of composed and improvisation with a solid bass lines that provide a fitting tribute to ‘Charlie M’, with trumpet growls that recall Mingus tunes like Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting or Boogie Stop Shuffle. Like Mingus, the band are able to convey a sense of Political comment, although, unlike Mingus this is entirely unspoken. Where vocals are used, as in the closing track ‘Full Force’, these are not meaningful but vague, repeated snatches of part-words that give a sense of Dadaist theatre.
URBAN BUSHMEN (1982)
A two CD live set, recorded in Munich, Germany, which captures the group at their best, Urban Bushmen presents a roller-coaster ride across the history of jazz presented in a theatre of the absurd. In the beautifully produced booklet that accompanies this collection, there is a nice line from a review in Musician, that Urban Bushmen, “demonstrates, as clearly as any album they’ve made, what a five-brained band this is”. For me, this is quite simply one of the best jazz albums ever recorded. Not only do you have the broad brushed anarchy of the group in a live context, but also the complexity of the compositions that seem to draw directly from the way that Ellington and Mingus organised their music - moving from the controlled to the explosive and leaving plenty of space for soloists to develop their ideas. A stand out track from this set is 'New York is Full of Lonely People' with Bowie's mournfully lyrical trumpet setting up the tune.
THE THIRD DECADE (1985)
After a break of a few years, this CD opens with a synthesizer piece (not unlike the music that Vangelis was making at time) which, given the instrumentation of their previous outings, is quite alien to the group. Gradually, the synth tune is joined by flute and sax to create something akin to a slow-motion folk song. The piece is entitled ‘Prayer for Jimbo Kwesi’ – who, according to the album’s liner notes, was the first Black officer to die in the British Army. “The tragedy of Jimbo Kwesi is (the story goes) that he was mistaken for the enemy and killed by his own troops.” As the piece develops in and out of its hypnotic theme, suggestions of other rhythms and tunes come and go but the piece retains a stately pace that befits a funeral dirge. Following this is ‘Funky AECO’ which, as so often on Art Ensemble sets, is something completely different – a strutting funk bass line over which the soloing trumpet is assailed on all sides by horns, clanging cymbals and shakers – a similar vibe is worked in the closing track ‘Third decade’. The CD continues to shift between styles and genres, finding different ways to swing and continuing to explore the relationship between rhythm and harmony.
TRIBUTE TO LESTER (2003)
On this album, Mitchell, Favors Maghostut and Don Moye lament the death of Lester Bowie. The liner notes have heartfelt eulogies to their bandmate and the music seeks to balance grief with a celebration of his life. The ‘Suite for Lester’ begins with a little drumming and the sax plays lines that seem to invite a response, phrases that build up to a point that ought to be taken on but there is no one there to complete or repeat them, and then a mournful sax plays over low arco bass and sadly beating drums. This segues into a flute solo of such brightness that it gambols like a Baroque dance, pulling the pizzicato bass behind it, before the piece closes with a drum tarantella and bass saxophone works a skipping but simple bop tune. Likewise, ‘He speaks to me often in dreams’, begins with the ‘little instruments’ creating a dreamlike atmosphere of quietly insistent rhythms segue into ethereal bell chimes and occasional saxophone chirrups and squawks – conjuring an atmosphere somewhere between a séance and a Buddhist funeral. While there is not so much ‘musical’ development in this piece, it does what the Art Ensemble do so well which is to a create and sustain a soundscape that completely envelopes the listener and brings you directly into the logic of their music.
It is, perhaps, a pity that there is nothing in this collection where Joseph Jarman leads a group, but he has always been chronically under-recorded outside the Art Ensemble. What we do get in this set are some fine recordings from Roscoe Mitchell.
ROSCOE MITCHELL & THE NOTE FACTORY: NINE TO GET READY (1997)
Roscoe Mitchell: soprano / alto / tenor saxophones, flutes, lead vocal; Hugh Ragin: trumpet; George Lewis: trombone; Matthew Shipp: piano; Craig Taborn: piano; Jaribu Shahid: bass, vocal; William Parker: bass; Tani Tabbal: drums, djembe, vocal; Gerald Cleaver: drums
“Nine To Get Ready is the coming together of a dream I had many years ago of putting together an ensemble of improvising musicians with an orchestral range.” A particularly elegant example of how this works can be heard in ‘For Lester B’, which takes a theme that could have come straight from Ellington’s more lush style and allows the musicians to gradually work slight variations as the collective develops the piece. On the one hand, there is ample evidence that the players have free rein to improvise at will, but on the other, it is clear that they are committed to logic of the structure in which they are playing. The compositions themselves often a lush romanticism with some complicated chord sequences and shifts in rhythm; sometimes these are played as dreamy ballads like the opener ‘Leola’, ‘Jamaican Farewell’ , or ‘For Lester B’. Other times, after a gradual build up, they pick up the pace, as in ‘Hop hip bip bir rip’, which is, as its title might suggest, something that takes what could be a be-bop theme at double speed and then seeks to dismantle it as it goes along. Elsewhere, like the introduction to ‘Nine to get ready’, you’re back in familiar territory explored by the Art Ensemble.
