Art Ensemble of Chicago

[JohnS]

Seeing the AEOC live is one of the three or four most memorable performances I've attended in fifty years of listening to jazz. Few recordings really catch the electric atmosphere of their live prformances.

[brownie]

from Jet, 8 January 1970

"Another freedom group, L'Art Ensemble performed at the American Students Center here. In the group are musicians Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors, Leslie Bowie, Larry Jarman and Grachan Moncur III"

(there's a second mention from July 1970, where they're called Art Ensemble of Chicago and all the names a spelled right...)

http://books.google.com/books?id=SDkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA33&dq=%22grachan+moncur%22&lr=&as_pt=MAGAZINES&hl=de&cd=1#v=onepage&q=%22grachan%20moncur%22&f=false

Grachan Moncur and the AEC were indeed Paris in late 1969. There was some interaction (including Moncur taking part with Bowie, Roscoe and Malachi on the Actuel/Byg session 'Hommage to Africa' by Sonny Murray that summer) but can't recall a concert with the Ensemble and Moncur playing together.

Would have to go and search for copies of the French jazz magazines of the time but that's a long and dusty job...

Does it really make much of a difference?

[Niko]

Does it really make much of a difference?

no. but it's interesting to see Art Simmons' enthusiasm for the new music...

[jeffcrom]

I love it when these old threads that I wasn't aware of get bumped. I've really enjoyed reading this.

Even though I live in a cultural backwater, I am lucky enough to have heard the AEOC in their prime four or five times. At the Atlanta Jazz Fest one year, my little band was on the bill before them. Experiencing their set from the side of the stage was positively spiritual.

[Chalupa]

Here's a mélange of clips...

[Guy Berger]

During the summer, there was a FLOOD of AEoC recordings washing over the site-which-cannot-be-named. (Probably 150 recordings.) I downloaded everything through 1985 - some amazing stuff.

Guy

[Rabshakeh]

Does anyone know of a book or film of any length that deals closely with the inner workings of the AEC, including creative control and internal relationships? It's incredibly impressive that any group stays together that long, let alone one with so many leads. 

[mjazzg]

This one comes to mind.  It's been on my 'to read' list for ages

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo25125876.html

and maybe also George Lewis touches on it in this

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo5504497.html

I'm sure others here will have read them and comment accordingly

[Rabshakeh]

2 hours ago, mjazzg said:

This one comes to mind.  It's been on my 'to read' list for ages

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo25125876.html

and maybe also George Lewis touches on it in this

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo5504497.html

I'm sure others here will have read them and comment accordingly

Thanks. 

I'd seen the Steinbeck, but would be interested in hearing what people have to say about it: not all of the reviews at that complimentary. I think there is another book out there too, although I forget the name.

George Lewis I have read, and I don't recall it going into that much detail on personalities and internal creative politics within the AEC itself. It's a great book that sits probably at a level above what I am looking for (which would be more anecdotal than Lewis).

Fundamentally, how did musicians with as fundamentally different outlooks as Bowie, Mitchell and Jarman manage to stay together, and continue to produce music for decades? I assume it wasn't always that easy - there are noticeable gaps in the AEC chronology where the leads tend to pursue their own thing - but it is an incredibly impressive body of work across half a century. It's hard to think of any other group that achieved that without having some sort of central decision maker (e.g., the Arkestra). 

Edited July 14, 2021 by Rabshakeh

[Chuck Nessa]

Not exactly what you are looking for but (if you can find one) this is a fascinating document published in 1998-

[Rabshakeh]

The contents page looks pretty enticing. I have added it to my list.