Marking 50 years for Chicago's most important and innovative ensembles, formed in 1969 to advance creative musicians as part of the AACM, is this tribute to and based on music written by late members Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, and Joseph Jarman, performed by 15 innovative musicians young and old, and presented in 2 CDs: one in the studio and one live at the 2018 Edgefest.
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Roscoe Mitchell-sopranino saxophones, soprano saxophones, alto saxophones
Don Moye-drums, congas, djembe, dundun, gongs, Congo bells, bendir, triangles, Thai bells, shakers
Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa)-voice, poetry
Rodolfo Cordova-Lebron-voice
Hugh Ragin-trumpets, flugelhorn, Thai bells
Fred Berry-trumpet, flugelhorn
Nicole Mitchell-piccolo, flute, bass flute
Christina Wheeler-voice, Array mbira, autoharp, Q Chord, Moog Theremini, sampler, electronics
Jean Cook-violin
Edward Yoon Kwon-viola
Tomeka Reid-cello
Silvia Bolognesi-bass
Jaribu Abdurahman Shahid-bass, tuned brass bowls
Junius Paul-bass
Dudu Kouate-djembe, tama/talking drum, calabashes, kanjira, whistles, chimes, bells and small percussions
Enoch Williamson-bongos, congas, djembe, kenkeni, okonkolo, Congo bells, chekercute;, shakers, tama/talking drum
Titos Sompa-vocals, congas, mbira, Congo bells,cuica, shakers
Stephen Rush-conductor
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UPC: 808713008029
Label: Pi Recordings
Catalog ID: Pi 80
Squidco Product Code: 27399
Format: 2 CDS
Condition: New
Released: 2019
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 4 Panels
CD 1 presents studio session, CD2 recorded live at Edgefest in Ann Arbor, MI, October 2018
"The Art Ensemble of Chicago has been at the forefront of creative improvised music since 1969, and has long served as the flagship ensemble of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the august Chicago-based organization that also fostered the careers of members such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, and Wadada Leo Smith, among many others. The greatness of the Art Ensemble has always been the shared commitment of its original members - Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Malachi Favors, and Famoudou Don Moye - to the total realm of African diasporic music: what they have long-termed "Great Black Music-Ancient to the Future." Also important are the group's disparate musical and artistic personalities, comprised of jazz, advanced compositional techniques, theatrical performance, poetry, Pan-African percussion, all tied together with improvisational flair and the exploration of pure sound. Comprised of two discs: a meticulous studio session and the capture of a rousing live set at Edgefest in Ann Arbor, MI, We are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration is exactly that, a commemoration of a half-century of magical music making. Not content to rest on their laurels, surviving members Mitchell and Moye have recruited a diverse group of fifteen highly-individual talents who bring their own approaches to the Art Ensemble aesthetic. Together, these virtuoso musicians honor the group's history and help advance the legacy of Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, and the recently departed Joseph Jarman. With clear intent towards representation, the group's engagement of musicians such as Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid, Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa), Christina Wheeler, Silvia Bolognesi and Jean Cook - women who are without peer as improvisers and performers - help bring a new perspective to the music. The sheer breadth of the ensemble's collective expression is staggering, and it serves as a clarion declaration that Mitchell and Moye are intent on carrying forth the powerful ethos of the Art Ensemble forcefully into its sixth decade. As Moor Mother declares: "We are on the edge!"-Pi Recordings
