The Art Ensemble of Chicago – The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Associated Ensembles (21CD) (2018)
FLAC (tracks+.cue, log) ~ 5,49 Gb | 18:36:43 | Covers
Avant-Garde Jazz, Free Improvisation | Label: ECM Records – ECM 2630

In his brief liner essay introducing this amazing 21-disc retrospective, ECM founder Manfred Eicher states that he wanted to work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago after hearing late-'60s recordings by its members and witnessing their legendary performances in Paris during the era – which resulted in 15 recordings for various labels. Eicher didn't get his chance for nearly a decade, but the relationship between label, band, and colleagues continues. The release of this mammoth retrospective finds the label and the musicians celebrating precursors to their respective 50th anniversaries. The AEC, an outgrowth of the South Side's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians have always been great architects of space (check the AEC's own collective debut, People in Sorrow). They took on the intense challenges put forth by Coltrane, Coleman and Taylor and used sound itself as a means to, and process of, investigation. ECM's has also been ready to engage space whenever possible: Their motto is "the Most Beautiful Sound Next to Silence."

While the quintet (Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Famoudou Don Moye, and Malachi Favors Maghostut) only recorded four albums for ECM, their circle of influence continues to spiral out. These albums – Nice Guys, 1979; Full Force, 1980; Urban Bushmen, 1982; and The Third Decade, 1984, represent, by most accounts, their finest, most enduring work. Bowie signed his own contract with ECM during the period and released four solo albums. The first two, The Great Pretender (1981) and the double All the Magic! (1983) juxtaposed high-wire improvised music with the trumpeter's deep love for pop and R&B. The second pair showcased his ten-piece Brass Fantasy group that included Craig Harris, Steve Turre, and Bob Stewart. The box also contains a fifth AEC disc, the tender, beautiful, and warm Tribute to Lester, issued in 2003, four years after Bowie's death, and played by a trio – Jarman was studying to become a Buddhist priest and ultimately retired

So what of the rest? Eicher and his assistants have assembled the AEC's extended reach through three albums by Jack DeJohnette's New Directions (that featured Bowie in the lineup) and Leo Smith's classic Divine Love. An associate of the AACM, he featured the tune "Tastalun" dedicated to Bowie with him playing alongside Kenny Wheeler. The drummer's 2015 acclaimed live date Made in Chicago with Mitchell and other AACM luminaries is also included. Finally, three acclaimed Mitchell projects–Nine to Get Ready, Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3, and 2017's brilliant Bells for the South Side – are included. The inclusion of Boustrophedon by Evan Parker and the Transatlantic Art Ensemble is here, for which he combined his own Electro-Acoustic Ensemble with Mitchell's quartet. The 200-page book is astonishing, and includes essays by Craig Taborn, George Lewis, and Vijay Iyer, with a lengthy historical appreciation by author Steve Lake. There are dozens of pulled quotes, complete album art, and photographs inside to boot. Sure, this is for AEC completists, but it is also a peerless, necessary addition to paired legacies of the band and label that it will resonate with virtually compelled, collectively created, aesthetically advanced improvised music. Essential! ~ AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek

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01 – Art Ensemble of Chicago – Nice Guys (1979) {44:53}
01. Ja (8:43)
02. Nice Guys (1:45)
03. Folkus (11:04)
04. 597-59 (6:47)
05. Cyp (4:54)
06. Dreaming of the Master (11:40)

02 – Art Ensemble of Chicago – Full Force (1980) {42:37}
01. Magg Zelma (19:51)
02. Care Free (0:51)
03. Charlie M (9:18)
04. Old Time Southside Street Dance (5:12)
05. Full Force (7:25)

03 – The Art Ensemble of Chicago – Urban Bushmen (1982) {2CD} {1:32:49}
CD1 {46:56}
01. Promenade: Cote Bamako I (4:12)
02. Bush Magic (5:06)
03. Urban Magic (15:45)
04. Sun Precondition Two/Theme for Sco (21:53)

CD2 {45:53}
01. New York Is Full of Lonely People (7:37)
02. Ancestral Meditation (6:57)
03. Uncle (17:29)
04. Peter and Judith (2:39)
05. Promenade: Cote Bamako II (5:57)
06. Odwalla/Theme (5:14)

CD1

CD2

04 – Art Ensemble of Chicago – The Third Decade (1985) {42:14}
01. Prayer for Jimbo Kwesi (9:52)
02. Funky AECO (7:44)
03. Walking in the Moonlight (4:11)
04. The Bell Piece (6:08)
05. Zero (6:00)
06. Third Decade (8:19)

05 – Leo Smith – Divine Love (1979) {44:00}
01. Divine Love (21:50)
02. Tastalun (6:42)
03. Spirituals: The Language of Love (15:28)

06 – Lester Bowie – The Great Pretender (1981) {43:23}
01. The Great Pretender (16:54)
02. It's Howdy Doody Time (2:11)
03. When the Doom (Moon) Comes over the Mountain (3:42)
04. Rios Negros (7:19)
05. Rose Drop (7:26)
06. Oh, How the Ghost Sings (5:51)

