Jack DeJohnnette: Made in Chicago

The next post was going to be about a Henry Threadgill album and we'll get to that soon, but the news of the death, at age 83, of the phenomenal drummer Jack DeJohnnette, means that a tribute is being offered here to this master musician through his all-star group live record on ECM, Made in Chicago.  This great album, also part of the mammoth The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Associated Ensembles box set, was recorded in late August 2013 at Millennium Park for the Chicago Jazz Festival and is an agglomeration of titans of the Windy City's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, or AACM.

This includes the leader, his junior college classmates Roscoe Mitchell (of the Art Ensemble of Chicago) and Threadgill, the pianist and AACM founding figure Muhal Richard Abrams and bassist Larry Gray.  This quintet delivered a diverse and powerful performance program, including two pieces from Mitchell and one each from Abrams, DeJohnnette and Threadgill, culminating in a phenomenal improvised jam at the end.

Typical of the ethos of the AACM and the character of DeJohnnette, this is truly a group recording in terms of the choice of songs, but also the beautiful meshing of the performers and the listening that allowed for everyone to make their contributions in ways that varied widely but also came together beautifully.  Bassists, as per usual, are not as heralded because of their function of keeping the rhythm well grounded, but Gray does this with great aplomb.  When, he, DeJohnnette and Abrams are accompanying the horns, they are totally in sync and providing the right level of support.

Abrams is a pianist of not just great skill, but also of much sensitivity and creativity, while his "Jack 5" is another one of his rich and multi-varied compositions.  Mitchell, too, is a remarkable creator of music in composition, with his "Chant" and "This" as well as in his impressive use of alto, soprano and sopranino saxes, the baroque flute and bass flute.  Threadgill's "Leave Don't Go Away" is another of his many impressive forays into experimentation with form, though here with more standard instrumentation and his alto sax and bass flute playing is, as always, stellar.

To this listener, though, it is "Ten Minutes," which is really a little more than five minutes, that is the highlight of the album.  Here, these giants of jazz are no-holds-barred with Mitchell and Threadgill soaring into the stratosphere with their horns, while Gray and DeJohnnette charge full force and Abrams executes brilliant runs including his closing one on his own.  The ecstatic applause at the end signifies what a thrilling end to an amazing concert this was.

Jack DeJohnnette had a brilliant career as a leader and co-leader, including his album New Directions from 1978 and his early work with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis, as well as his long-standing presence in the standards trio with Gary Peacock and Keith Jarrett.  He leaves behind an awesome percussive legacy and long may he be heard!

Muhal Richard Abrams: Levels and Degrees of Light

The music coming out of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) from the mid-1960s and onward was nothing short of spectacular.  While the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton and Henry Threadgill might be some of the more recognizable names of those who emerged from the AACM's big tent of creativity, no one was more vital to the Association's existence and success than co-founder and pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams (1930-2017.)

The Chicago native had many creative interests, including the visual arts, while his musical imagination embraced not just jazz, but modern classical, including electronic music, but he was largely self-taught, finding traditional academic study not fulfilling enough.  In June and December 1967, not long after the establishment of the AACM, Abrams recorded his first album, Levels and Degrees of Light, released on the local independent Delmark label, which issued landmarks from by future Art Ensemble members Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell.

In the liners, Abrams was hesitant to explain the music, offering only that "I think the musicians involved tried to join their thoughts to mine" and the collaboration was "a kind of prayer" in which the session was "the capturing of a moment in that constant prayer."  He then obliquely stated that "what is here is what we are and what we hope to be."  To this listener, the title seems to indicate the varying shades of sound on the recording, involving quiet, contemplative passages, those building up to an incredible level of intensity, the voices of classically-trained singer Penelope Taylor and poet David Moore, and the timbres from the instrumentation.

This includes the leader on clarinet and piano; Braxton's alto; the tenor of Maurice McIntyre; Leroy Jenkins on violin; Gordon Emanuel's vibes; Charles Clark and Leonard Jones on bass; and drummer Thurman Barker.  It does sound as if everyone was totally in tune with Abrams' compositions and aesthetics.  "The Bird Song" is an astounding piece, evoking a sort of environmental calmness at the outset, including bird-like sounds, but including a stunning mass of roaring, rumbling and coruscating ensemble work towards its end.  The title track and "My Thoughts Are My Future—Now and Forever" are, however, also very compelling and reflective of the composer's remarkable range of ideas.

Muhal Richard Abrams was not nearly recorded enough, compared to the musicians and groups mentioned above, but he is a pivotal figure in the development of jazz and Black creative music for roughly a half century and future posts will highlight more of this master's work.