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Roscoe Mitchell "Roscoe Mitchell (born August 3, 1940) 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 states that he has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past 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). Mitchell was born in Chicago, Illinois. He also grew up in the Chicago area, where he played saxophone and clarinet at around age twelve. His family was always involved in music with many different styles playing in the house when he was a child as well as having a secular music background. His brother, Norman, in particular was the one who introduced Mitchell to jazz. While attending Englewood High School in Chicago, he furthered his study of the clarinet. In the 1950s, he joined the United States Army, during which time he was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany and played in a band with fellow saxophonists Albert Ayler and Rubin Cooper, the latter of which Mitchell commented "took me under his wing and taught me a lot of stuff." He also studied under the first clarinetist of the Heidelberg Symphony while in Germany. Mitchell returned to the United States in the early 1960s, relocated to the Chicago area, and performed in a band with Wilson Junior College undergraduates Malachi Favors (bass), Joseph Jarman, Henry Threadgill, and Anthony Braxton (all saxophonists). Mitchell also studied with Muhal Richard Abrams and played in his band, the Muhal Richard Abrams' Experimental Band, starting in 1961. In 1965, Mitchell was one of the first members of the non-profit organization Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) along with Jodie Christian (piano), Steve McCall (drums), and Phil Cohran (composer). The following year Mitchell, Lester Bowie (trumpet), Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (tenor saxophone), Favors, Lester Lashley (trombone), and Alvin Fielder (drums), recorded their first studio album, Sound. The album was "a departure from the more extroverted work of the New York-based free jazz players" due in part to the band recording with "unorthodox devices" such as toys and bicycle horns. From 1967 Mitchell, Bowie, Favors and, on occasion, Jarman performed as the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, then the Art Ensemble, and finally in 1969 were billed as the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The group included Phillip Wilson on drums for short span before he joined Paul Butterfield's band. The group lived and performed in Europe from 1969 to 1971, though they arrived without any percussionist after Wilson left. To fill the void, Mitchell commented that they "evolved into doing percussion ourselves." The band did eventually get a percussionist, Don Moye, who Mitchell had played with before and was living in Europe at that time. For performances, the band often wore brilliant African costumes and painted their faces. The Art Ensemble of Chicago have been described as becoming "possibly the most highly acclaimed jazz band" in the 1970s and 1980s. Mitchell and the others returned to the States in 1971. After having been back in Chicago for three years, Mitchell then established the Creative Arts Collective (CAC) in 1974 that had a similar musical aesthetic to the AACM. The group was based in East Lansing, Michigan and frequently performed in auditoriums at Michigan State University. Mitchell also formed the Sound Ensemble in the early 1970s, an "outgrowth of the CAC" in his words, that consisted mainly of Mitchell, Hugh Ragin, Jaribu Shahid, Tani Tabbal, and Spencer Barefield. In the 1990s, Mitchell started to experiment in classical music with such composers/artists such as Pauline Oliveros, Thomas Buckner, and Borah Bergman, the latter two of which formed a trio with Mitchell called Trio Space. Buckner was also part of another group with Mitchell and Gerald Oshita called Space in the late 1990s. He then conceived the Note Factory in 1992 with various old and new collaborators as another evolution of the Sound Ensemble. He lived in the area of Madison, Wisconsin and performed with a re-assembled Art Ensemble of Chicago. In 1999, the band was hit hard with the death of Bowie, but Mitchell fought off the urge to recast his position in the group, stating simply "You can't do that" in an interview with Allaboutjazz.com editor-in-chief Fred Jung. The band continued on despite the loss. Mitchell has made a point of working with younger musicians in various ensembles and combinations, many of whom were not yet born when the first Art Ensemble recordings were made. Mainly from Chicago, these players include trumpeter Corey Wilkes, bassist Karl E. H. Seigfried, and drummer Isaiah Spencer. In 2007, Mitchell was named Darius Milhaud Chair of Composition at Mills College in Oakland, California, where he currently lives. Mitchell was chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in March 2012 in Minehead, England." ^ Hide Bio for Roscoe Mitchell • Show Bio for Don Moye "Famoudou Don Moye, (born May 23, 1946) 