Muhal Richard Abrams was an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the free jazz medium. He recorded and toured the United States, Canada and Europe with his orchestra, sextet, quartet, duo and as a solo pianist.
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1965 in Chicago by pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran. The AACM is devoted "to nurturing, performing, and recording serious, original music," according to its charter. It supports and encourages jazz performers, composers and educators. Although founded in the jazz tradition, the group's outreach and influence has, according to Larry Blumenfeld, "touched nearly all corners of modern music."
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.
Roscoe Mitchell is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb – if idiosyncratic – saxophonist". The Penguin Guide to Jazz described him as "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz; All About Jazz stated in 2004 that he had been "at the forefront of modern music" for more than 35 years. Critic Jon Pareles in The New York Times has mentioned that Mitchell "qualifies as an iconoclast". In addition to his own work as a bandleader, Mitchell is known for cofounding the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
Steve McCall was an American jazz drummer.
Nicole Mitchell is an American jazz flautist and composer who teaches jazz at the University of Virginia. She is a former chairwoman of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
Full Force is a 1980 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, their second to appear on the ECM label.
Levels and Degrees of Light is the debut album by Muhal Richard Abrams which was released on the Delmark label in 1968 and features performances of three of Abrams' compositions by Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Charles Clark, Gordon Emmanuel, Maurice McIntyre, Thurman Barker and Leonard Jones with vocals by Penelope Taylor and a poetry recitation by David Moore.
Tomeka Reid is an American composer, improviser, cellist, curator, and teacher.
Awakening is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell, which was recorded in 2011 and released on Delmark. She leads a quartet with guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Harrison Bankhead and drummer Avreeayl Ra. Although she's worked extensively with these musicians, the group played together for the first time just days before heading into the studio. Mitchell explained "With this quartet I tried to put the flute more out front as usual. I wanted to dig back into the old school jazz a bit and yet still make room to branch out into never-never land".
Emerald Hills is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell, which was recorded in 2009 and released on the French RogueArt label. It was the debut recording by Sonic Projections, a quartet featuring pianist Craig Taborn, saxophonist David Boykin and drummer Chad Taylor. The band was formed in 2008 to celebrate the publication of George Lewis's book A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music.
Hope, Future and Destiny is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell, which was released in 2004 on Dreamtime, the label she established with David Boykin. It was the third recording by her Black Earth Ensemble. This work was the musical score for a multi-arts community play involving a cast of over 50 people in dance, video, acting and live original music.
Intergalactic Beings is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell with her Black Earth Ensemble, which was recorded in 2010 and released on FPE. The work was commissioned by the Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art and the album is the result of the live performance. It was her second suite based on the Xenogenesis novels of American science fiction writer Octavia Butler.
Vision Quest is the debut album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell with her group Black Earth Ensemble, which was released in 2001 on Dreamtime, the label she established with David Boykin.
Afrika Rising is an album by jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell with her group Black Earth Ensemble. It was released in 2002 by Dreamtime, Mitchell's own label.
Xenogenesis Suite is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell with her Black Earth Ensemble, which was recorded in 2007 and released on Firehouse 12. The work was commissioned by Chamber Music America and premiered at Vision Festival XII in New York City. It was her first suite based on the Xenogenesis novels of American science fiction writer Octavia Butler.
Three Compositions is an album by American jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell which was recorded live at the occasion of Sant'Anna Arresi Jazz Festival 2009 and released on the French RogueArt label. Mitchell's scores are played by flautist Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble.
Moments of Fatherhood is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble with French contemporary music Ensemble Laborintus, which was recorded in 2015 and released on the French RogueArt label. The album is inspired by a collection of photographs that civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois put together for The Exhibit of American Negroes at the 1900 World's Exposition in Paris.
In Walked Buckner is an album by American saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell which was recorded in Chicago in 1998 and released on Delmark the following year. The album is dedicated to vocalist Thomas Buckner.
Return of the Lost Tribe is an album by Bright Moments, a collaborative project by saxophonists Joseph Jarman and Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, percussionist Kahil El'Zabar, bassist Malachi Favors and pianist Adegoke Steve Colson, which was recorded in 1997 and released on the Delmark label.
