Word: group
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...VIOLENCE. Cowan was born and raised on television and "creative community." There's no questioning the basic concept at the core of the television industry: programs all drawn from the same group of companies which crank out anything the networks can sell to advertisers. How can we believe Cowan when he categorizes events as B.L. or A.L.--before Lear and after Lear. Saint Norman: the man who brought reality to television. Struggling mightily to make sure his programs aren't toned down by the Family Hour, Lear upholds the constitution and continues the never-ending struggle in quest of freedom...
...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...
...Great Black Music: Ancient to the Future" is the AEC motto. The members of the Art Ensemble are quick to deny any racial or elitist intent--the motto is meant to acknowledge and affirm the singular course of American black musical development. The group's radical conception of musical performance has as its obvious source the improvisation and spontaneous creation which are characteristic of jazz, blues, and Afro-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...
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...
...Group improvisation is not a new idea in music, but the AEC has advanced the idea to a new technical and artistic plane. The Art Ensemble sound is a fusion of five highly individual and even idiosyncratic stylists; their special achievement is in learning, through years of experimentation, to combine these styles into a coherent music that retains the originality and vitality of each. Lester Bowie is especially startling in his instrumental technique. He finds within his trumpet an astonishing variety of blasts, blares, bleats, and buzzes it was never meant to produce. He exploits the lower ranges...