Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass

Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass is a 1970 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris and released on the America label in 1971 then reissued in the US on Prestige Records the following year.[1][2] It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, Fontella Bass, and Don Moye.

Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass
Studio album by
Released1971
RecordedAugust 1970
StudioParis, France
GenreJazz
LabelAmerica
ProducerPierre Berjot
Art Ensemble of Chicago chronology
Live in Paris
(1970)
Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass
(1971)
Phase One
(1970)
CD Reissue Cover

Reception edit

Robert Palmer's Rolling Stone review stated "The music works very much like a film, in sequences. Certain instruments and ideas carry over from one sequence to another, but something new is always being added as something else is subtracted. There are successions of episodes, of colours, meshes of tones and ideas, washes of sound. There is no soloing as such. Each player is a virtuoso on his main horns, but the virtuosity is channeled into a true ensemble approach."[3] The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek states "Bass, an R&B and gospel singer by trade and Lester Bowie's wife at the time, adds a wonderful theatrical and sonic dimension to the Art Ensemble's creative juggernaut... This set stands the test of time beautifully".[4]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic     [4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide     [5]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings    [6]

Track listing edit

  1. "How Strange/Ole Jed" (Art Ensemble of Chicago) - 21:57
  2. "Horn Web" (Roscoe Mitchell) - 19:39

Personnel edit

References edit

  1. ^ Art Ensemble of Chicago discography accessed 22, July, 2009
  2. ^ Jazzlists: Art Ensemble Of Chicago discography, accessed November 26, 2017
  3. ^ Palmer, R., Rolling Stone, January 4, 1973, p.61
  4. ^ a b Jurek, T. Allmusic Review accessed June 2, 2009.
  5. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 14. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  6. ^ Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (9th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-14-103401-0.