Art Ensemble of Chicago
Day 50
#77 – Art Ensemble of Chicago, avant-garde jazz ensemble started in the late 1960s. Originally comprised of Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Malachi Favors, Roscoe Mitchell and later, drummer Famoudou Don Moye. Notable for their multi-instrumentalism, especially the use of ‘little instruments’ such as bicycle horns, bells and wind chimes. Albums include: A Jackson in Your House (1969), Full Force (1980) and Nice Guys (1978).
The Ensemble reportedly brought some 500 music making implements with them when they moved to France at the end of the 1960s. I wanted to get across this sense of a mass of instruments. I started gathering images of different instruments and thinking about how to incorporate the type. As I placed the images, I realised I could use the negative space. I started off with ‘Ancient to the Future’ – their motto. This became too complicated and in the end I just used ‘Art’. I started off filling the space but when I looked at the crop I liked it pulled back revealing the other instruments which was a better reflection of the original idea.
2 hours
Listen...
to excerpts from ‘Nice Guys’