The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz group that grew out of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in the late 1960s. The ensemble integrates many jazz styles and plays many instruments, including "little instruments": bells, bicycle horns, birthday party noisemakers, wind chimes, and various forms of percussion. The musicians would wear costumes and face paint while performing. These characteristics combined to make the ensemble's performances both aural and visual. While playing in Europe in 1969, five hundred instruments were used.
Tatsu Aoki is a multi-instrumentalist trained in traditional Japanese music, educator and experimental filmmaker. In his career as Chicago's Jazz and creative improvisor, he is mostly known as a long-standing bassist for Fred Anderson and he has also worked with George Freeman, and Von Freeman in the 90s. Aoki also has curious recording projects with Malachi Favors, Roscoe Mitchell, Don Moye, Wu Man, and other internationally renowned artists. Aoki also directs cultural events that promote the history of Japanese artistic traditions and contemporary Asian influences in jazz. As the founder and artistic director of Asian Improv Arts Midwest, he hosts events such as the annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival and the Japanese American Service Committee's Tsukasa Taiko Legacy arts residency program.
Wilbur Bernard Ware was an American jazz double bassist. He was a regular bassist for the Riverside record label in the 1950s, and recorded regularly in that decade with Johnny Griffin, Kenny Dorham, Kenny Drew, and Thelonious Monk. He also appeared on records released by J.R. Monterose, Toots Thielemans, Sonny Clark, Tina Brooks, Zoot Sims, and Grant Green, among others.
Donald Moye, Jr., known as Famoudou Don Moye, is an American jazz percussionist and drummer. He is most known for his involvement with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and is noted for his mastery of African and Caribbean percussion instruments and rhythmic techniques.
Malachi Favors was an American jazz bassist who played with the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
Live at the 6th Tokyo Music Joy is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy recorded in February 1990 for the Japanese DIW label. It is the only recording to showcase both of the groups that Lester Bowie established and features performances by the Art Ensemble, the Brass Fantasy and both bands.
Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City: Live at the Iridium is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in April, 2004 at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City and released in 2006 on the Pi Recordings label. It features performances by Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Don Moye with trumpeter Corey Wilkes and bassist Jaribu Shahid replacing the late Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors Maghostut.
Sirius Calling is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in April, 2003 in Madison, Wisconsin and released in 2004 on the Pi Recordings label. It features performances by Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Don Moye with Malachi Favors Maghostut on what would be the final album before his death. It was recorded on April 24–26, 2003 in Madison, WI.
Fred Chicago Chamber Music is a double album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson recorded in 1996 and released on the Chicago-based Southport label. The first disc matches him in a trio with bassist Tatsu Aoki and drummer Afifi Phillard, while the second is composed of Anderson/Aoki duets with Southport co-owner Bradley Parker-Sparrow joining in on piano for two tracks.
Live at the Velvet Lounge Volume Three is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson which was recorded during the 2007 Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival at the club owned by Anderson, the Velvet Lounge, and released on the Asian Improv label. Anderson's Quartet features San Franciscan saxophonist Francis Wong, drummer Chad Taylor and bassist Tatsu Aoki.
Proliferation is the debut album by People, Places & Things, a quartet led by American jazz drummer Mike Reed featuring saxophonists Greg Ward and Tim Haldeman, and bassist Jason Roebke. It was recorded in 2007 and released on 482 Music. Reed formed the band to explore the Chicago hard-bop scene from 1954-1960.
Heaven Dance is an album by the Leaders Trio, pianist Kirk Lightsey, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Don Moye, that was recorded in 1988 and released by the Sunnyside label.
Pieces of Time is an album by jazz drummers Kenny Clarke, Andrew Cyrille, Milford Graves, and Famoudou Don Moye. It was recorded in September 1983, and was released by the Soul Note label in 1984. The album, the catalyst for which was Cyrille, presents compositions by all four musicians, along with four two-minute "personal statements." Liner notes were provided by Max Roach, who wrote: "This idea of four percussionists, using sounds as their premise in creating a work as profound as Pieces of Time, is pure artistic design."
Artistry is an album by bassist Sirone, his first as a leader. It was recorded on July 5, 1978, at Generation Sound in New York City, and was released in 1979 by the Of The Cosmos label. On the album, Sirone is joined by flutist James Newton, cellist Muneer Bernard Fennell, and percussionist Don Moye. Liner notes were provided by Stanley Crouch.
2×4 is an album by double bassists Malachi Favors Maghostut and Tatsu Aoki. It was recorded in August 1998 at Sparrow Sound Design in Chicago, Illinois, and was released on CD in 1999 by Southport Records.
The African Tapes, Volumes 1 and 2, is a pair of live albums by percussionist Famoudou Don Moye, saxophonist John Tchicai, and percussionist Hartmut Geerken. The albums were recorded in April 1985 at various locations in West Africa, and were released on LP by the Praxis label in 1987 and 1988. In 2001, Leo Records reissued the recordings as a double-CD set as part of their Golden Years of New Jazz series.
Afrikan Song is an album by percussionists Famoudou Don Moye and Enoch Williamson. It was recorded in 1995 and 1996 at Sparrow Sound Design in Chicago, Illinois, and was released on CD in 1996 by AECO Records, a label founded by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and Southport Records. On the album, Moye and Williamson are joined by members of a group called Sun Percussion Summit & More.
Birthday Live 2000 is a live album by saxophonist Fred Anderson. It was recorded at the Velvet Lounge in Chicago, Illinois, on March 22 and 25, 2000, and was released in 2009 by Asian Improv Records as a limited edition "official bootleg." On the album, Anderson is joined by bassist Tatsu Aoki and drummer Chad Taylor.
Cassava Balls is a live album by percussionists Hartmut Geerken and Famoudou Don Moye and saxophonist John Tchicai. It was recorded in May 1985 at the Praxis '85 Festival at the Orpheus Theater in Athens, Greece, and was released on LP by the Praxis label later that year. In 1999, Leo Records reissued the recording on CD with three extra tracks as part of their Golden Years of New Jazz series.
Jam for Your Life! is an album by percussionist Famoudou Don Moye. It was recorded at Sparrow Sound Design and North Shore Studios in Chicago, Illinois. An initial version, with material recorded in September 1985, was released on cassette later that year by AECO Records, a label founded by the Art Ensemble of Chicago. In 1991, AECO reissued the album, with material recorded during 1983–1991, on CD with a different track order and an additional track. On the album, Moye is joined by multi-instrumentalist Ari Brown, vocalist Luba Raashiek, and nearly a dozen additional musicians.
