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.
Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
Message to Our Folks is a 1969 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris for the French BYG Actuel label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors Maghostut.
Reese and the Smooth Ones is a 1969 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris for the French BYG Actuel label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors Maghostut.
Live in Paris is a double live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris and first released on the BYG Actuel label in Japan as two separate volumes in 1974. It was issued on CD by Charly Records under the title 'Live In Paris' presumably to avoid confusion with the Delmark 'Live At Delmark Hall' album, and then later issued in the US, with the same artwork and design, by Fuel 2000 Records in the US. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, Fontella Bass and Don Moye. Despite reissues identifying it as "Live In Paris" and claiming a date of 5 October 1969, it was actually a radio broadcast from performances in Chateauvailon on 13 August 1970.
Les Stances a Sophie is a 1970 soundtrack album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris for a French film of the same name directed by Moshé Mizrahi. It was released on the Pathé Marconi label in France and on Nessa Records in the U.S. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, Fontella Bass and Don Moye. Moshé Mizrahi commissioned the original music for the film when the band had only two weeks left on their French visas. It was reissued on CD in 2000 by Universal Sound records, mastered from a vinyl source.
Fanfare for the Warriors is a 1973 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago first released on the Atlantic label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut and Don Moye along with AACM leader Muhal Richard Abrams.
Chi-Congo is an album recorded in Paris in 1970 by the Art Ensemble of Chicago which was first released in 1972 on the French Decca label, later reissued in the US on the Paula label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye.
Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass is a 1970 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris and released on the America label in 1971 then reissued in the US on Prestige Records the following year. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, Fontella Bass, and Don Moye.
Phase One is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris in February 1971 and originally released on the French America label then reissued in the US on Prestige Records the following year. It features Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut and Don Moye performing two side-long pieces dedicated to John Coltrane and Albert Ayler respectively.
The Complete Live in Japan is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Tokyo, Japan in 1984 and released in 1988 on the Japanese DIW label. The original single LP titled Live in Japan was originally issued in 1985.
Fundamental Destiny is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Don Pullen recorded in June 1991 in Frankfurt, Germany and released in 2007 on the group's AECO label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye with Don Pullen joining on piano.
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.
The Spiritual is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in 1969 for the Freedom label as the same sessions that produced Tutankhamun. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors Maghostut.
Certain Blacks is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris on February 10, 1970, and released on the America label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, Chicago Beau, Julio Finn and William A. Howell.
Eda Wobu is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris in 1969 and first released in 1991 by the Italian JMY label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors Maghostut.
Kabalaba is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1974 and released on their AECO label in 1978. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye along with Muhal Richard Abrams.
Live in Berlin is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in March 1979 and first released on the West Wind label in 1991.
Reunion is a live album recorded at Centro Rai di Produzione Radiofonica in Rome in January 2003 by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and released on the Italian Around Jazz label. It marked the return of Joseph Jarman to the group and features performances by Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut and Don Moye with Baba Sissoko. It is the first live Art Ensemble album to be released following the death of founding member Lester Bowie.
Salutes the Chicago Blues Tradition is a live album recorded on 7 July 1993 in Geneva, Switzerland by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and released on their own AECO label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors and Don Moye with Chicago Beau, Amina Claudine Myers, Frank Lacy, James Carter and Herb Walker.
