Word: chicago
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Ensemble of Chicago. A name that calls to mind an image of grim-looking men and women from America's heartland sawing away at string instruments in search of elusive "art" does curious justice to the group of musicians which it actually describes. The designation "Art Ensemble" may strike us as parodic, but any irony reflects only our own cultural conditioning. The work of the Art Ensemble of Chicago (AEC) is, in its way, every bit as creative, disciplined, and sincere as the classical music for which we ordinarily reserve the word...
...American folk music. These are musical values that have no counterpart in the mainstream of Western culture. But classifications like "jazz" or even "music" seem to narrow to contain the Art Ensemble's vision of "Great Black Music." It's terribly difficult to describe what the Art Ensemble of Chicago actually does, especially when confronted with the rich complexity of one of their live performances. Call it a "happening...
...under individual Art Ensemble members' names. Great Black Music may have flourished in obscurity, but it flourished all the same; today's growing AEC audience enjoys a mature artistic form born in the early 60s through the innovations of The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a Chicago-based musician's collective...
...jazz scene was rapidly drying up. The audience dwindled, the clubs closed. The effect on the New York musicians was devastating; many of the major figures who didn't die either went into seclusion or left for the greener pastures of Europe and Las Vegas. But the less competitive Chicago avant-garde community was on the threshold of an artistic breakthrough, and in the face of public indifference Chicago musicians turned to one another for support through the AACM...
Saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman, and bassist Malachi Favors were founding members of the AACM; trumpeter Lester Bowie joined when he came to Chicago shortly afterward. These four players became the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The original name was the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, but the group's musical philosophy was deeply influenced by the collective ideal of the AACM, and when they went to Europe in 1969 they adopted a name that more accurately suggests the active role each member takes in the AEC's music. With the addition of percussionist Don Moye...