Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Pathe Sessions

[Chuck Nessa]

Have most of the early stuff, save Go Home, and can say with a (historicized) certainty that the Nessas and the first two entries in the BYG/Actuel catalog are extra fine. I still spin Les Stances and Message to our Folks quite regularly, years on.

Of the Paris stuff, People in Sorrow and Reece and the Smooth Ones are the ones I play for pleasure most often.

[Kalo]

Time to pull these sessions out again!

[clifford_thornton]

I don't know why I never got into Reese that much. YMMV I guess.

Sabu Toyozumi did some really nice arrangements of "People In Sorrow." It's a fantastic symphony; that thematic line is such a killer in the bluesy pathos it exudes. I remember when I bought it, I was about 19 or 20 and came home for a break from work. I put it on and didn't go back to work that day, just kept listening to it. Those were the days...