- Date:
- 1966 - present
Art Ensemble of Chicago
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What is the Art Ensemble of Chicago?
The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an American jazz group that formed in Chicago in 1966. Founded by composer and woodwind player Roscoe Mitchell, the ensemble is known for its free jazz improvisations, diverse African and African American styles, and use of exotic percussion instruments. Other permanent members included Malachi Favors, Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, and Don Moye.
The group gained international fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s, touring extensively in Europe, Japan, and the United States. Despite the deaths of Bowie and Favors and Jarman's departure and return, the Art Ensemble of Chicago has continued to perform and record, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017.
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When and where was the Art Ensemble of Chicago formed?
The Art Ensemble of Chicago was formed in 1966 in Chicago, Illinois, by composer and woodwind player Roscoe Mitchell. The group, an innovative free jazz collective, initially consisted of Mitchell, bassist Malachi Favors, and trumpeter Lester Bowie. Joseph Jarman became a permanent member in 1968, establishing the Art Ensemble as a cooperative quartet. The ensemble gained international recognition between 1969 and 1971 during their prolific recording and touring period in Europe, after which they added percussionist Don Moye.
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What kind of music does the Art Ensemble of Chicago play?
The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an American jazz group known for its innovation in sound, structure, and form within free jazz. They embraced a range of African and African American styles, calling their music "Great Black Music." The ensemble is known for group and solo improvising in a wide range of tempos, dynamics, and textures. Members play many instruments, incorporating traditional jazz, classical, and popular works.
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Who were the main members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago?
The Art Ensemble of Chicago was an American jazz group known for innovation in sound, structure, and form in free jazz. Roscoe Mitchell began forming small Chicago jazz units in 1966 that he called "art ensembles." These ensembles included Malachi Favors and trumpeter Lester Bowie. Joseph Jarman became a permanent member in 1968, turning it into a cooperative quartet. In 1969–71, the group added percussionist Don Moye. While the five musicians also pursued independent careers, they toured almost annually as a quintet in Europe, Japan, and the United States.
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What is unique about how the Art Ensemble of Chicago performs?
The Art Ensemble of Chicago is known for its unique approach to free jazz, particularly its innovation in sound, structure, and form. In contrast to the intense and fast music that was dominant in free jazz, the Art Ensemble featured group and solo improvisations within a wide range of freely changing tempos, dynamics, and textures.
The members played many instruments, mastering their instruments' overtone and multiphonics ranges. They also incorporated traditional jazz, classical, and popular works, but the music composed by its members was the source of its improvising.
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How did the Art Ensemble of Chicago influence jazz music and other musicians?
The Art Ensemble of Chicago innovated sound, structure, and form in free jazz, embracing African and African American styles to create "Great Black Music". They stood out by improvising with a wide range of tempos, dynamics, and textures, in contrast to the intense, loud, and fast music typical of free jazz at the time.
The group's members were all adept at composition and improvisation, incorporating traditional jazz, classical, and popular works into their performances. Their discoveries regarding sound color, fluid rhythms, structure, and free jazz lyricism have been notably influential.
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Art Ensemble of Chicago, American jazz group, innovators of sound, structure, and form in free jazz. They embraced a diversity of African and African American styles and sources in their creation of what they preferred to call “Great Black Music.”
In 1966 composer-woodwind player Roscoe Mitchell (b. August 3, 1940, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) began forming small Chicago jazz units that he called “art ensembles,” which included bassist Malachi Favors (b. August 22, 1927, Lexington, Mississippi, U.S.—d. January 30, 2004, Chicago, Illinois) and trumpeter Lester Bowie (b. October 11, 1941, Frederick, Maryland, U.S.—d. November 9, 1999, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.). Often they were joined by composer-woodwind player Joseph Jarman (b. September 14, 1937, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, U.S.—d. January 9, 2019, Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.), who became a permanent member of the Art Ensemble in 1968, turning it into a cooperative quartet. Their international fame began in 1969–71, when they recorded and toured prolifically in Europe and added a percussionist, Don Moye (b. May 23, 1946, Rochester, New York, U.S.). Subsequently they toured almost annually as a quintet in Europe, Japan, and the United States.
At a time when the dominant trend in free jazz was intense, loud, very fast music, the Art Ensemble by contrast began featuring group and solo improvising in a wide range of freely changing tempos, dynamics, and textures. Its members played many instruments; their virtuosity included mastery of their instruments’ overtone and multiphonics ranges, and Bowie became especially noted for his expressive concepts. They all played percussion instruments, including bells, gourds, and gongs, and the addition of Moye broadened their use of exotic percussion. While the Art Ensemble incorporated traditional jazz, classical, and popular works, music composed by its members was the source of its improvising in recordings such as A Jackson in Your House (1969), People in Sorrow (1969), Bap-Tizum (1972), and Urban Bushmen (1980).
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The five musicians also pursued independent careers; Bowie, for example, was a featured soloist with his Brass Fantasy band and the New York Organ Ensemble, and Mitchell composed extended works such as Nonaah (1976–77) and The Maze (1978).
In 1993 Jarman left the group to pursue his interests in Buddhism and aikido, and the ensemble continued as a quartet. Bowie’s death in 1999 left them as a trio, and they recorded Tribute to Lester (2003). Jarman’s return in 2003 led to The Meeting (2003). Sirius Calling (2004) was the final album before Favors’s death. The acclaimed Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City: Live at Iridium (2006) was recorded with trumpeter Corey Wilkes and bassist Jaribu Shahid. The Art Ensemble of Chicago celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017 with a series of concerts and the retrospective double album We Are on the Edge (2019).