S/D: Art Ensemble of Chicago

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The only Art Ensemble of Chicago I've heard are the two I own: Les Stances a Sophie and Fanfare for the Warriors. I like both, but Stances is great all the way through, while Fanfare for the Warriors is a little patchy.

What should I look for next? They usually have at least a few in stock at Dusty Groove, but AEC has so many albums, there's bound to be some duds.

― Zachary S (Zach S), Sunday, 4 February 2007 20:06 (6 years ago) Permalink

S: basically all the 1969-72 Paris albums. This includes Stances, so you're off to a good start. The others are: Reese and the Smooth Ones, A Jackson In Your House, Message To Our Folks (currently paired w/Jackson on a single CD), People In Sorrow, Certain Blacks, Chi-Congo, ...With Fontella Bass, Phase One, and a couple others I can't remember right now. Post-Paris, you need Urban Bushmen, Kabalaba, Bap-Tizum and The Meeting. I haven't heard most of their 1980s and 1990s output, so maybe someone else can help with that stuff.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 4 February 2007 20:23 (6 years ago) Permalink

"tutankhamen" on black lion, recorded 1969 in paris

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, 4 February 2007 20:48 (6 years ago) Permalink

i think phil's list is good, i went on an AACM spree a while back and then pared down to the stuff i really really like, here's what i've got

reese + the smooth ones
jackson in your house / message to our folks
tutankhamen
les stances a sophie
live @ mandel hall
bap-tizum
urban bushmen

one thing is that if you're attracted to the swingin soul jazz element of "les stances a sophie" you may not enjoy "baptizum" or "live @ mandel hall" or "tutankhamen" that much ... there's a fair amount of ornette coleman style free blowing on those.

"reese + smooth ones" and "jackson in your house" are probably a better bet, though again, not so much swingin soul jazz, more of a sort of episodic radio-drama thing going on on those albums, almost like listening to a play or an opera in parts. tres artsy.

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, 4 February 2007 20:53 (6 years ago) Permalink

I was never much able to enjoy Live At Mandel Hall, for the simple buyer-beware reason that it's a single 72-minute track.

Also, in addition to Tutankhamen (which was an oversight on my part), check out The Spiritual, recorded the same day.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 4 February 2007 21:39 (6 years ago) Permalink

Search, urgently: Comme à la Radio - Brigitte Fontaine & Art Ensemble of Chicago

― Turangalila (Salvador), Sunday, 4 February 2007 21:45 (6 years ago) Permalink

perhaps you guys can help me out. a friend played me one piece, years ago, pretty sure from the Paris period. starts incredibly sparse, intermittent single notes & sounds struck on wide ranging percussion ensemble. gradually, a strange melody emerges on a single instrument and all the players slowly converge and begin playing it. even here it stays unbelievably sparse, giving it real power. I have jackson / message, stances, comme à la radio but this piece is the one that tore me up... guesses appreciated.

― milton parker (Jon L), Sunday, 4 February 2007 23:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

Some more over here - Primer: AACM

― xyzzzz__ (jdesouza), Sunday, 4 February 2007 23:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

I didn't know the AEC were part of any larger collective. I moved to Chicago recently - I wonder if AACM stuff would be easier to find here? I hope so. I've got a list of about 20 AACM albums I'm keeping a lookout for now.

― Zachary S (Zach S), Monday, 5 February 2007 00:09 (6 years ago) Permalink

Second Comme a la Radio. My fav. of their paris albums is A Jackson in Your House. Also, Bap-tizum is a great live performance. Love these guys.

― call all destroyer (Sean Braudis), Monday, 5 February 2007 05:00 (6 years ago) Permalink

Their ECM days tend to get short shrift, but I've always had a soft spot for Nice Guys.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 5 February 2007 10:19 (6 years ago) Permalink

has People In Sorrow ever been issued on CD?

― hank (hank s), Monday, 5 February 2007 13:46 (6 years ago) Permalink

EMI France put it out on a CD together with Les Stances A Sophie as part of their "Americans In Europe" series. Both have obviously been sourced from vinyl but it's the only way to get People In Sorrow - which is their masterpiece - on CD at the present time.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 5 February 2007 13:52 (6 years ago) Permalink

starts incredibly sparse, intermittent single notes & sounds struck on wide ranging percussion ensemble. gradually, a strange melody emerges on a single instrument and all the players slowly converge and begin playing it. even here it stays unbelievably sparse, giving it real power.

