Album Description"This is perhaps the most sublime of the Art Ensemble of Chicago's three albums since their troubled regrouping a couple of years ago." - BOSTON PHOENIX "Here they emerge in duos, trios, and collective scenes ... with their own particular majesty, often something quite simple, a cryptic slice of musical wisdom." - DOWN BEAT "Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman finish each others' sentences - the lines seem to share a single provenance, as if they were played by the right and left hands of a single eccentric keyboardist ... indeed, the AEOC's group sound is luminous." - JAZZTIMES A live recording by the Art Ensemble of Chicago provides the listener with an opportunity to relive the experience that helped etch the band's name in history three and a half decades ago. This 2XCD set captures the quintet in the midst of a five-day stretch at the Iridium in New York. Made up of music from the weekend sets, the CD documents the band performing as a quintet for the first time since the early nineties. With chanted vocals by Joseph Jarman, funky vamps, classic material, hard-bop, open explorations, and a dedication to a past comrade, this disc continues Pi Recordings' documentation of one of America's greatest treasures. With the front line once again filled out as it was in the beginning, the band stretches out, interacts, and enlivens the music in the manner that has influenced everyone from Vandermark 5 and John Zorn to Antipop Consortium. More space can be heard in the music, the band's interaction seems closer, and the focus moves to the moment in a way that is not always heard in a studio recording. Another focus here is the induction of Corey Wilkes and Jaribu Shahid as new members. Both Wilkes and Shahid have been performing with Roscoe Mitchell for some time now. Wilkes in particular has been a frequent collaborator of Mitchell's since 2003, but becoming a regular working member of the AEOC brings with it a certain raised expectation level. Since first declaring themselves the Art Ensemble of Chicago in Paris, 1969, the AEC have combined ritual, free jazz, and funk into an intense and irresistible whole, influencing generations of jazz and soul performers. Recorded in 2004 at New York's Iridium, this two-CD set marks a rebirth of the group, restoring it to the combustible quintet dimensions that marked its greatest accomplishments. Multi-reedist Roscoe Mitchell and drummer Don Moye are the mainstays, joined here by returning saxophonist Joseph Jarman, with bassist Jaribu Shahid and trumpeter Corey Wilkes filling the vacancies left by the deaths of Malachi Favors and Lester Bowie. There's a rare emotional fire and collective energy here, from the restored spirit of Mitchell's early "Erika," a melody of soaring lyricism and longing, to the exploratory sound improvisation of "Red Sand Green Water." Mitchell and Jarman propel one another to their limits, while Wilkes brings an authentic new trumpet voice to the group. --Stuart Broomer This 2XCD set captures the quintet in the midst of a five-day stretch at the Iridium in New York. Made up of music from the weekend sets, the CD documents the band performing as a quintet for the first time since the early nineties and focuses on the induction of Corey Wilkes and Jaribu Shahid as new members.
Track Listings (6) - Disc #1