THE TRANSATLANTIC ART ENSEMBLE: COMPOSITION / IMPROVSATION NOS. 1, 2, AND 3 (2007)
Roscoe Mitchell: soprano saxophone; Evan Parker: tenor / soprano saxophones; Anders Svanoe: alto / baritone saxophones; John Rangecroft: clarinet; Neil Metcalfe: flute; Corey Wilkes: trumpet, flugelhorn; Nils Bultmann: viola; Philipp Wachsmann: violin; Marcio Mattos: cello; Craig Taborn: piano; Jaribu Shahid: double bass; Barry Guy: double bass; Tani Tabbal: drums, percussion; Paul Lytton: drums, percussion
There’s a nice quote in the liner note to this recording, from Schoenberg, who describe composition as ‘slowed down improvisation’. The ways in which Mitchell creates his compositions and the space he leaves for improvisers (at least those improvisers able to recognise and respond to these spaces) places him at the forefront of modern jazz composition – perhaps it is too early to state his place in the pantheon of great jazz composers, but if you look at who is playing on these Roscoe Mitchell sets and how those players have developed their own approaches to composition, you can see some clear lessons learned from their experience of playing his works. This recording contains 9 pieces (numbered I to IX) that form a suite of sorts; Mitchell created the compositions and the orchestra worked these in improvised responses captured as part of a series of workshops and live recordings.
EVAN PARKER & THE TRANSATLANTIC ART ENSEMBLE WITH ROSCOE MITCHELL: BOUSTROPHEDON (2004)
Evan Parker Soprano Saxophone; Roscoe Mitchell Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone; Anders Svanoe Alto Saxophone; John Rangecroft Clarinet; Neil Metcalfe Flute; Corey Wilkes Trumpet, Flugelhorn; Nils Bultmann Viola; Philipp Wachsmann Violin; Marcio Mattos Cello; Craig Taborn Piano; Jaribu Shahid Double-Bass; Barry Guy Double-Bass;
Tani Tabbal Drums, Percussion; Paul Lytton Drums, Percussion
Boustrophedon is a companion piece to Mitchell’s Composition / Improvisation Nos. 1,2, & 3, recorded at the same Munich sessions as Mitchell’s piece and with the same personnel. Here, however, the music is composed by Evan Parker and represents something of a rarity in his discography: a large-scale orchestral piece that explores the sonic and rhythmic complexities of 20th Century classical music (one hears the tone palette of European modernists, like Schoenberg or Nono, washed with some neoclassical Stravinsky). Comparing the two pieces, I feel that Parker’s attains a surer unity of purpose, working as a suite that develops within a carefully planned framework. The title of the piece explains the names of each movement (Furrow 1 to Furrow 6): ‘boustrophedon’ comes from the Greek for ‘turning like an ox while ploughing’. The application of this term to the composition comes from the technique of writing manuscripts from left to right, on the first line, and then right to left on the second line, and so on. Parker’s composition invites pairs of musicians (one from Europe and one from the US) to join together and then draw in larger groupings of instruments. There is a feeling of the ensemble growing and contracting, and the music moving up and down scales, moving in and out of emotional tension and moving between rhythmic centres; and this ebb and flow provides the mesh into which players weave their solos. For some of the players, like Craig Taborn or Barry Guy, this solo work is all about providing comment on the music and foregrounding specific themes, while for Parker and Mitchell, it is about producing scorching expansion of the emotional content (particularly in Furrow 6).
ROSCOE MITCHELL & THE NOTE FACTORY: THE FAR SIDE (2010)
Roscoe Mitchell: sopranino / soprano / alto / tenor / baritone saxophones, flute, piccolo; Corey Wilkes: trumpet, flugelhorn; Craig Taborn: piano; Vijay Iyer: piano; Jaribu Shahid: double bass; Harrison Bankhead: double bass, cello; Tani Tabbal: drums; Vincent Davis: drums
This set of four pieces, begins with the 30 minute workout that is ‘Far side / Cards / Far side’, which finds Mitchell at his most complex and fascinating as a composer. The pieces bring much of his understanding of 20th Century composed music into the rising and falling tones and drones, which gradually evolve into fanfares before giving way to deliberative meditations on piano in front of bustling drums.