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. Early life and Detroit Free Jazz Moye was born in Rochester, New York and performed in various drum and bugle corps during his youth, as well as church choir. Moye has commented that he really "didn't have an affinity for the bugle ... and just kind of gravitated towards drums." He also took violin lessons during this time. Moye was exposed to jazz at an early age since his mother worked for a local social club that had a jazz club next door that hosted musicians such as Kenny Burrell and Jimmy McGriff. His family was also musically inclined; his uncles played saxophones and his father played drums. Also, his mother used to take him to various performances as a child, such as "opera under the stars" and to see Mahalia Jackson. Moye went on to study percussion at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Moye lived in a building with trumpeter Charles Moore, who became his mentor. Moye also played in the groups African Cultural Ensemble, which included musicians from African countries such as Ghana, and Detroit Free Jazz, which was Moore's band. It was at this time that he first encountered the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) due to the revolving door of musicians in and out of Moore's residence. In early 1968, Moore's band traveled to Europe and Moye decided to live there for the next couple of years, touring and visiting the continent as well as Northern Africa.Art Ensemble of Chicago and The Leaders By 1969, the AEC had augmented into the percussion-less quartet of Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman (saxophones), Lester Bowie (trumpet) and Malachi Favors Maghostut (bass). The group crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in Europe to perform throughout the continent. Moye at the time was rehearsing and performing in Paris, France, at the American Center for Students and Artists, where musicians such as Art Taylor and Johnny Griffin practiced collectively. When Mitchell met with Moye again at the Center, he asked Moye to join his group, which was already known as the Art Ensemble of Chicago and had issued several recordings including three releases on the European label BYG Actual. These recordings did feature percussion but all percussion was played by Mitchell, Bowie, Favors, or Jarman. After Moye returned to the States in the early 1970s, he played with the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, Missouri before settling in the Chicago, Illinois area. He was also in a duo with fellow percussionist Steve McCall who later was a member of Air with Henry Threadgil while still playing with the AEC. In the mid-1980s, Moye joined The Leaders, a jazz group consisting of AEC member Bowie, Chico Freeman, Arthur Blythe, Cecil McBee, and Kirk Lightsey. Moye has also recorded numerous solo albums as leader of his own band. Moye toured and recorded again with the AEC in the 1990s, which was dealt a blow with the 1999 death of Bowie. Famadou Don Moye refers to his own style of drumming as "Sun Percussion". Other groups he led in the '90s include the Joseph Jarman/Famoudou Don Moye Magic Triangle Band and the Sun Percussion Summit (with Enoch Williamson), the latter of which was "a group dedicated to exploring the traditions of African-American percussion music." " ^ Hide Bio for Don Moye • Show Bio for Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) "Philadelphia-based Moor Mother (formerly Moor Mother Goddess) is the solo outlet for Maryland-born artist Camae Ayewa. Moor Mother's music combines social issues with a visceral blend of hardcore electronics and her intense poetry, as if Saul Williams and Noname joined Death Grips. Ayewa - who is also an educator, coach, and social activist - grew up rapping and "playing guitar" with broomstick handles, influenced as much by Patti LaBelle, Public Enemy, and the Beastie Boys as Malcolm X and Maya Angelou. As a teenager, she delved into the punk scene, preferring its hard edge and D.I.Y. spirit as a vehicle for authentic expression. Ayewa created her Moor Mother project in 2012, after her politically charged hip-hop punk group the Mighty Paradocs went on hiatus. Blending spoken word, jazz rhythms, harsh dissonance, and an almost industrial rawness, Ayewa shifted her focus to beats and textures, which would bring her socially conscious lyrics to life. Her debut EP, Alpha Serpentis, was released at the end of 2012. In the ensuing years - in addition to co-founding the Rockers! Philadelphia