Art Ensemble of Chicago

• 2 CD DIGIPACK EDITION

• 4 STARS ALL MUSIC GUIDE

The Art Ensemble of Chicago has been at the forefront of creative improvised music since 1969, and has long served as the flagship ensemble of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the august Chicago-based organization that also fostered the careers of members such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, and Wadada Leo Smith, among many others. The greatness of the Art Ensemble has always been the shared commitment of its original members – Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Malachi Favors, and Famoudou Don Moye – to the total realm of African diasporic music: what they have long-termed “Great Black Music—Ancient to the Future.” Also important are the group’s disparate musical and artistic personalities, comprised of jazz, advanced compositional techniques, theatrical performance, poetry, Pan-African percussion, all tied together with improvisational flair and the exploration of pure sound.

PERSONNEL:

• ROSCOE MITCHELL, sopranino, soprano and alto saxophones
• FAMOUDOU DON MOYE , drums, percussion
• MOOR MOTHER (Camae Ayewa), voice, poetry (CD 1 [3], [4], [10])
• RODOLFO CORDOVA-LEBRON , voice (CD 1 [1], [6], [9])
• HUGH RAGIN, trumpets, flugelhorn
• FRED BERRY, trumpet, flugelhorn
• NICOLE MITCHELL, piccolo, flute, bass flute
• CHRISTINA WHEELER, voice, electronics
• JEAN COOK, violin
• EDWARD YOON KWON, viola
• TOMEKA REID, cello
• SILVIA BOLOGNESI, bass
• JARIBU SHAHIB, bass, tuned brass bowls
• JUNIUS PAUL, bass
• DUDU KOUATÉ, small percussions (CD 1 only)
• ENOCH WILLIANSON, bongos, congas
• TITOS SOMPA, vocals, congas
• STEPHEN RUSH, conductor

TRACKS:

• CD ONE:
• 01. Variations and Sketches from the Bamboo Terrace
• 02. Bell Song
• 03. We Are On the Edge
• 04. I Greet You With Open Arms
• 05. Chi-Congo 50
• 06. Jamaican Farewell Part 1
• 07. Villa Tiamo
• 08. Saturday Morning
• 09. Jamaican Farewell Part 2
• 10. Mama Koko
• 11. Fanfare and Bell
• 12. Oasis at Dusk

• CD TWO:
• 01. We Are On The Edge/Cards
• 02. Oasis at Dusk
• 03. Chi-Congo 50
• 04. Tutankhamun
• 05. Mama Koko
• 06. Saturday Morning
• 07. Odwalla/The Theme