Art Ensemble of Chicago

The legendary Art Ensemble of Chicago, currently in their fifth decade of activity, ended a five-year studio silence with Nice Guys, their debut for ECM at the pinnacle of the label’s output. As children of Chicago’s groundbreaking Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)—which also finds Jack DeJohnette, Anthony Braxton, and Wadada Leo Smith on its formidable roster—Ensemble members bring to every project a sound as eclectic as their technology. Theirs is simply positive music-making that is loads of fun and possesses much to admire. Free of dangerous philosophical trappings and illusions of space, it forges through the loose aesthetic of its performance a circle in which any and all listeners feel included.

PERSONNEL:

• LESTER BOWIE, trumpet, celeste, bass, drums
• JOSEPH JARMAN, reeds, percussion
• ROSCOE MITCHELL, reeds, percusssion
• MALACHI FAVORS MAGHOSTUS, bass, percussion
• FAMOUDOU DON MOYE, drums, percussion

Recorded May 1978 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg.

TRACKS:

• 01. Ja
• 02. Nice Guys
• 03. Folkus
• 04. 597 - 59
• 05. Cyp
• 06. Dreaming Of The Master