Rabble Without A Cause
Wednesday April 23rd, 2014 with Bernard Stepien
Art Ensemble of Chicago, Live at Mandel Hall, 1972

The Art Ensemble of Chicago was one of the avant-garde Jazz iconic success story. Initially a quartet but with a collection of percussion instruments that made them look like a Smithonian ethno-musicological collection on tour and kept custom officers around the world and especially in Canada overly busy, the addition of percussionist Don Moye in 1972 sealed a well-engineered group. A very radical Free-Jazz of the ‘60s type, they quickly developed a style that would later be called World-Jazz that consisted in exploring Black Music in an encyclopedically way. Somewhat like Sun Ra’s Arkestra, the Art Ensemble developed a well sense of theatrical performance especially with costumes drawn from the opposite spectrum of worlds like African face paintings to lab technician white coat. As a result, some critics were on the verge to consider having found a commercial form of Free Jazz. Nonetheless, each performance was different, drawing on the endless combinations of this vast repertoire that Black Music constitutes. Tonight we will focus on the Live at the Mandel Hall of the University of Chicago recordings made in 1972 upon their return from a four years residency in Paris. The music is intense but immensely joyful like a village square celebration. Missed last week’s RWAC show featuring the intriguing Dutch group Boi Akih? get it from the CKCU archives by copying this link to your web browser: http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/95/16616.html