series with the AfroFuturist Affair's Rasheedah Phillips and the Black Quantum Futurism Collective - she would release dozens more. Her LP Fetish Bones (Don Giovanni Records) was issued in 2016. Focusing on historical trauma and the black experience, Ayewa utilized Afrocentric tribal beats and abrasive, unsettling textures, resulting in a cathartic expression of pain and bloodletting (Neil Z. Yeung). Another project, Irreversible Entanglements, co-led with Keir Neuringer and Luke Stewart, released its self-titled debut on Don Giovanni Records and International Anthem in December 2017." ^ Hide Bio for Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) • Show Bio for Hugh Ragin "Hugh Ragin is an American jazz trumpeter. Ragin was raised in Houston, Texas, and began playing trumpet in his early teens, taking lessons in classical music, and was a member of the Houston All-City High School Orchestra. He received a degree in music education from the University of Houston and a degree in classical trumpet performance from Colorado State University. He continued his education in 1978 at the Creative Music Studio with Roscoe Mitchell. One year later he performed with Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, and the Creative Orchestra at the Moers Festival in Germany. He then toured with Anthony Braxton. During the early 1980s he toured with jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson. He began an association with David Murray, becoming a member of Murray's band in the 1980s." ^ Hide Bio for Hugh Ragin • Show Bio for Fred Berry "Fredrick J. Berry, jazz educator and professional trumpet player, is a member of the faculty of Stanford University, where he teaches Jazz History and is Director of the Stanford Jazz Orchestra. At Stanford University he instituted the visiting artist program in which world renown artists do mini residencies which culminate in performances with the Stanford Jazz Orchestra. He is Emeritus professor of Music from the College of San Mateo where he taught for thirty five years and founded the College of San Mateo Jazz Festival. He taught brass instruments at the Nueva Center for Gifted Children for ten years. He is also involved in Jazz education as a director, clinician, and adjudicator. Performance credits include artists such as Roscoe Mitchell, Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Benny Carter, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner and Nancy Wilson. He is actively involved in bay area music as a trumpeter, contractor, conductor, and band leader, and is presently musical director for vocalist and recording artist, Jaime Davis. He was musical director for the Northern California Louie Bellson Orchestra for five years. He is a charter member of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Music) and is an original member of the Roscoe Mitchell Quartet which became the Art Ensemble of Chicago. He is one of the few remaining musicians who played with the Basie orchestra when Count Basie was alive. His most recent 2015 performances include a two week Stanford Jazz Orchestra European tour of Jazz festivals with Jon Faddis, and a performance with Aretha Franklin at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA, in which he contracted the horn section. He and his wife Quereda, were married in 1970 and reside in Redwood City, California." ^ Hide Bio for Fred Berry • Show Bio for Nicole Mitchell "Nicole Mitchell (b. 1967) is a creative flutist, composer, bandleader and educator. As the founder of Black Earth Ensemble, Black Earth Strings, Ice Crystal and Sonic Projections, Mitchell has been repeatedly awarded by DownBeat Critics Poll and the Jazz Journalists Association as "Top Flutist of the Year" for the last four years (2010-2014). Mitchell's music celebrates African American culture while reaching across genres and integrating new ideas with moments in the legacy of jazz, gospel, experimentalism, pop and African percussion through albums such as Black Unstoppable (Delmark, 2007), Awakening (Delmark, 2011), and Xenogenesis Suite: A Tribute to Octavia Butler (Firehouse 12, 2008), which received commissioning support from Chamber Music America's New Jazz Works. Mitchell formerly served as the first woman president of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), and has been a member since 1995. In recognition of her impact within the Chicago music and arts education communities, she was named "Chicagoan of the Year" in 2006 by the Chicago Tribune. With her