ROSCOE MITCHELL: BELLS FOR THE SOUTH SIDE (2017)
Roscoe Mitchell: sopranino / soprano/ alto / bass saxophones, flute, piccolo, bass recorder, percussion; James Fei: sopranino / alto saxophone, contra alto clarinet, electronics; Hugh Ragin: trumpet, piccolo trumpet; Tyshawn Sorey: trombone, piano, drums, percussion; Craig Taborn: piano, organ, electronics; Jaribu Shahid: double bass, bass guitar, percussion; William Winant: percussion, tubular bells, glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, roto toms, cymbals, bass drum, woodblocks, tympani; Kikanju Baku: drums, percussion; Tani Tabbal: drums, percussion
A very recent recording, this set was released to mark the 50th Anniversary of the AACM. The set begins with pieces played by one of four trios, with Mitchell playing with a drummer and pianist or bass. There is a lovely photo in the liner notes of all the musicians on stage, with Mitchell standing to the front of the stage watching Ragin solo. In this photo, all the musicians are hard at work and the second CD involves various combinations of the orchestra. While the compositions are of the usual high standard, what really captivates on this set is the way that Mitchell plays sax, particularly on the second CD.
Roscoe Mitchell: soprano / alto / tenor saxophones, flutes, lead vocal; Hugh Ragin: trumpet; George Lewis: trombone; Matthew Shipp: piano; Craig Taborn: piano; Jaribu Shahid: bass, vocal; William Parker: bass; Tani Tabbal: drums, djembe, vocal; Gerald Cleaver: drums
“Nine To Get Ready is the coming together of a dream I had many years ago of putting together an ensemble of improvising musicians with an orchestral range.” A particularly elegant example of how this works can be heard in ‘For Lester B’, which takes a theme that could have come straight from Ellington’s more lush style and allows the musicians to gradually work slight variations as the collective develops the piece. On the one hand, there is ample evidence that the players have free rein to improvise at will, but on the other, it is clear that they are committed to logic of the structure in which they are playing. The compositions themselves often a lush romanticism with some complicated chord sequences and shifts in rhythm; sometimes these are played as dreamy ballads like the opener ‘Leola’, ‘Jamaican Farewell’ , or ‘For Lester B’. Other times, after a gradual build up, they pick up the pace, as in ‘Hop hip bip bir rip’, which is, as its title might suggest, something that takes what could be a be-bop theme at double speed and then seeks to dismantle it as it goes along. Elsewhere, like the introduction to ‘Nine to get ready’, you’re back in familiar territory explored by the Art Ensemble.
THE TRANSATLANTIC ART ENSEMBLE: COMPOSITION / IMPROVSATION NOS. 1, 2, AND 3 (2007)
Roscoe Mitchell: soprano saxophone; Evan Parker: tenor / soprano saxophones; Anders Svanoe: alto / baritone saxophones; John Rangecroft: clarinet; Neil Metcalfe: flute; Corey Wilkes: trumpet, flugelhorn; Nils Bultmann: viola; Philipp Wachsmann: violin; Marcio Mattos: cello; Craig Taborn: piano; Jaribu Shahid: double bass; Barry Guy: double bass; Tani Tabbal: drums, percussion; Paul Lytton: drums, percussion
There’s a nice quote in the liner note to this recording, from Schoenberg, who describe composition as ‘slowed down improvisation’. The ways in which Mitchell creates his compositions and the space he leaves for improvisers (at least those improvisers able to recognise and respond to these spaces) places him at the forefront of modern jazz composition – perhaps it is too early to state his place in the pantheon of great jazz composers, but if you look at who is playing on these Roscoe Mitchell sets and how those players have developed their own approaches to composition, you can see some clear lessons learned from their experience of playing his works. This recording contains 9 pieces (numbered I to IX) that form a suite of sorts; Mitchell created the compositions and the orchestra worked these in improvised responses captured as part of a series of workshops and live recordings.
