O Art Ensemble of Chicago é um das bandas mais expressivas do free jazz. Com uma extensa discografia e um histórico de militância política, seus integrantes são membros da Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). De acordo com seu posicionamento, o grupo faz questão de mencionar que não faz shows ou performances, mas sim projeções.

Comentário: Ainda em estado de êxtase diante da primeira apresentação do Art Ensemble of Chicago, tentarei deixar por aqui algumas impressões do show, melhor, da "projeção" da banda no Sesc Vila Mariana, ontem, dia 10/10. De saída, quebraram parte da expectativa do público, que lotou o Teatro, por não aparecem de máscaras, rostos pintados, tipicamente caracterizados, como fazem em algumas apresentações. No entanto, isto era o que menos importava. Quase todos estavam ali para conferir o legado do jazz de Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, que foram visitados pela morte e tocam hoje por aí, na memória de gente que tem o Art Ensemble of Chicago como uma das bandas de free jazz mais criativas da cena musical, ou a experiência emprestada por Joseph Jarman que afastou-se da banda, e o desempenho de Roscoe Mitchell, Famoudou Don Moye, e os músicos convidados Corey Wilkes e Jaribu Shahid. A sonoridade desconcertante, agressiva, não convencional, das primeiras músicas, fez com que boa parte da platéia saísse, abandonasse o barco diante da primeira tempestade. Sob o lema "a grande música negra - da antiguidade ao futuro", foi o caminho que a banda percorreu até chegar ao final da apresentação. De um estranhamento inicial, dos ruídos, sinais ritualísticos e primitivos que surgiam dos instrumentos, dos caminhos e descaminhos que só o jazz permite, aos poucos, a cada música, a cada conjunto de notas, os músicos encontraram-se, de um trajeto que boa parte do público ainda acreditava que estavam perdidos, novamente e chegaram ao "futuro", quase num sopetão. Ganhou, mais uma vez, quem experimentou o risco do incômodo. Uma apresentação histórica, única. Ficará para a história.

Visite o site oficial: http://artensembleofchicago.com/

Para ouvir o Art Ensemble of Chicago, acesse: http://www.myspace.com/artensembleofchicago

Art Ensemble of Chicago - Pan Burundi

Found @ http://www.youtube.com/user/akamekarasu

Art Ensemble of Chicago - Warsaw 1983

Found @ http://www.youtube.com/user/nonwave1

Art Ensemble of Chicago - Lugano 1979

Found @ http://www.youtube.com/user/musikavideosI

Art Ensemble of Chicago in tha house. In my kaos. Love it.

One of the greatest jazzbands ever. Bonus: Here you can hear Motorpsycho cover Theme de Yoyo.

Artist: Art Ensemble Of Chicago
Album: Urban Bushmen [CD 2]

Tracklist :

• New York Is Full Of Lonely People
• Ancestral Meditaion
• Uncle
• Peter And Judith
• Promenade: Cote Bamako II
• Odwalla / Theme

Artist: Art Ensemble Of Chicago
Album: Urban Bushmen [CD 1]

Tracklist :

• Promenade: Cote Bamako I
• Bush Magic
• Urban Magic
• Sun Precondiction Two / Theme For Sco

Artist: Art Ensemble Of Chicago
Album: Nice Guys

Tracklist :

• Ja
• Nice Guys
• Folkus
• 597-59
• Cyp
• Dreaming Of The Master

While the internet is a great tool for learning and discovery, it also takes away most of my free time.

While the web gives you a sense of community, it also isolates you, in fron of your screen, at home, all alone.

while it gives you incredible laughing material, like pedobears, predator jokes, viral clips, and sex (and non sex videos, just like this sex video which is sort of SFW, and has no nudity, but the sheer WTF factor makes sure your jaw drops and cartoon question marks pop around your head; all this aside, the internet will not hug you when sad.

Your virtual friends (while some cross over to real life) are allways obscure people at best, or people just like you, and I can't help but feeling that I need friends who are better than me :) (no offence guys, I love ya still).

But I guess the web is not all that bad.

Older friends tell me about the old days, when people had to work hard to discover old music, or underground stuff, and had to duplicate tapes, read zines, and what now.