ensembles, as a featured flutist and composer, Mitchell has been a highlight at festivals and art venues throughout Europe, the U.S. and Canada. Ms. Mitchell is a recipient of the prestigious Alpert Award in the Arts (2011) and has been commissioned by Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra and Maggio Fiorentino Chamber Orchestra (Florence, Italy). In 2009, she created Honoring Grace: Michelle Obama for the Jazz Institute of Chicago. She has been a faculty member at the Vancouver Creative Music Institute, the Sherwood Flute Institute, Banff International Jazz Workshop and the University of Illinois, Chicago. Her work has been featured on National Public Radio, and in magazines including Ebony, Downbeat, JazzIz, Jazz Times, Jazz Wise, and American Legacy. Nicole MItchell is currently a Professor of Music, teaching in "Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology," (ICIT) a new and expansively-minded graduate program at the University of California, Irvine. In November 2014, ICIT was approved for the unleashing of a new MA/PhD program, which will be offered starting fall 2015. Mitchell's recent composition, Flight for Freedom for Creative Flute and Orchestra, a Tribute to Harriet Tubman, premiered with the Chicago Composers' Orchestra in December 2011 and was presented again with CCO in May 2014. She was also commisisoned by Chicago Sinfonietta for Harambee: Road to Victory, for Solo Flute, Choir and Orchestra in January 2012. Her latest commission was from the French Ministry of Culture and the Royaumont Foundation in October 2014, which supported the development and French tour of Beyond Black - a collaboration with kora master Ballake Sissoko, Black Earth Ensemble and friends. Currently Mitchell is preparing her next commission supported by the French American Jazz Exchange, entitled Moments of Fatherhood, featuring Black Earth Ensemble and the Parisian chamber group L'Ensemble Laborintus, to premiere at the Sons d'hiver Jazz Festival in late January 2015. Among the first class of Doris Duke Artists (2012), Mitchell works to raise respect and integrity for the improvised flute, to contribute her innovative voice to the jazz legacy, and to continue the bold and exciting directions that the AACM has charted for decades. With contemporary ensembles of varying instrumentation and size (from solo to orchestra), Mitchell's mission is to celebrate the power of endless possibility by "creating visionary worlds through music that bridge the familiar and the unknown." She is endorsed by Powell flutes." ^ Hide Bio for Nicole Mitchell • Show Bio for Christina Wheeler "Vocalist, multi-instrumental electronic musician, composer and multimedia artist Christina Wheeler's musical explorations have included forays in techno, house, 2-step, drum and bass, breakbeat, soul, dance hall, dub, ambient, free jazz and improvisational forms. In her live solo electronic performances, she blends an organic, fluid amalgam of improvised electronic music from a variety of sound sources, which include: processed vocals and vocal loops, hand-triggered sampler playing, processed four-octave electric mbira, processed electric autoharp, processed Q-Chord and theremin, sofware instruments, and live effects processing. Previous band projects include Wiremouth, Floating People, and BlowOut, and current and recent projects include solo song-cycle series, solo instrumental improvisational compositions, The Magical Garden, an ensemble-based multi-media performance/ generative installation project, and collaborations with Laraaji, Vernon Reid, Hprizm/Priest, Greg Tate, and Satch Hoyt." ^ Hide Bio for Christina Wheeler • Show Bio for Jean Cook "Jean Cook, violinist and Treasurer Jean Cook has been playing violin since 1979. She is part of the 11tet, a New York based jazz composers workshop, and is a founding member of the PnR Salon in Washington, DC, which brings together post-punk rockers and classically trained musicians. In 2000, she appeared at the Kennedy Center's Hip-Hop Festival and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival with the Hip-Hop Philharmonic, a DC based live hip hop orchestra. Occasionally she plays around New York with the Dixieland group "Wriggle's Red-Hot Agate-Cracking Jassers". She currently records and performs with Beauty Pill, Gena Rowlands Band, Ida, Jenny Toomey, and Jon Langford/Ship and Pilot. Jean produced and hosted "The Twentieth Century String Quartet" on WKCR-FM, New York from 1995-1996. She was the publicist for