Could it be Reese and the Smooth Ones?

― mcd (mcd), Monday, 5 February 2007 14:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

No because that starts out with a unison horn riff and then goes into sparse notes, pointillistic percussion etc.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 5 February 2007 14:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

I've always liked "Prayer For Jimbo Kwesi" from Third Decade (one of those 80s ECM albums).

― Rockist Scientist, Hippopoptimist (RSLaRue), Monday, 5 February 2007 14:46 (6 years ago) Permalink

No because that starts out with a unison horn riff and then goes into sparse notes, pointillistic percussion etc.

Maybe milton started listening in the middle of it.

― mcd (mcd), Monday, 5 February 2007 14:55 (6 years ago) Permalink

No need to be sarky.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 5 February 2007 14:57 (6 years ago) Permalink

Nice Guys is great

― deej.. (deej..), Monday, 5 February 2007 15:33 (6 years ago) Permalink

Roscoe Mitchell's Congliptious (basically a Joseph Jarman-less AEC in all but name) is pretty great. Never heard any of his other early ones, alas.

― M. Agony Von Bontee (M. Agony Von Bontee), Monday, 5 February 2007 16:24 (6 years ago) Permalink

Sound is an absolute classic and it does resurface on CD now and again.

But yes, Congliptious featuring Bowie's "Jazz Death" - requires URGENT AND KEY CD reissue.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 5 February 2007 16:26 (6 years ago) Permalink

Congliptious is on the Nessa CD box no? along with Bowie's Numbers 1 & 2. I can't believe that box set is still in print since it is like the greatest thing in the universe.

agreed that People in Sorrow is the best example of their particular collective improv ... and hence, best album

Of later recs, I really like Live in Berlin and Live in Japan ... the latter was my introduction to them

Haven't yet heard any of the new stuff with Corey Wilkes, but Corey is a bad-ass ... one of the absolute best musicians working in Chicago

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Monday, 5 February 2007 19:18 (6 years ago) Permalink

x-post no one's being sarky, I guess nothing bad will happen to me if I just get them all

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 5 February 2007 19:34 (6 years ago) Permalink

I wasn't being sarky [sic], I just wondered if maybe it was Reese despite the description since I think I've heard most of the Paris records and none of them exactly fit that sequence of events that I recall. Might be Live in Paris.

Speaking of Roscoe Mitchell (and yes whenever someone asks me about AEoC, I suggest Sound, a crucial record)... anyone heard that Muhal Richard Abrams/George Lewis/Roscoe Mitchell album on Pi? I was fortunate enough to hear a track from it, George Lewis doing his electronics thing (which usually makes me miss the trombone! even though I like the electronics, too). Was wondering if the album is strong all the way through.

― mcd (mcd), Monday, 5 February 2007 19:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

Hmmm...could Milton's mystery piece possibly be People In Sorrow, Side Two? That's from '67; dunno if they were already in Paris by that point...

― Myonga Von Bowie (Monty Von Byonga), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 06:03 (6 years ago) Permalink

Actually recorded in Boulogne, July 1969.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 07:59 (6 years ago) Permalink

I remember People in Sorrow as starting off with just percussion noises, then a lone sparse melody on one instrument, so it might be the piece that Milton's after, although it's been a long time.

― george gosset (gegoss), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 10:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

1969, right. I stand corrected!

― M. Agony Von Bontee (M. Agony Von Bontee), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 14:23 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Les Stances A Sophie is getting a DVD release! http://www.souljazzrecords.co.uk/releases/?id=13465

― jaxon, Thursday, 9 October 2008 18:06 (4 years ago) Permalink

that's an amazing album.

S: Bap-tizum, Message to Our Folks, A Jackson in Your House, Reese and the Smooth Ones, Urban Bushmen

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 9 October 2008 18:08 (4 years ago) Permalink

just got the 2 CD reissue of Roscoe Mitchell's 'Nonaah'. Minimal and intense, opens with a 32 minute solo concert from 1976, also has Henry Threadgill / Abrams / George Lewis / Braxton, great:

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4557

― Milton Parker, Thursday, 9 October 2008 18:11 (4 years ago) Permalink

Now someone needs to reissue that Brigitte Fontaine album that they appear on.

― What's good for Wall Street (call all destroyer), Thursday, 9 October 2008 18:22 (4 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

happy birthday roscoe!

― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Friday, 3 August 2012 18:38 (9 months ago) Permalink

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