And we have it so easy now days, a click here, a click here, a click there, and you get this:

www.artensembleofchicago.com

Artist: Art Ensemble Of Chicago
Album: Fanfare For The Warriors

Tracklist :

• Illistrum
• Barnyard Scuffel Shuffel
• Nonaah
• Fanfare For The Warriors
• What's To Say
• Tnoona
• The Key

Michael-Bradley's Picks

1. Television - Elevation

Television is band that I've heard of for a long time, and never found the time to get into. Bu after hearing Henry Rollins' feature Television's debut album Marquee Moon(1977) in its entirety, on his weekly radio show on Indie 103- Harmony in My Head, I realized it was time. I can't believe I hadn't even heard these songs before. This album is terrific from top to bottom. A ,mix of a lot of sounds, this album proved to be super influential in all punk, no wave and post punk. I feel like Carman could talk a lot better about these guys than I can (cause I'm just learning), so lets hope he sheds some light on these guys eventually. When I hear this album, I just think oh, that's what Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were thinking.

2. Joy Division - Disorder

Much like Television did with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, my introduction to Joy Division through their first full length album -Unknown Pleasures (1979) dissolved any interest I had in Interpol. I thought Interpol's sound was actually unique, thin reverb on the guitar, lead singer's low pitch humming, i dont know- just about everything they do, had been done TWENTY YEARS AGO. This is probably not a surprise to anybody more than a few years older than me, but shit. Totally disappointing. If anything Interpol is a bit quicker at times, and a bit bassier. But what I thought was their best release, Turn on The Bright Lights is really just Unknown Pleasures [btw,amazing album cover] through the eyes of 2002. And they fooled an entire generation to think they're doing something special. HA. Well give Unknown Pleasures a spin and see if you can listen to Interpol. I'm trying right now, and it's not working. Of course, like too many great acts, Joy Divion's story ended too soon- only a year after this release lead singer Ian Curtis hanged himself.

3. Metallica - Fade to Black

KROQ has been playing a lot of old Metallica to get ready for a show they're doing for them. Last week, I made a friend sit in the car with me for 5 minutes while all the solo's of Master of Puppets played out, so i could sing along note for note. Metallica was probably the first time I really went off the deep end in my music taste,that also involved getting into it beyond radio plays. Sure I was listening to NIN and Nirvana, but this seemed a lot darker. Their older albums were never even near the radio in NY. I collected their entire discography of cd's, going backwards starting from their most recent release at the time (Load?). I became totally obsessed with them. The musicianship, the heavy riffs, and at times the speed. It felt so right! And the deeper I went into their older stuff, the more I fell in love. This is probably the 2nd complete discography I made, after Nirvana. But I was even more proud of this one for it's lack of commonality with my schoolmates. This song, Fade to Black, was off Ride the Lightning (1984)-their 2nd full length release. This song is one of their greatest early songs. Like so many of my early favs, it starts with the acoustic guitar, and builds speed throughout the song, while just getting heavier and heavier. Truly epic song. Life it seems will fade away.
BTW, Lars Ulrich (drummer) is a fucking douchebag who got me kicked off of napster for downloading all the fucking metallica songs I ALREADY OWNED JACKASS. THANK YOU LARS, for setting up a sue fans first mentality in the record industry, instead of examining why this problem is happening. You're a rich bitch, and I will never buy anything of yours again. I probably wont even try to listen to your new material either, even though KROQ will jam it down my throats after you pay them off. In fact, I will probably burn your entire discography in mass bulk at my place, and leave them for free at venues. Trace that on the internetz.

Jonathan's Picks

1. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Feat. Freeway, Jay-Z, and Beanie Sigel - War (Nick Catchdubs Remix)

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is NOT your average brass band. First of all, they draw almost as much influence from hip hop and Latin music as they do jazz. But secondly, of the band's nine members, eight are related. And not only are they related, but all eight (all on horns) are actually blood brothers -- the sons of 1950s jazz trumpet player Phil Cohran, who played predominantly with the Sun Ra Arkestra. Only Hypnotic's drummer, "360," has a different father. And though the band has been recording for just a few years -- they started as street performers in Chicago -- the chemistry and energy are clearly there since they grew up with jazz in the blood, and a sense of performance in heart. This track is one of my favorites: Brooklyn-based DJ and remixer, Nick Catchdubs, combines one of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble's best songs, "War," a trumpet-heavy record with a sneaky-good bass line, with one of my favorite hip hop songs of the last ten years, hood anthem "What We do," by Roc-A-Fella Records member Freeway, and featuring Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel. The horns seem to weep while trying their best to hold their heads up high, as if they're listening to the Free, Jay, and Beans rhyme about drugs, guns, prison, squalor, and growin' up in the hood. It's a gritty yet beautiful conversion. (Watch an excellent short NY Times video profile of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble here).