Washington Performing Arts Society for three years before moving to New York in 2000. Recently, she curated a western classical recital series for WPAS and produced the multimedia DIY opera, The Nitrate Hymnal. She currently works for a political group called Air Traffic Control that helps musicians to be more effective in the current election cycle." ^ Hide Bio for Jean Cook • Show Bio for Edward Yoon Kwon "Edward Yoon Kwon (Eddy Kwon) is a composer-performer, violinist/violist, and community-based teaching artist living in Cincinnati, Ohio. Eddy is a City of Cincinnati Art Ambassador Fellow, a Cincinnatus Presidential Scholar, and a 2016 United States Artists Ford Fellow. Recent composition commissions include VIOLENCE, a performance work for electro-acoustic ensemble that explores structural violence in America, and a r c h i p e l a g o, a unison piece for electric string quartet experiencing intense sensory deprivation (Contemporary Arts Center). Eddy is currently recording and touring with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Tomeka Reid Stringtet, and co-creating a long-term interdisciplinary performance project with artist Senga Nengudi and Degenerate Art Ensemble. Eddy is Director of MYCincinnati, a tuition-free, El Sistema-inspired youth orchestra program for children in the diverse Price Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, where Eddy also lives. Currently engaging over 120 children for at least 2 hours every day after school, MYCincinnati's mission is to use ensemble-based music education as a vehicle for youth development and community engagement. Eddy is the founder of MYCincinnati's Ambassador Ensemble, a radical youth sextet committed to social justice, collective action through avant performance, and experimental collaborations. Eddy is also Founding Director of the Price Hill Creative Community Festival, a free arts and neighborhood festival that uses collaborative performing arts as a tool to build a more creative and inclusive community. Eddy identifies as non-binary and accepts all gender pronouns." ^ Hide Bio for Edward Yoon Kwon • Show Bio for Tomeka Reid "Chicago based cellist, composer and educator, Tomeka Reid has been described as "a remarkably versatile player," (Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune). Equally adept in classical and jazz contexts, Ms. Reid predominantly finds herself in experimental and improvisatory settings and composes for a wide range of instrumentation, from big band to chamber ensemble. Ms. Reid's music combines her love for groove along with freer concepts. Ms. Reid is an integral part of Dee Alexander's Evolution Ensemble, Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble/Strings, Mike Reed's Loose Assembly, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) Great Black Music Ensemble, and co-leads the internationally recognized string trio, Hear in Now with performances in Poznan, Poland; Paris, France; Rome, Venice, Milan, Italy; Soazza, Switzerland; and in the US: Chicago, New York and Vermont. In addition to the aforementioned ensembles, Ms. Reid performs with many of today's forward thinking musicians in the world of jazz and creative music including Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Jeb Bishop, Myra Melford, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Mary Halvorson, Denis Fournier, Edward Wilkerson and Harrison Bankhead. Ms. Reid also leads her own trio featuring guitarist Matt Schneider and bassist Josh Abrams, for which she composes. Ms. Reid can be heard on numerous studio recordings. As an educator, Ms. Reid has led string improvisation workshops in Italy and the US. Most recently she co-directed the 2012 Vancouver Jazz Festival’s High School Jazz Intensive. For seven years, Ms. Reid co-directed the string program at the University of Chicago’s Laboratory School for students grade 5 thru 12. Ms. Reid is also an ABD doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign. As a composer, Ms. Reid has been commissioned by the AACM, the Chicago Jazz Festival and the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and has had several opportunities to showcase her work abroad at festivals such as Umbria Jazz, An Insolent Noise and Vignola Jazz. She has been nominated and awarded residencies for composition with the Ragdale Foundation and the 2nd Annual Make Jazz Fellowship hosted by the 18th Street Arts Organization. Ms. Reid was selected as a 2012 participant in the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute