Human Arts Ensemble

[Rabshakeh]

Not a group that you tend to hear discussed much. Obviously there's the BAG / St. Louis angle, and a lot of the players/affiliates turn up at different points on mid/late 70s "loft" era NY records. It seems to have been alternately led by the underrated Luther Thomas, Charles Bobo Shaw or to have been a co-led affair.

Funky Donkey is the record that seems to be recommended most, generally showing up in the context of discussions of just how funky the vanguard could get.  That's a Luther Thomas led date, and is how I initially heard the name.

But, I've had excellent experiences with other Human Arts Ensemble records, including Under The Sun (which is just credited to the group) and Junk Trap, which is a Charles Bobo Shaw led record. Like the better known Funky Donkey, these are basically grassroots 'loft' type jazz with the emphasis on excitement. 

Does anyone who much about the HAE? Was it just a loose name that was used from time to time for records for what we would now call brand purposes? Or was there an actual group? What's the deal with the different leadership accreditation? Who was Luther Thomas?

Also, the group's records are so underexposed that I'd be interested to know of any other records that people rate highly. 

[mjazzg]

Listened to Funky Donkey only last week for the first time in ages. Ragged would be my polite description. I think it gains disproportionate  kudos for the funky elements. Having said that Lester B is great on it.

I prefer practically everything else by the band, especially the Arista reissues, never scored an original.

[Rabshakeh]

53 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

Listened to Funky Donkey only last week for the first time in ages. Ragged would be my polite description. I think it gains disproportionate  kudos for the funky elements. Having said that Lester B is great on it.

I prefer practically everything else by the band, especially the Arista reissues, never scored an original.

I swing wildly on Funky Donkey - one day it hits perfectly and the next it is just flat and chaotic.

I also prefer Under the Sun, but I had not realised it had been reissued, or that there was another one out there called Whisper of Dharma.

[Chuck Nessa]

More here -

[clifford_thornton]

The HAE was one of a number of groups within BAG, and I associate it mostly with the saxophonist James Marshall and his wife, vocalist Carol Marshall, as well as Shaw and Thomas. Marshall was white, as were players like John Lindberg and James Emery, who also passed through the group, and it was less focused on political-social ideologies of Black Music (hence the Human Arts Ensemble). 

[Rabshakeh]

Why the changing leadership?

 

[ep1str0phy]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Wikipedia entry explains Marshall's involvement in a pretty succinct fashion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Arts_Ensemble

One record I'm rather fond of (but have not heard much mention of) is P'nk J'zz. It's credited to "Charles "Bobo" Shaw & The Human Arts Ensemble Featuring Joseph Bowie," but it slots just as neatly into the continuum of Julius Hemphill's music. Hemphill and the redoubtable Abdul Wadud both feature. The energy and programming on the record are both really solid, and the unconventional instrumentation (w/cello, trombone, and electric bass) appeals.

Actually rather tangential to the Human Rights Ensemble, but I can't say enough good things about Billy Bang's Sweet Space. The connective tissue here is the presence of Luther Thomas, who has a solo on "A Pebble Is A Small Rock" that bridges energy music histrionics and pseudo-no wave nihilism in a really spectacular way. I haven't spent as much time with Thomas's discography as I'd like to have, but his playing on the entire LP hits this really interesting sweet spot for me. (The record also has some of the best Steve McCall outside of Air, IMO.) 

[Rabshakeh]

7 hours ago, ep1str0phy said:

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Wikipedia entry explains Marshall's involvement in a pretty succinct fashion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Arts_Ensemble

One record I'm rather fond of (but have not heard much mention of) is P'nk J'zz. It's credited to "Charles "Bobo" Shaw & The Human Arts Ensemble Featuring Joseph Bowie," but it slots just as neatly into the continuum of Julius Hemphill's music. Hemphill and the redoubtable Abdul Wadud both feature. The energy and programming on the record are both really solid, and the unconventional instrumentation (w/cello, trombone, and electric bass) appeals.

Actually rather tangential to the Human Rights Ensemble, but I can't say enough good things about Billy Bang's Sweet Space. The connective tissue here is the presence of Luther Thomas, who has a solo on "A Pebble Is A Small Rock" that bridges energy music histrionics and pseudo-no wave nihilism in a really spectacular way. I haven't spent as much time with Thomas's discography as I'd like to have, but his playing on the entire LP hits this really interesting sweet spot for me. (The record also has some of the best Steve McCall outside of Air, IMO.) 

P’nk J’zz is not one that I’ve heard of. I shall check it out. It seems to have the same photo on its cover as Junk Trap.

Sweet Space is a great favourite of mine, and has been since I bought it without knowing anything about it a couple of years ago, just on the basis of the players. 

Edited August 29, 2021 by Rabshakeh