EVAN PARKER & THE TRANSATLANTIC ART ENSEMBLE WITH ROSCOE MITCHELL: BOUSTROPHEDON (2004)
Evan Parker Soprano Saxophone; Roscoe Mitchell Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone; Anders Svanoe Alto Saxophone; John Rangecroft Clarinet; Neil Metcalfe Flute; Corey Wilkes Trumpet, Flugelhorn; Nils Bultmann Viola; Philipp Wachsmann Violin; Marcio Mattos Cello; Craig Taborn Piano; Jaribu Shahid Double-Bass; Barry Guy Double-Bass;
Tani Tabbal Drums, Percussion; Paul Lytton Drums, Percussion
Boustrophedon is a companion piece to Mitchell’s Composition / Improvisation Nos. 1,2, & 3, recorded at the same Munich sessions as Mitchell’s piece and with the same personnel. Here, however, the music is composed by Evan Parker and represents something of a rarity in his discography: a large-scale orchestral piece that explores the sonic and rhythmic complexities of 20th Century classical music (one hears the tone palette of European modernists, like Schoenberg or Nono, washed with some neoclassical Stravinsky). Comparing the two pieces, I feel that Parker’s attains a surer unity of purpose, working as a suite that develops within a carefully planned framework. The title of the piece explains the names of each movement (Furrow 1 to Furrow 6): ‘boustrophedon’ comes from the Greek for ‘turning like an ox while ploughing’. The application of this term to the composition comes from the technique of writing manuscripts from left to right, on the first line, and then right to left on the second line, and so on. Parker’s composition invites pairs of musicians (one from Europe and one from the US) to join together and then draw in larger groupings of instruments. There is a feeling of the ensemble growing and contracting, and the music moving up and down scales, moving in and out of emotional tension and moving between rhythmic centres; and this ebb and flow provides the mesh into which players weave their solos. For some of the players, like Craig Taborn or Barry Guy, this solo work is all about providing comment on the music and foregrounding specific themes, while for Parker and Mitchell, it is about producing scorching expansion of the emotional content (particularly in Furrow 6).
ROSCOE MITCHELL & THE NOTE FACTORY: THE FAR SIDE (2010)
Roscoe Mitchell: sopranino / soprano / alto / tenor / baritone saxophones, flute, piccolo; Corey Wilkes: trumpet, flugelhorn; Craig Taborn: piano; Vijay Iyer: piano; Jaribu Shahid: double bass; Harrison Bankhead: double bass, cello; Tani Tabbal: drums; Vincent Davis: drums
This set of four pieces, begins with the 30 minute workout that is ‘Far side / Cards / Far side’, which finds Mitchell at his most complex and fascinating as a composer. The pieces bring much of his understanding of 20th Century composed music into the rising and falling tones and drones, which gradually evolve into fanfares before giving way to deliberative meditations on piano in front of bustling drums.
ROSCOE MITCHELL: BELLS FOR THE SOUTH SIDE (2017)
Roscoe Mitchell: sopranino / soprano/ alto / bass saxophones, flute, piccolo, bass recorder, percussion; James Fei: sopranino / alto saxophone, contra alto clarinet, electronics; Hugh Ragin: trumpet, piccolo trumpet; Tyshawn Sorey: trombone, piano, drums, percussion; Craig Taborn: piano, organ, electronics; Jaribu Shahid: double bass, bass guitar, percussion; William Winant: percussion, tubular bells, glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, roto toms, cymbals, bass drum, woodblocks, tympani; Kikanju Baku: drums, percussion; Tani Tabbal: drums, percussion
A very recent recording, this set was released to mark the 50th Anniversary of the AACM. The set begins with pieces played by one of four trios, with Mitchell playing with a drummer and pianist or bass. There is a lovely photo in the liner notes of all the musicians on stage, with Mitchell standing to the front of the stage watching Ragin solo. In this photo, all the musicians are hard at work and the second CD involves various combinations of the orchestra. While the compositions are of the usual high standard, what really captivates on this set is the way that Mitchell plays sax, particularly on the second CD.
Associated Ensembles
Appraisal by Nick Lea
WADADA LEO SMITH : DIVINE LOVE (1979)
Wadada Leo Smith Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Steel-O-Phone, Gongs, Percussion; Dwight Andrews Alto Flute, Bass Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone, Triangles, Mbira; Bobby Naughton Vibraharp, Marimba, Bells; Charlie Haden Double-Bass; Lester Bowie Trumpet; Kenny Wheeler Trumpet
Nearly forty years after its release this is still an astonishing album. The personnel alone is enough to grab the attention and whet the appetite and the resulting music does not disappoint. Where else will you find a trumpet section of this quality? What's more each finds their place in the music, and able to interact and react to the demands of the leaders chart/directions and the other rather unusual instrumentation. In fact there is nothing remotely conventional about this session, just pure music that is difficult to pin down or classify. The musicians move easily from what appear to be loosely notated melodies and cues, interspersed with areas in which the ensemble improvise freely in such a way that there is always much space and never a sense of the overcrowding despite the number of musicians involved. Dwight Andrew's alto flute is heard to stunning effect and a wonderful contrast to the brass, with the trumpets weaving melodies around each other. The long opening track set the mood and tone for the whole album, with 'Tastalan (dedicated to Lester Bowie) being particularly poignant. The sound spectrum is further enhanced with Andrew's wheeling out the bass clarinet on 'Spirituals: The Language Of Love', and some of Haden's superb bass that weaves his magic between the open trumpet and understated vibes of Bobby Naughton.
