Search - Art Ensemble of Chicago :: Reese & The Smooth One

Both the finest and most overlooked Paris recording

Milo Miles | Cambridge, MA USA | 05/26/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Fans of the Art Ensemble should not sleep on this. The 41-minute continuous piece "Reese" and "The Smooth Ones" (can't tell where one stops and the other begins) manages the difficult combination of offhand and precise that eluded the Art Ensemble more than half the time on record. The sound is plenty vibrant on the CD version and Malachi Favors plays enough small percussion that drums are not really missed. The saxes of Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman are in particularly fine full cry, never suggesting that the pauses are to cover for lack of new direction to play. Don't let this vanish into the void again."

Improvisational genius

pb | Georgia | 04/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Art Ensemble are some of the most versatile, creative, and skilled improvisors in any idiom, and this is one of thier finest displays of on-the-spot brilliance. Whether they're dropping funky melodies, letting reeds careen over immersive percussion, or confronting you with shredding noise guitar (yes, this really happens for a few seconds!), this album is constantly engaging, immediate, and even accessible. Following this extended piece is no problem -- it's much less daunting than, say, a Peter Brotzmann Tentet session, or even a Cecil Taylor composition. Lovers of improv, the jazz avant garde, and vibrant, fun genre-swapping music owe it to themselves to check this out. Some of the Art Ensemble's best early work."