07 – Lester Bowie – All the Magic, The One and Only (1983) (2CD) {1:20:31}
CD1 – All the Magic! {45:07}
01. For Louie (12:18)
02. Spacehead (6:51)
03. Ghosts (3:14)
04. Trans Traditional Suite (15:57)
05. Let the Good Times Roll (6:47)

CD2 – The One and Only {35:24}
01. Organic Echo (3:18)
02. Dunce Dance (2:07)
03. Charlie M. (Part II) (2:53)
04. Thirsty? (3:34)
05. Almost Christmas (3:55)
06. Down Home (2:46)
07. Okra Influence (4:42)
08. Miles Davis Meets Donald Duck (1:41)
09. Deb Deb's Face (2:08)
10. Monkey Waltz (1:50)
11. Fradulent Fanfare (1:02)
12. Organic Echo (Part II) (5:28)

CD1

CD2

08 – Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy – I Only Have Eyes for You (1985) {53:31}
01. I Only Have Eyes for You (10:32)
02. Think (1:31)
03. Lament (Dedicated to Dr. Ray Copeland) (13:55)
04. Coming Back, Jamaica (5:17)
05. Nonet (14:32)
06. When the Spirit Returns (7:44)

09 – Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy – Avant Pop (1986) {47:34}
01. The Emperor (10:34)
02. Saving All My Love for You (5:08)
03. B Funk (3:51)
04. Blueberry Hill (5:26)
05. Crazy (5:28)
06. Macho (6:20)
07. No Shit (5:14)
08. Oh, What a Night (5:33)

10 – Art Ensemble of Chicago – Tribute to Lester (2003) {57:07}
01. Sangaredi (7:42)
02. Suite for Lester (5:24)
03. Zero/Alternate Line (9:17)
04. Tutankhamun (8:10)
05. As Clear as the Sun (12:41)
06. He Speaks to Me Often in Dreams (13:53)

11 – Roscoe Mitchell and The Note Factory – Nine to Get Ready (1999) {55:16}
01. Leola (9:35)
02. Dream and Response (5:04)
03. For Lester B (6:08)
04. Jamaican Farewell (5:44)
05. Hop Hip Bip Bir Rip (6:03)
06. Nine to Get Ready (3:53)
07. Bessie Harris (6:44)
08. Fallen Heroes (6:37)
09. Move Toward the Light (3:22)
10. Big Red Peaches (2:06)

12 – Roscoe Mitchell – Composition-Improvisation Nos.1, 2 & 3 (2007) {79:10}
01. I (13:36)
02. II (4:07)
03. III (18:35)
04. IV (5:42)
05. V (3:54)
06. VI (3:17)
07. VII (9:13)
08. VIII (14:49)
09. IX (5:57)

13 – Evan Parker and The Transatlantic Art Ensemble – Boustrophedon (2008) {59:21}
01. Overture (1:22)
02. Furrow 1 (8:10)
03. Furrow 2 (5:47)
04. Furrow 3 (11:07)
05. Furrow 4 (5:21)
06. Furrow 5 (8:21)
07. Furrow 6 (12:53)
08. Finale (6:20)

14 – Roscoe Mitchell and The Note Factory – Far Side (2010) {65:56}
01. Far Side/Cards/Far Side (30:56)
02. Quintet 2007 A for Eight (9:57)
03. Trio Four for Eight (12:38)
04. Ex Flover Five (12:25)

15 – Roscoe Mitchell – Bells for the South Side (2017) (2CD) {2:07:33}
CD1 {63:50}
01. Spatial Aspects of the Sound (12:14)
02. Panoply (7:37)
03. Prelude to a Rose (12:45)
04. Dancing in the Canyon (10:24)
05. EP 7849 (8:14)
06. Bells for the South Side (12:36)

CD2 {63:43}
01. Prelude to the Card Game, Cards for Drums, and the Final Hand (16:03)
02. The Last Chord (12:27)
03. Six Gongs and Two Woodblocks (7:50)
04. R509A Twenty B (1:34)
05. Red Moon in the Sky/Odwalla (25:49)

CD1

CD2

16 – Jack DeJohnette – New Directions (1978) {46:33}
01. Bayou Fever (8:44)
02. Where or Wayne (12:30)
03. Dream Stalker (5:59)
04. One Handed Woman (10:53)
05. Silver Hollow (8:27)

17 – Jack DeJohnette – New Directions in Europe (1980) {56:36}
01. Salsa for Eddie G. (16:06)
02. Where or Wayne (12:33)
03. Bayou Fever (18:24)
04. Multo Spiliagio (9:33)

18 – Jack DeJohnette – Made in Chicago (2015) {77:39}
01. Chant (16:57)
02. Jack 5 (14:54)
03. This (12:13)
04. Museum of Time (13:37)
05. Leave Don't Go Away (10:19)
06. Announcement (3:29)
07. Ten Minutes (6:10)