Appraisal by Nick Lea
WADADA LEO SMITH : DIVINE LOVE (1979)
Wadada Leo Smith Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Steel-O-Phone, Gongs, Percussion; Dwight Andrews Alto Flute, Bass Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone, Triangles, Mbira; Bobby Naughton Vibraharp, Marimba, Bells; Charlie Haden Double-Bass; Lester Bowie Trumpet; Kenny Wheeler Trumpet
Nearly forty years after its release this is still an astonishing album. The personnel alone is enough to grab the attention and whet the appetite and the resulting music does not disappoint. Where else will you find a trumpet section of this quality? What's more each finds their place in the music, and able to interact and react to the demands of the leaders chart/directions and the other rather unusual instrumentation. In fact there is nothing remotely conventional about this session, just pure music that is difficult to pin down or classify. The musicians move easily from what appear to be loosely notated melodies and cues, interspersed with areas in which the ensemble improvise freely in such a way that there is always much space and never a sense of the overcrowding despite the number of musicians involved. Dwight Andrew's alto flute is heard to stunning effect and a wonderful contrast to the brass, with the trumpets weaving melodies around each other. The long opening track set the mood and tone for the whole album, with 'Tastalan (dedicated to Lester Bowie) being particularly poignant. The sound spectrum is further enhanced with Andrew's wheeling out the bass clarinet on 'Spirituals: The Language Of Love', and some of Haden's superb bass that weaves his magic between the open trumpet and understated vibes of Bobby Naughton.
LESTER BOWIE : THE GREAT PRETENDER (1982)
Lester Bowie Trumpet; Hamiet Bluiett Baritone Saxophone; Donald Smith Piano, Organ; Fred Williams Bass, Electric Bass; Phillip Wilson Drums; Fontella Bass Vocal David Peaston Vocal
Bowie's discography for ECM also extended beyond his work with the AEC to recordings under his own name, and were rather a mixed bunch. His love of theatre is never far from the fore, and this could sometime detract from the potency of the music. The Great Pretender, however, is one of the more lucid offerings that keeps the theatrical a little more in check. Bowie's superb trumpet sound is heard in all its glory on the second part of 'When The (Doom) Moon Come Over The Mountain' and in a wonderfully coherent solos, both on open horn and muted, on the superb 'Rios Negros'. The long opening title track seems to throw everything into the mix all in one sitting, but it is the shorter tracks that follow that perhaps reveal the best music on the album.
LESTER BOWIE : ALL THE MAGIC! (1983)
Lester Bowie Trumpet; Ari Brown Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone; Art Matthews Piano; Fred Williams Bass; Phillip Wilson Drums; Fontella Bass Vocals David Peaston Vocals
The follow up to The Great Pretender continues in a similar vein, and if the earlier disc gives more than a passing nod to Bowie's love for R&B and the blues, then this is still furthered with the ever present influence of the blues, early jazz and carnival music. Quite how much bonhomie one wants at any one time will determine how much appeal this particular album (issued as a double LP set) will have. Pieces such as 'Okra Influence'and the two parts of 'Organic Echo' suggest that there is much serious music making to be heard from this ensemble but their is the over riding impression that even over the four sides of an LP that Bowie is trying to do cram in too much. So there is a lot to enjoy, but it is up to the listener to sift out the good stuff.
LESTER BOWIE'S BRASS FANTASY : I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU (1985)
Lester Bowie Trumpet; Stanton Davis Trumpet, Flugelhorn; Malachi Thompson Trumpet; Bruce Purse Trumpet; Craig Harris Trombone; Steve Turre Trombone
Vincent Chancey French Horn; Bob Stewart Tuba; Phillip Wilson Drums
Lester Bowie's music frequently throws up something of a paradox, for a die-hard modernist he is constantly looking back. Not so much to naturally extend what has gone before but to drag it, sometimes kicking and screaming, into his own very personal musical vision. Jazz has always been an often unorthodox or even (initially )down right uncomfortable juxtaposition of musical styles, but with the brass ensemble is debatable whether he has succeeded in bring bringing the brass band music of New Orleans. And maybe that is where Bowie's music stands or falls. Should we view his music as a traditionalist looking to bring his music to a contemporary audience, or modernist yearning for a bygone era?
LESTER BOWIE'S BRASS FANTASY : AVANT POP (1986)
Lester Bowie Trumpet; Stanton Davis Trumpet; Malachi Thompson Trumpet; Rasul Siddik Trumpet; Steve Turre Trombone; Frank Lacy Trombone; Vincent Chancey French Horn; Bob Stewart Tuba; Phillip Wilson Drums
If I Only Have Eyes For You caused some confusion in the listener, then Avant Pop just muddies the waters still further. Is it a brass band, playing instrumental pop music, or trying to incorporate Bowie's entire musical experiences into one album? The answer is probably all three, and this more than any other of the discs that Bowie recorded as leader for ECM raises more questions than it answers. It is irrefutable that Bowie's was an exceptional, if eccentric, musical mind and these albums are possibly some of the most unusual recording by a single artist in the ECM discography.