2. Usher Feat. Beyonce & Lil Wayne - Love In This Club (Part 2 Remix)

So no doubt the original version of "Love In This Club" was a huge hit. And while I thought it was an above average R&B track, on the whole it was hardly special. But I admit I definitely dug the shimmering synthy beat from Polow da Don aka King of the White Girls (sorry, but I just have to write that nickname every chance I get), and the catchy chorus certainly didn't hurt for Usher's upcoming album's first single. Small problem though: the Internets are ablaze with rumors that Polow da Don made the beat using basic, pre-loaded samples and loops from Apple's DIY music program, GarageBand -- not a good look for a supposedly top-flight music producer. In any case, the remix, or "Part 2" as it's being called, has a whole new downtempo beat from producer Soundz, and all new lyrics from Usher to go with it. Usher engages in a spirited and earnest back-and-forth vocal debate with a surprisingly excellent sounding Beyonce, about whether or not they should indeed make love in the club. Kind of awkward since they both recently married other people, but still, it actually makes for quite a good song. Lil Wayne delivers, as always, with a hoarse-voiced, syrup-slurred rap, in which he once again (note the developing trend here) took to using Auto-Tune for the second half of his verse. "Love In This Club (Part 2 Remix)" is really like listening to a whole new track, and maybe even a better one, so give it a shot.

3. Colin Munroe - (I Want Those) Flashing Lights

Colin Munroe is a new artist out of Toronto who recently signed with Grammy-winning record producer, Dallas Austin, and is in the process of releasing his first album. Boom. (Got that out of the way). Frankly, I can't and won't even try to vouch for any of his other music, because there simply isn't much out there yet, and what I've heard isn't moving me much. But that really has nothing to do with why chose this track. One could say this is just a remix of Kanye West's "Flashing Lights," and to some extent that's true. But this is a new breed, and different brand of remix than hip hop or pop music are used to. Much like the "Love In This Club" remix above, "(I Want Those) Flashing Lights" is really a complete reinvention of the song it's supposedly just remixing, and giving it brand new lyrics (save for a bit of each chorus) and a reworked, if not entirely reinvented, beat. One major difference of course is that Usher's remix was done by a professional producer, Colin Munroe is more like, well, just a Canadian guy. Nonetheless, I love Munroe's honest lyrics and obviously rough rehashing of West's beat. And while his voice isn't nearly the same quality, Munroe already reminds me a little bit of a more raw, less developed Sam Sparro. One other thing: Munroe even upstages Usher's remix in one sense -- he actually made an accompanying video, which, while admittedly a little on the "Fisher-Price My First Music Video" side, is actually great looking a fun to watch.

JustJake's Picks

1. Merle Travis & Joe Maphis - White House Blues

This song is an old tune that has survived in many incarnations over the last hundred years or so. Around the turn of the century many people, especially those in the rural areas where bluegrass and country music were born, had no way of receiving news other than by word of mouth and song. This particular tune about the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley is probably an instance of this early form of newscasting. Other than the words, which today seem almost comical, take note of Merle Travis’ signature strolling guitar style

2. John Hartford - In Tall Buildings

John Hartford penned some of bluegrass and country music’s greatest songs, but none is sadder or more troubling than this waltzing eulogy for the workingman. If you live in a city or have ever found yourself working in a office be warned, this song will hit home and might even cause you to re-evaluate your priorities.

3. Lyle Lovett - I've Been to Memphis

If you’re like me, you’ve spent a fair amount of time wondering how in the hell Lyle Lovett ever got near Julia Roberts, let alone near enough to marry her. Well after listening to this song it’s not so hard to understand. Lovett, is a great songwriter and this pick, from the NPR’s Live at the World Café, is one of his more soulful tunes. Just straight-up fun.