held at the University of California: Los Angeles." ^ Hide Bio for Tomeka Reid • Show Bio for Silvia Bolognesi "Silvia Bolognesi is a double bass player, composer and arranger. Graduated in double bass at the R.Franci Institute of Siena with Maestro Andrea Granai, perfecting with Maestro Alberto Bocini.She approached jazz studying at the Siena Jazz Accademy with Paolino dalla Porta, Furio di Castri and Ferruccio Spinetti. The most significant encounters in his musical training are those with William Parker, Muhal Richard Abrams, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, Roscoe Mitchell and Antony Braxton. Winner of the "Top Jazz 2010", by "Musica Jazz" as best new talent and in the same year winner of the "In Sound" trophy for double bass category. She leads several bands: Open Combo, Almond Tree, Xilo Ensemble, Ju-Ju Sounds, Fonterossa Open Orchestra, Young Shouts, Sly Family... Since 2009 she is part of the international string trio Hear In Now with Tomeka Reid on cello and Mazz Swift on violin and vocals; with this trio they completed Roscoe Mitchell's sextet in his Homage to John Coltrane in 2017.She's part of the "Art Ensemble of Chicago 50th Anniversary" special project. In 2010 she founded her own label "Fonterossa Records". She teaches double bass and combo class at the Siena Jazz Academy and at "Associazione Mosaico" in Colle Val d'Elsa (Siena). Since 2016 she is part of the "European exchange-Erasmus +" program for the Conservatory of Maastricht (Holland), Tbilisi (Georgia), Riga (Latvia), Birmingham (UK). She runs workshops on Improvisation and "Conduction" since 2008." ^ Hide Bio for Silvia Bolognesi • Show Bio for Jaribu Abdurahman Shahid "Jaribu Abdurahman Shahid (born Ben Henderson, September 11, 1955, Detroit) is an American jazz bassist. He plays both double-bass and electric bass. Shahid played in the band Griot Galaxy with Faruq Z. Bey in the 1970s, and became the ensemble's leader when Bey fell into a coma in 1984 after a motorcycle crash.[1] Shahid continued leading the group in the 1990s. He was associated with the Creative Arts Collective and played in this capacity with Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, and Roscoe Mitchell. He played with Sun Ra in 1978 and worked extensively with Mitchell in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as with Geri Allen and James Carter. He joined the Art Ensemble of Chicago in 2004." ^ Hide Bio for Jaribu Abdurahman Shahid • Show Bio for Junius Paul "Junius Paul, composer, bandleader & acoustic and electric bassist, was born and raised in the Chicago area and is a graduate of St. Xavier University (Chicago). An internationally established bassist, some of Junius' performance and/or recording credits include The Art Ensemble Of Chicago, numerous configurations of ensembles led by Roscoe Mitchell, Famoudou Don Moye Sun Percussion Summit, AACM Small Ensemble & Big Band, Makaya McCraven, The Fred Anderson Trio, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Dee Alexander, The Curtis Fuller Quintet, Willie Pickens, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Marquis Hill, KRS-One and Donald Byrd among others. In 2013-14, Junius served as music department faculty for Trinity Christian College (Palos Heights, IL). In 2017, Junius was the featured artist and honoree for his alma mater, St. Xavier University's Jazz Weekend. Junius is scheduled to perform the 2018 Chicago Jazz Festival with his quartet and is finishing his debut album, set for release in early 2019 via International Anthem Recording Company." ^ Hide Bio for Junius Paul • Show Bio for Dudu Kouate "Dudu' (Doudou) Kouate: Born in Senegal in 1963 by a family of griots, known to be the custodians of African cultural tradition and music. After humanistic studies in his country he moved to Europe. He lives in Bergamo, where he teaches African percussion since many years. He gives clinics on the history of traditional African instruments, trying to trace the territorial boundaries of the populations. Percussionist, instrumentalist, playing in various bands and theatrical productions. The constant search for the sound (sound of elements), has always lead him to new experiences in the world music. Recognized enhancer of traditional instruments, especially percussion and idiophones, he has managed to devise their inclusion within the diversity of musical contexts. In Italy he has made with the director and musician Alberto Nacci the soundtrack for the short film "The moving