I therefore hope that my comments about the albums are not construed as dismissive in any way, but just serve to show what an eclectic mix of music that Bowie brought to the table. How one chooses to assimilate and digest the music on offer should be approached with an open mind, and a willingness to be entertained as well as enlightened.
JACK DEJOHNETTE, NEW DIRECTIONS : NEW DIRECTIONS (1978)
Jack DeJohnette Drums, Piano; John Abercrombie Guitar, Mandolin; Lester Bowie Trumpet; Eddie Gomez Bass
“I see myself as a colourist, not as a drummer per se… I tune my drums in such a way so that no matter what I play, whatever I hit on it is a melody and that makes me think differently, it makes me think more melodically.”
The above quote from the drummer seems to sum things up perfectly. In a long and distinguished career, he has embraced many musical forms from the electric jazz rock of Miles Davis groups of the late 60's/early 70's to the sublime acoustic trio with Keith Jarrett and Gary Peacock. In each setting DeJohnette was able to make his presence felt without overpowering whatever group he found himself in, yet still bringing his inimitable innate sense of melody to bear.
He has recorded prolifically for ECM since 1971, and yet with his contributions to the work of others it can be all too easy to overlook his own output for the label as leader. This is put right with a timely reminder in this collection with two albums from his New Directions band, recorded prior to the formation of the Standards Trio with Jarrett that catapulted the drummers career and focus in a different direction.
What is striking about this album released in 1978 is the contradictory aspects of the music, that of sparseness coupled with a bustling energy that can drive the quartet relentlessly, or scale back to whisper in a heartbeat. This stunning contrast is down not just to the musicality and space of DeJohnette but also into the skillful use of texture and harmony employed by guitarist, Abercrombie. This has resulted in an album of intense lyricism and cutting solos that quickly get right to the heart of the music.
JACK DEJOHNETTE, NEW DIRECTIONS : IN EUROPE (1980)
Jack DeJohnette Drums, Piano; Lester Bowie Trumpet; John Abercrombie Guitar, Mandolin Guitar; Eddie Gomez Bass
Taking a quick look at the album tracks and personnel it would be all too easy to dismiss this album as more of the same, as two of the compositions, 'Where Or Wayne' and 'Bayou Fever', both feature on the earlier studio recording. Recorded live it is a foregone conclusion that the pieces will play for longer, but one is quite unprepared for just how far that the quartet can take the music whilst retaining the flavour of the originals.
Once again the emphasis is the interaction of the group rather than the individuals, and the space that is left in the music without anyone feeling the need to fill it. It is this intuitive and seemingly telepathic communication that make this an essential companion to the studio set.
What struck me in listening to these two albums is the playing of Lester Bowie. None of the confusion, diversification or genre hopping heard in his own recordings; just articulate, communicative and cutting edge trumpet playing. He makes his presence felt with the ingenuity of his ideas, and how he melds this seamlessly within the framework of the compositions. This he does without dominating what is by now sounding like a collective group with a strong identity of its own.
DeJohnette is splendid throughout, with the musicality of his playing ever present and we also get to hear some of his wonderful piano playing on the lengthy introduction to 'Bayou Fever' before being joined in a duet with with bassist, Gomez and morhing into a full quartet performance with Jack switching over to the traps. The album then comes to a fitting finale with a cracking, and cooking, 'Multo Spiliagio'.
JACK DEJOHNETTE, MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS, LARRY GRAY, ROSCOE MITCHELL, HENRY THREADGILL : MADE IN CHICAGO (2015)
Jack DeJohnette Drums, Speaker; Muhal Richard Abrams Piano; Larry Gray Double Bass, Cello; Roscoe Mitchell Sopranino Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Baroque Flute, Bass Recorder; Henry Threadgill Alto Saxophone, Bass Flute
This live recording from Millennium Park in Chicago documents the first time that this quintet played in public. Specially convened for the Chicago Jazz Festival by DeJohnette he assembled fellow classmates from Wilson Junior College in Roscoe Mitchell, Henry Threadgill and Muhal Richard Abrams, who had all attended the school together more than fifty years earlier.