Carman's Picks

1. ESG - Moody

Every time I listen to LCD Soundsystem I think to myself, "Man, James Murphy really, really wants his band to be the modern day ESG." And I don't mean that in a negative way; I'm a huge LCD Soundsystem fan. But hell, I don't blame him for that anyways. In my eyes, ESG were the perfect band: catchy, danceable, grooves from a trio of sisters (and a friend on bass) from the South Bronx that was honest in its simplicity and no-holds-barred approach. Unsurprisingly, they would catch the attention of early pioneering hip-hop DJs for use in beats (a reunion in 1992 saw the release of the Sample Credits Don't Pay Our Bills EP) before the post-punk revival of the new century instilled a generation of middle-class kids to appreciate not only an endearing D.I.Y. ethic, but a rhythm that made you move. Enjoy this classic cut off their first release.

2. Cecil Taylor - Tales (8 Whisps)

Cecil Taylor was unique among free jazz pioneers in that not only did he play the piano (an unusual instrument in the early days of free jazz), but he also embraced the theatrical aspect of the medium. Along with The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Cecil Taylor made jazz not only an art form to be listened to, but also to be watched. While the AEOC did it with a large ensemble of junk used for rhythm instruments and masks and makeup, Cecil Taylor was able to do it not only in a solo act, but while sitting behind a piano. If you haven't already, be sure to check out Ron Mann's superb 1981 documentary Imagine The Sound. Taylor is one of the subjects featured in the film, and you will be blown away by his performances (and his eccentric personality). The man is an acrobat behind the keys, and you can tell by just listening to his work.

Download this week's Friday Writers' Bloc Playlist HERE

There's a fine story on the book and the group courtesy of the NY Times today which I encourage all to read -- and I say this not claiming any expertise in the field of music under discussion. This is, in fact, part of the reason of my interest; there is always something new to learn and discover out there, old and new, and the permanent now of music can be reflective of the permanent now of learning and knowledge. A high-flying sentiment, perhaps, but not an unimportant one. I've been lucky to read a variety of texts that have clarified unfamiliar areas of American music in particular which have also served as good primers for areas of our collective social and political history which have been unfairly (if, sometimes sadly, understandably ignored), ranging from Luc Sante's striking essay collection Kill All Your Darlings to John Szwed's masterful biography of Sun Ra, Space is the Place. Lewis's work here, I suspect, will rank with them and many others.

The phrase I've quoted in the title comes from the NY Times story, which talks about a word which is not talked about, and which I've avoided using in this post so far. It is perhaps the key to the whole piece, though:

Noticeably absent from Mr. Mitchell’s description, and from the language of the early planning meetings, was the word jazz. This was partly in keeping with the arm’s length the organization intended to establish between its art and the commercial realm of nightclubs, then the de facto setting for any African-American art music. Partly, too, these musicians were concerned with a breadth of style that reached beyond jazz, to encompass serious classical composition, as well as music from Africa and the East. Having inherited the new freedoms of 1960s jazz innovators like John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, the artists in this movement were ready for a next step, one they could claim as their own.

“This is a book about mobility and agency,” Mr. Lewis said. He links this impulse conceptually to the Great Migration, illuminating how the association’s first generation came from families that had moved to Chicago from a postslavery South. He examines the continuing debate over the organization’s exclusion of nonblack musicians, shedding new light on the phrase Great Black Music, which many in the association adopted.

Mobility, agency -- self-definition but awareness of group context and reception. This strikes me as as cogent a realization of what is meant by the 'American dream' more than much else out there. If the phrase 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' still retains its validity, no matter how compromised it was in its creation and how its full promise is still being unfolded, then mobility and agency are part and parcel with it. Happy reading -- and happy listening, as I plan on doing.

