Art Ensemble

[king ubu]

Hello to all Organissimo guys and gals and all you funny rats!

funny rat calling in... welcome Martin, to funny rat internet forum

here's the way to go:

ubu

[Martin]

Lots of thanks for your warm welcomes! In fact, I have been a silent funny rat lurker for several months now...

[brownie]

Lots of thanks for your warm welcomes! In fact, I have been a silent funny rat lurker for several months now...

Martin, there is more to this Board than Funny Rats

[Д.Д.]

Okay guys, I must admit I have only one AEoC cd on my shelves.

This one...

I enjoy the recording very much. I realize this is without Bowie, so I assume I'm not getting the full effect.

What should I pick up next?

IMO, you are not getting the full effect not only because of Bowie's absense, but because this is a realtively weak performance by other band members. For AEoC at their prime go for Fanfare for the Warriors, as was already recommended above.

[Д.Д.]

Lots of thanks for your warm welcomes! In fact, I have been a silent funny rat lurker for several months now...

Time to become a vocal one, then!

[Rob C]

I had hardly heard the AEC until about six months ago when I picked up Live in Paris and then sealed the deal with Full Force--I've been on a heavy kick since then, picking up the 67/68 box, Reese and the Smooth Ones, Fanfare for the Warriors, and the "American Swinging in Paris" disc with Les Stances a Sophie and People in Sorrow (which I just got a few days ago). I've also had the chance to hear "The Paris Sessions" and Tribute to Lester.

I have some trouble getting my ears around some of it, but overall these guys are my most exciting recent discovery.

(BTW, I picked up Reese along Don Cherry's Mu in the "New Traditionalists" box, which is a great deal--Mu is an excellent disc in its own right.)

Anyway, of the ones listed above, my top rec would have to be the American Swinging in Paris disc or the single disc version of Les Stances. I'm pretty partial to Reese as well.

[GregK]

That's it then, I'm heading back downtown ASAP to get that Cherry/AEC set. I think it was only $17.99, so it sounds like a good deal

[Rob C]

FYI, Dusty Groove has Reese and Mu for $6.99 each....

[GregK]

what do people think of Tutankhamen? I found this disc today for $12, so I got it. I've only listened to the first two tunes so far, and I think it's great. I think Jarman is even playing a guitar on it!! But the bass is just amazing. Malachi Favors is rapidly becoming one of my favorite musicians!!

[Chuck Nessa]

Malachi Favors is rapidly becoming one of my favorite musicians!!

Me too.

[GregK]

Chuck, thank you for producing that box!!!

[Brandon Burke]

My friend Tim sent me a link to some of his recent artwork. Among them is a painting he donated to a Chicago organization that was raising money to buy kids musical instruments. No, it's not the AACM, but the subject matter made the subject of the painting something of a no-brainer....

Edited March 3, 2005 by Brandon Burke

[GregK]

I think I'm gonna head on over to Dusty Groove and get their book next . I am loving every thing I hear from the Art Ensemble

[Alexander Hawkins]

Wow. I just listened to Live in Berlin for the first time. Beautiful, beautiful stuff. A relatively accessible Art Ensemble album? Wonderful, though. I love the waltz on the first side.

And some of Roscoe Mitchell's soprano work is extraordinary.

I'd easily bolt this onto any Art Ensemble recommendations made!

Edited March 17, 2005 by Red

[GregK]

the newly reissued Phase One on Free America should be added to the recommendation list too. They hit a deep groove on the first tune and never let up

[Rob C]

Just got Phase One, and is it great.

Anyway, question on the new "with Fontella Bass" on Free America, if anybody knows. Is it by any chance the same recording as disc 2 of the "Live in Paris" that was reissued on BYG/Fuel 2000 recently? The track timings look familiar.

Thanks.

[rostasi]

Just got Phase One, and is it great.

Anyway, question on the new "with Fontella Bass" on Free America, if anybody knows.  Is it by any chance the same recording as disc 2 of the "Live in Paris" that was reissued on BYG/Fuel 2000 recently?  The track timings look familiar.

Thanks.

There's "Oh, Strange" (instead of "How Strange") that was recorded about a year earlier. The Free America recording comes from the Prestige release that came out just before Phase One.

To hear Ohnedaruth on LP, and then see them perform this live too (Ann Arbor and Chicago)

was one of those life changing (and affirming) experiences for me more than 30 years ago!

[EKE BBB]

Interview with Don Moye and Roscoe Mitchell (by Diego Ortega Alonso for Tomajazz)

(in Spanish)

[Hot Ptah]

Without trying to derail the thread: I've heard The Third Decade, Urban Bushmen, and Coming Home Jamaica. I appreciate that the last of those is hardly definitive, but if I've heard the first two have I got a pretty good idea of what the AEC really sound like? Or is their oeuvre a lot more complicated than that?

Did anyone ever answer you? In my opinion, you would need, at a minimum, to hear the Nessa box, "Les Stances a Sophie", "Fanfare For the Warriors", "Live at Mandel Hall", "Nice Guys" and "Full Force", to get a pretty good idea of what they are like.