Word: group
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Pattl Smith Group--Orpheum Theater...
...whistles, shakers, bicycle horns, bongo drums, zithers, woodblocks, and assorted simple percussion instruments are used by Art Ensemble members to richen the fabric of their music. Usually regarded as gimmicks or novelty items, these little instruments have become an essential feature of the AEC's musical language. When the group travelled to Europe, they packed literally hundreds of these odd tools of their trade. The little instruments provide memorable visual images--Jarman serenely blowing a conch shell or harmonica, Moye stamping his feet to ring the bells attached to his ankles...
...FIRST IMPRESSION that any performing group makes upon its audience is visual, and the outlandish physical appearance of the Art Ensemble is only natural for a band that seeks to use every available means of expression. Just as in the music, the Art Ensemble attains their visual goal through the highly personal contributions of the individual members; Mitchell, in the standard dungarees and open-collar shirt of the jazzman, is as much a part of the AEC tableau as is Moye in his coolie hat and war paint...
...Musician and a new album (NiceGuys) on ECM--the label that has successfully promoted the likes of Keith Jarrett and Pat Methaney--the AEC is riding a new crest of public interest and acceptance. But as Lester Bowie comments, there has always been a receptive audience for the group's work, and the size of that audience is of no great consequence. The music which so excites critics today is essentially unchanged since the days when the Art Ensemble played for groups of ten or fifteen devotees back in Chicago. Through years of poverty and even a self-imposed exile...
During the week the festival will encompass literally the entire city of Cambridge, with over 1000 musicians, artists and dancers, in addition to hundreds of volunteer residents, students, businesses and community groups, celebrating the culture, history and "flavor" of each of the city's neighborhoods on a different day. For instance, next Thursday evening at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Japanese, tap, jazz and improvisational dance forms will be performed alongside Renaissance, Scottish highland and Indian flute music. Friday in Central Square a Greek dance group will be followed by a Haitian folk singer; later on a Puerto Rican singing group...