I often picture Helios Creed in a cavernous, underground laboratory wearing a lab coat while he conducts his experiments with assorted varieties of alien technology-- of course, these technologies include drugs not available from Rudy on the street corner. Nah, I'm talkin' extreme chemical alterations of the brain that allow him to tap into, and in fact, become one with his vast arsenal of gadgetry. I only mention this because unlike so many others that rely so heavily on machines, Creed never sounds like anything less/more than flesh and blood. For example, even though synthetic percussion is employed for the first half of this album-- quite cheapo thud at that-- it never sounds like loops... it's more like listening to someone pounding away with their fists on the defenseless drum pads. Helios likes to show them hapless contraptions who's boss.

The second half is live tracks recorded from Austin, Texas to San Francisco to Switzerland with "real" musicians. Longtime collaborators Z Sylver (keys) and Paul Della Pelle (drums) show up for three cuts and the final two tracks feature the Weiss brothers, Andrew (bass, also of Ween/ex-Rollins Band) and Jon (drums). Most interesting of all is Nik Turner lending some of his patented sax-bleating to "Hyperventilation," along with fellow past and present members of Hawkwind-- Del Dettmar (synth), Len Del Rio (keys), Grenas (guitar) and Paul Fox (bass). Despite the various confederates, this LP is a personal favorite for its cohesiveness-- it's the first of his solo efforts to dive head-first back into the science-fictionalized goop Chrome left unfinished.

I remember being so enamored of this here disc upon its release in 1994, that I went out and rented (at an absolutely cut-throat price) a then state-of-thee-art pedal board (a Roland I believe) in a pathetic attempt to add some extra-kookiness to my Residents rip-off hobby band. We'd been fucking around with chipmunk vocals and the like, so it seemed "proper" to have ridiculously over-treated geetar sounds to add to the worthless racket we'd been making. Unfortunately, even though I'd recent graduated from Ron Asheton Circa First Stooges Longplayer Rudimentary Axe Skills 101, I still sounded like a guy screwing around with noises he didn't understand. In short, the machine was playing ME. Helios Creed, on the other hand, never suffers from that problem.

Look in comments.

ROSCOE MITCHELL - Sound

I've had this 'un earmarked for at least 4-5 months. In fact, my original vision for SLN was a noise/free jazz-oriented monster with text every bit as impenetrable as the skronk offered as ritual sacrifice. Somewhere along the way, I compromised (heavily). Not sure why, but most likely it was the ominous specter of writing on a near-daily schedule about artists whose collective works are this emotionally and physically draining-- not good for my mental health... or yours, for that matter. Tackling a cultural watermark like "Sound" is akin to distilling the essence of "Human, All Too Human" into a few crass paragraphs-- yes, I'm aware that sounds more pretentious than a John Cage worshiper on peyote with five people giving him/her their undivided attention, but I couldn't think of a more down-to-earth analogy... my apologies. Awright, fuck it, I'm gonna plow forward even though I find this one of the more daunting tasks I've undertaken here.

Then again, who really has tapped into the vein of free jazz using mere words? Lester Bangs at his Romilar D-guzzlin' best? Nah, he tended to spend as much time rambling on about himself-- as entertaining as he was-- as the music itself. The academically-inclined yo-yo's at Down Beat? Need I even answer that? Truth is, verbiage will never accurately convey the organized chaos constructed by Roscoe Mitchell, Alto Saxman Extraordanaire, and his soon-to-be fellow members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago (Lester Bowie, Maurice McIntyre, Malachi Favors, Alvin Fielder and Lester Lashley). This is music so fulla paradoxes you'll soon find yer head swimming (and plenty o' other body parts as well)-- beautiful/hideous, playful/terrifying, harmonious/dissonant... I could list 'em for pages (but I won't). Instead, here's a quickie lowdown on two tracks (there's only five, two of which are alternate takes):

"Sound 1," is a shining example of what can happen when musicians with extra-sensory chemistry and boundless creativity are unshackled from all known conventional thought. Beginning with some atonal, yet thematic shrieks from Mitchell and Bowie (tenor sax), this 27 minute epic quickly shifts to a less serious tone with Lashley's entrance: Realizing that trombones create a damn good fart noise, he lingers in infantile territory for a while before being joined in the fun by Mitchell and Bowie. The result is the kinda bizarre interplay you'd tend to associate with Carl Stalling-- particularly if he was scoring a scene where Wile E. goes SPLAT!! And then there's Lester Lashley's cello "playing." The Godz had to've been spinning this sucker day 'n' night, as they are the only artists I can think of who mauled a bowed instrument quite like Les... you shouldn't feel ashamed if you at first mistake it for a cat being tortured.