All the tracks, with the exception of the closing title which is freely improvised, all run over the ten minute mark, giving ample time for the quintet to develop each of the compositions without the need to rush, although this does not mean that they do not turn up the heat. The opener, Roscoe Mitchell’s ‘Chant’ is a case in question with its repetitive melodic motif establishing the feel of the piece before Abrams’ piano solo which is then immediately followed by a drum and sopranino duet that boils along with a scalding intensity. In contrast, the pianist’s ‘Jack 5’ begins quietly with DeJohnette’s splashes of colour from cymbals and kit before the horns enter with the theme statement, with solos from both drummer and the alto saxophone of Henry Threadgill.
All the compositions spring from within the band and the concert concludes with a collective improvisation. It transpires that there was some pretty intense rehearsal time prior to the concert that yields music of remarkable empathy and creativity, despite the fact that the four core musicians had not played together for a number of years. It is therefore great to have this set available, not as a reminder of the great past but more as testament as to how creative musicians will continue to grow.
Lester Bowie Trumpet; Hamiet Bluiett Baritone Saxophone; Donald Smith Piano, Organ; Fred Williams Bass, Electric Bass; Phillip Wilson Drums; Fontella Bass Vocal David Peaston Vocal
Bowie's discography for ECM also extended beyond his work with the AEC to recordings under his own name, and were rather a mixed bunch. His love of theatre is never far from the fore, and this could sometime detract from the potency of the music. The Great Pretender, however, is one of the more lucid offerings that keeps the theatrical a little more in check. Bowie's superb trumpet sound is heard in all its glory on the second part of 'When The (Doom) Moon Come Over The Mountain' and in a wonderfully coherent solos, both on open horn and muted, on the superb 'Rios Negros'. The long opening title track seems to throw everything into the mix all in one sitting, but it is the shorter tracks that follow that perhaps reveal the best music on the album.
LESTER BOWIE : ALL THE MAGIC! (1983)
Lester Bowie Trumpet; Ari Brown Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone; Art Matthews Piano; Fred Williams Bass; Phillip Wilson Drums; Fontella Bass Vocals David Peaston Vocals
The follow up to The Great Pretender continues in a similar vein, and if the earlier disc gives more than a passing nod to Bowie's love for R&B and the blues, then this is still furthered with the ever present influence of the blues, early jazz and carnival music. Quite how much bonhomie one wants at any one time will determine how much appeal this particular album (issued as a double LP set) will have. Pieces such as 'Okra Influence'and the two parts of 'Organic Echo' suggest that there is much serious music making to be heard from this ensemble but their is the over riding impression that even over the four sides of an LP that Bowie is trying to do cram in too much. So there is a lot to enjoy, but it is up to the listener to sift out the good stuff.
LESTER BOWIE'S BRASS FANTASY : I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU (1985)
Lester Bowie Trumpet; Stanton Davis Trumpet, Flugelhorn; Malachi Thompson Trumpet; Bruce Purse Trumpet; Craig Harris Trombone; Steve Turre Trombone
Vincent Chancey French Horn; Bob Stewart Tuba; Phillip Wilson Drums
Lester Bowie's music frequently throws up something of a paradox, for a die-hard modernist he is constantly looking back. Not so much to naturally extend what has gone before but to drag it, sometimes kicking and screaming, into his own very personal musical vision. Jazz has always been an often unorthodox or even (initially )down right uncomfortable juxtaposition of musical styles, but with the brass ensemble is debatable whether he has succeeded in bring bringing the brass band music of New Orleans. And maybe that is where Bowie's music stands or falls. Should we view his music as a traditionalist looking to bring his music to a contemporary audience, or modernist yearning for a bygone era?
LESTER BOWIE'S BRASS FANTASY : AVANT POP (1986)
Lester Bowie Trumpet; Stanton Davis Trumpet; Malachi Thompson Trumpet; Rasul Siddik Trumpet; Steve Turre Trombone; Frank Lacy Trombone; Vincent Chancey French Horn; Bob Stewart Tuba; Phillip Wilson Drums
If I Only Have Eyes For You caused some confusion in the listener, then Avant Pop just muddies the waters still further. Is it a brass band, playing instrumental pop music, or trying to incorporate Bowie's entire musical experiences into one album? The answer is probably all three, and this more than any other of the discs that Bowie recorded as leader for ECM raises more questions than it answers. It is irrefutable that Bowie's was an exceptional, if eccentric, musical mind and these albums are possibly some of the most unusual recording by a single artist in the ECM discography.
I therefore hope that my comments about the albums are not construed as dismissive in any way, but just serve to show what an eclectic mix of music that Bowie brought to the table. How one chooses to assimilate and digest the music on offer should be approached with an open mind, and a willingness to be entertained as well as enlightened.