town" presented at the Locarno Film Festival. Has recorded with the group Odwalla, with whom he's been playing for years, two DVDs and two CDs including the latest production: "Medusa, the world of percussion and voice". He has recorded with Bergamo saxophonist Guido Bombardieri the album "African Thought". He recently collaborated with Bakan Seck in the Youssou Ndour's JOLOLI Dakar recording studio. He plays also with Pietro Tonolo who is decleared the best italian saxophonist. Recently he's formed his own trio band with an israelian singer,african percussions and xalam melodies,and at last a jazz sax player." ^ Hide Bio for Dudu Kouate • Show Bio for Enoch Williamson Enoch Williamson is a Chicago drummer percussionist, known for Sun Percussion Summit & More, performing with Famoudou Don Moye, Malachi Thompson and Africa Brass, Ari Brown, and Art Ensemble of Chicago. ^ Hide Bio for Enoch Williamson • Show Bio for Stephen Rush "Stephen Rush is a Professor at the University of Michigan, where he has taught since 1987. He studied with third-stream pioneer Gunther Schuller, David Liptak and Samuel Adler, and is the author of the new book, "Free Jazz, Harmolodics and Ornette Coleman," which includes extensive interviews with Ornette. Rush's compositional output includes six operas, chamber music (some of which is standard repertory), orchestra work and over 150 scores for dancers. His compositions have been recorded and performed worldwide by the Warsaw and Detroit Symphonies and members of the New York and Cleveland Philharmonics, and recently, classical ensembles in Spain, Korea, and Switzerland. As a performer, Rush has presented his multi-media work in Japan, Europe (Florence, Berlin, and Budapest, etc.), Latin America, and India. He has over 30 CD's to his credit ranging from electronic experimental music, orchestra performances, chamber music, and jazz. He works often with his electronic group, "Crystal Mooncone" with Chris Peck and Jon Moniaci, as well as with his acoustic jazz group, "Naked Dance" with Andrew Bishop and Jeremy Edwards. Rush is the director of the Digital Music Ensemble (DME) at the University of Michigan. With DME, Rush has premiered works by John Cage, Philip Glass, and LaMonte Young, and has recorded with Pauline Oliveros and "Blue" Gene Tyranny. The group has also worked with Alvin Lucier, Robert Ashley, Pamela Z and Elliott Sharp. DME is widely known for its site-specific work, "Gypsy Pond Music", which is performed annually at the University of Michigan and elsewhere. Stephen Rush works frequently as a jazz musician, performing with Roscoe Mitchell, Henry Grimes, Steve Swell, Eugene Chadbourne, the late Peter Kowald, and his own New York-based-trio Yuganaut, with Tom Abbs and Geoff Mann (including a new release on Nessa Records with Roscoe Mitchell). His first book, Better Get It In Your Soul, discusses radical approaches to church liturgy. He has studied South Indian Classical vocal music for twenty years with Sharada Kumar (Ann Arbor), Sashi Kumar (Varinasi, India) and Kamala Rajalakshmi (Mysore, India). For the last seven years he has taken a dozen students to India for one month in the summer to study Classical Indian Dance and Music, as well as Yoga, Philosophy and Sociology. His work in this area is recognized internationally, including frequent requests to speak about Indian Music and Culture in the U.S. and in India, with an invitation to be the keynote speaker at the International Peace Conference in Mysore, India, 2011. He also has an interesting side-career, having publicly interviewed such varied luminaries as Laurie Anderson, Ravi Shankar, LaMonte Young, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ornette Coleman, the Kronos Quartet, and revered Swami Chinmayananda." ^ Hide Bio for Stephen Rush
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Track Listing:
CD1
1. Variations And Sketches From The Bamboo Terrace 7:49
2. Bell Song 6:38
3. We Are On The Edge 6:21
4. I Greet Yoy With Open Arms 6:18
5. Chi-Congo 50 9:42
6. Jamaican Farewell Part I 1:26
7. Villa Tiamo 1:24
8. Saturday Morning 4:34
9. Jamaican Farewell Part II 1:40
10. Mama Koko 7:40
11. Fanfare And Bell 6:48
12. Oasis At Dusk 8:13
CD2
1. We Are On The Edge / Cards 15:30
2. Oasis At Dusk 8:58
3. Chi-Congo 50 2:38
4. Tutankhamun 19:29
5. Mama Koko 11:06
6. Saturday Morning 5:16
7. Odwalla / The Theme 8:02
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
Large Ensembles
Pi Records
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