The Art Ensemble of Chicago - Sirius Calling
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Artist: The Art Ensemble of ChicagoEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2004-09-21
Music Label: Pi Recordings
Soundtracks:
- Sirius Calling
- Come on Y'all
- Two-Twenty
- He Took a Cab to Neptune
- Everyday's a Perfect Day
- Til Autumn
- Dance of Circles
- Cruising with JJ
- You Can't Get Away
- Taiko
- There's a Message for You
- Slow Tenor and Bass
- Voyage
- Council
Music reviews of Sirius Calling
Music Review: MALACHI FAVORS MAGHOSTUT -- gone to Sirius
Rating: 4 Stars
Roscoe Mitchell explains that Malachi Favors titled the album before his death on January 31, 2004:
"In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, is the place where the soul goes after leaving the body. Ancient Egyptians believed Sirius's first ascent brought forth the annual flooding of the Nile, which marked the start of the growing season and so was also thought to symbolize renewal and reincarnation. SIRIUS CALLING is dedicated to brother Malachi, whose spirit lives on in our music."
The intrepid bassist, who played with the Art Ensemble from the very beginning, held strong Pan-African beliefs. In the AEC's ritual presentation, drummer Don Moye, reedman Joseph Jarman and Favors donned African face paint and garb, while Lester Bowie wore the white labcoat of the scientist, and Roscoe Mitchell wore workingman's clothes. I'm not sure what the entire esoteric meaning of this was, but I am quite sure that it related to the Pan-Africanism that led the band to coin the term "Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future" to replace "jazz," which of course began with pejorative connotations. And it certainly made great theatre!
The music of SIRIUS CALLING was created right on the heels of the sessions that resulted in THE MEETING, the first recording with Joseph Jarman in many years. These recordings are shorter, more concentrated, and generally better than the earlier ones, which were often diffuse and percussion-heavy. There are two Mitchell compositions, two Moye/Jarman compositions, one Favors/Mitchell composition, and eight group improvisations, in various combinations, not always the entire quartet. While not among the very best of the Art Ensemble, and not as powerful as TRIBUTE TO LESTER (finally released in 2003 by ECM -- see my review) it is a fine record, one that captures many moods and styles, including Joseph Jarman's Buddhism, though most are on the quieter side. Of course Mitchell and Jarman play a vast array of instruments -- not including percussion, they are: piccolo, flute, bass flute, C flute, E-flat flute, wooden flutes, bass & great bass recorders, E-flat sopranino clarinet, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor & bass saxophones.
Pi Recordings, a superb label which has specialized in presenting the music of the Black and especially Chicago AACM-related avant-garde (Art Ensemble, Roscoe Mitchell, Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith, Revolutionary Ensemble), deserves recognition for producing another stunning disc, with impeccable sound production by Buzz Kemper and Steve Gotcher and some of the best cover art I've seen, by Figureground.
I recommend FANFARE FOR THE WARRIORS (1974 -- see my review) as the best AEC studio album, and URBAN BUSHMEN (1982) as the best AEC live album. For more AEC recordings and reviews, see my AACM -- THE CHICAGO AVANT-GARDE list.
I wish Roscoe, Joseph and Don many more years of music-making, and I look forward to hearing more of their profound creativity as we continue the journey -- as Alfred North Whitehead (the process philosopher) said, THE UNIVERSE IS A CREATIVE ADVANCE INTO NOVELTY.
Description of Sirius Calling
Much has happened since the Art Ensemble Of Chicago's last release, 2003's The Meeting. The band has reinvented itself as a quartet again, with the return of Joseph Jarman, while finally adjusting to the absence of Lester Bowie. Their touring has increased since 1999, and they have incorporated new members on occasion to flesh out their sound. In the midst of all of this, on January 30th 2003, founding member Malachi Favors Maghostut unexpectedly passed away.Through all of the changes that have occurred around the Art Ensemble, Maghostut's presence and contribution was always consistent. After thirty years of making music, Maghostut's passing marks yet another turning point for a band that has been the starting point for so many of today's ensembles. His loss will no doubt affect the direction of their music. Thankfully, we are left with one final new studio recording featuring this jazz giant, which will surely be seen as the end of one chapter and the beginning of another in the history of a band that we are lucky to have. Our only regret is that it happened so soon.
In April 2003, the Art Ensemble Of Chicago convened in Madison, WI to prepare for a tour of Europe, when Pi Recordings suggested that they go back into the studio to work on some material that was not finished during the previous sessions for The Meeting. The following three days in the studio produced Sirius Calling. These fourteen tracks showcase the Art Ensemble in various small groups: as a duo, trio and, of course, the full quartet, with music that delivers a forceful energy and compacted focus not heard on recent recordings.
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