"The Little Suite," also sounds a lot like cartoon music-- a rollicking, ever-morphing piece resembling a joyous, inside joke-filled conversation between cello, recorder, flugelhorn and um... gourds. When you start to believe you've wrapped your head around what they've set out to accomplish... you're wrong. Ringing bells punctuating the dialog unexpectedly give way to a cacophony of squawking saxes that'd make Keiji Haino wince. Frank "Money in the Bank" Zappa borrowed more'n a few of the ideas featured here (check out "Studio Tan" sometime).

If you downland, leave a comment... I mean, you're gonna be in there anyway, right?

Art Ensemble of Chicago to jedna z najsłynniejszych grup wywodzących się z kręgów chicagowskiego AACM. Nice Guys może być doskonałym wprowadzeniem w ich muzykę. To album zespołu już nie tylko dojrzałego ale także o bogatym doświadczeniu artystycznym. AEoC nagrywają w roku 1978 od prawie 10 lat mieszkając w Europie, gdzie po nagraniu 14 albumów w przeciągu dwóch lat (imponujące!) zwalniają tempo pracy studyjnej i skupiają się na koncertach oraz pracy w innych projektach. Po czterech latach od wydania poprzeniego albumu wracają, w dodatku w barwach nowej wytwórni - ECM.

Bowie (Lester oczywiście, nie David), Jarman (Joseph oczywiście, nie Derek), Mitchell, Favors i Don Moye prezentują nam całe spektrum swoich możliwości - a te są naprawdę imponujące. Robi wrażenie zwłaszcza umiejętność płynnego przechodzenia pomiędzy różnymi stylistykami, nieraz zupełnie skrajnymi. Free jazz swobodnie łączy się z bebopem, czy nawet reggae, przy czym czasami są to połączenia robiące wrażenie lekko parodystycznych (jak w otwierającym album JA), a czasami wręcz przeciwnie - będące rodzajem hołdu dla innych wykonawców. Najlepszym z tej płyty przykładem tego drugiego rodzaju będzie z pewnością Dreaming of the Master - doskonale utrzymany w stylu klasycznego kwintetu Milesa Davisa z Coltranem w składzie: temat w przyciszonym, intymnym unisonie, potem wyraźny kontrapunkt chłodnej introwertycznej trąbki z ekspresyjnym, starającym się urwać z zespołowej smyczy saksofonem. Nagrać coś takiego, zachować charakter, a przy tym nie popaść w mechaniczne naśladownictwo ani epigoństwo - po tym poznaje się mistrzów, ale nie tylko po tym... AEoC mistrzowsko łączą w jednym utworze eksperymenty sonorystyczne, awangardowe wygibasy z całkiem grzecznie zaaranżowanymi tematami, tylko po to, by za moment znów dokonać tego tematu totalnej dekonstrukcji. Słuchacz nawet nie zauważa, kiedy ze zwykłej leniwie transowej muzyki zostaje wciągnięty w awangardowy miszmasz dźwięków, rytmów, przestrzennych struktur. To wszystko podane w doskonałej jakości wyważonym i dopieszczonym barwowo nagraniu - co jest oczywiście znakiem rozpoznawczym ECM'u - ale to jeszcze nie jest (na szczęście) ECM czasów Pata Metheny'ego i Rypdala - dbałość o barwę nie skutkuje przytępianiem awangardowcom pazura, aby nie drażnić słuchacza.

Art Ensemble of Chicago znać trzeba i wypada. Ot choćby po to, aby przekonać się na własne oczy jak wiele z tej stylistyki (i nie tylko stylistyki - także z erudycyjnego ale i przesiąkniętego poczuciem humoru podejścia do jazzowej klasyki) czerpali nasi rodzimi yassowcy. Wiele fragmentów Nice Guys mogłoby się z powodzeniem znaleźć na albumach Łoskotu, czy 4syfona. Nawet więc jeśli nie załapaliśmy się na poznanie tych zjawisk w kolejności chronologicznej, to warto wrócić do korzeni. A Nice Guys jest doskonałym punktem startowym do takiej podróży.