JACK DEJOHNETTE, NEW DIRECTIONS : NEW DIRECTIONS (1978)
Jack DeJohnette Drums, Piano; John Abercrombie Guitar, Mandolin; Lester Bowie Trumpet; Eddie Gomez Bass
“I see myself as a colourist, not as a drummer per se… I tune my drums in such a way so that no matter what I play, whatever I hit on it is a melody and that makes me think differently, it makes me think more melodically.”
The above quote from the drummer seems to sum things up perfectly. In a long and distinguished career, he has embraced many musical forms from the electric jazz rock of Miles Davis groups of the late 60's/early 70's to the sublime acoustic trio with Keith Jarrett and Gary Peacock. In each setting DeJohnette was able to make his presence felt without overpowering whatever group he found himself in, yet still bringing his inimitable innate sense of melody to bear.
He has recorded prolifically for ECM since 1971, and yet with his contributions to the work of others it can be all too easy to overlook his own output for the label as leader. This is put right with a timely reminder in this collection with two albums from his New Directions band, recorded prior to the formation of the Standards Trio with Jarrett that catapulted the drummers career and focus in a different direction.
What is striking about this album released in 1978 is the contradictory aspects of the music, that of sparseness coupled with a bustling energy that can drive the quartet relentlessly, or scale back to whisper in a heartbeat. This stunning contrast is down not just to the musicality and space of DeJohnette but also into the skillful use of texture and harmony employed by guitarist, Abercrombie. This has resulted in an album of intense lyricism and cutting solos that quickly get right to the heart of the music.
JACK DEJOHNETTE, NEW DIRECTIONS : IN EUROPE (1980)
Jack DeJohnette Drums, Piano; Lester Bowie Trumpet; John Abercrombie Guitar, Mandolin Guitar; Eddie Gomez Bass
Taking a quick look at the album tracks and personnel it would be all too easy to dismiss this album as more of the same, as two of the compositions, 'Where Or Wayne' and 'Bayou Fever', both feature on the earlier studio recording. Recorded live it is a foregone conclusion that the pieces will play for longer, but one is quite unprepared for just how far that the quartet can take the music whilst retaining the flavour of the originals.
Once again the emphasis is the interaction of the group rather than the individuals, and the space that is left in the music without anyone feeling the need to fill it. It is this intuitive and seemingly telepathic communication that make this an essential companion to the studio set.
What struck me in listening to these two albums is the playing of Lester Bowie. None of the confusion, diversification or genre hopping heard in his own recordings; just articulate, communicative and cutting edge trumpet playing. He makes his presence felt with the ingenuity of his ideas, and how he melds this seamlessly within the framework of the compositions. This he does without dominating what is by now sounding like a collective group with a strong identity of its own.
DeJohnette is splendid throughout, with the musicality of his playing ever present and we also get to hear some of his wonderful piano playing on the lengthy introduction to 'Bayou Fever' before being joined in a duet with with bassist, Gomez and morhing into a full quartet performance with Jack switching over to the traps. The album then comes to a fitting finale with a cracking, and cooking, 'Multo Spiliagio'.
JACK DEJOHNETTE, MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS, LARRY GRAY, ROSCOE MITCHELL, HENRY THREADGILL : MADE IN CHICAGO (2015)
Jack DeJohnette Drums, Speaker; Muhal Richard Abrams Piano; Larry Gray Double Bass, Cello; Roscoe Mitchell Sopranino Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Baroque Flute, Bass Recorder; Henry Threadgill Alto Saxophone, Bass Flute
This live recording from Millennium Park in Chicago documents the first time that this quintet played in public. Specially convened for the Chicago Jazz Festival by DeJohnette he assembled fellow classmates from Wilson Junior College in Roscoe Mitchell, Henry Threadgill and Muhal Richard Abrams, who had all attended the school together more than fifty years earlier.
All the tracks, with the exception of the closing title which is freely improvised, all run over the ten minute mark, giving ample time for the quintet to develop each of the compositions without the need to rush, although this does not mean that they do not turn up the heat. The opener, Roscoe Mitchell’s ‘Chant’ is a case in question with its repetitive melodic motif establishing the feel of the piece before Abrams’ piano solo which is then immediately followed by a drum and sopranino duet that boils along with a scalding intensity. In contrast, the pianist’s ‘Jack 5’ begins quietly with DeJohnette’s splashes of colour from cymbals and kit before the horns enter with the theme statement, with solos from both drummer and the alto saxophone of Henry Threadgill.
All the compositions spring from within the band and the concert concludes with a collective improvisation. It transpires that there was some pretty intense rehearsal time prior to the concert that yields music of remarkable empathy and creativity, despite the fact that the four core musicians had not played together for a number of years. It is therefore great to have this set available, not as a reminder of the great past but more as testament as to how creative musicians will continue to grow.
