Leaving Chicago: A Primer (Part 02)

Arriving in Chicago during the mid forties, Sun Ra (née Herman Blount) would extend and develop ideas left behind from Chicago’s first important epoch in jazz history (4). A fan of Fletcher Henderson, a big band leader and Armstrong’s boss in New York, Ra set about finding similarly minded players interested in music as much as history.

In John Gilmore, Ra found an accomplished improviser as well as an individual willing to work in what amounted to the position of apprentice. The pair’s relationship was deep enough that Gilmore performed in Sun Ra’s Arkestra for the next forty years wearing costumes, performing alongside dancers and plate spinners (5).

Beyond the impact that the two musicians had on each other’s careers, Gilmore was able to introduce the band leader to a Chicago born musician named Phil Cohran, who would go on to found one of the city’s most enduring non-profit organizations (6). While Cohran joined Ra’s group, the trumpet player only retained membership in the Arkestra for a few years. Sun Ra decided to take the band to New York.

There is a distinct difference, though, between Ra’s musical output as recorded in Chicago and those works set to tape in New York. Omnipresent in his compositions is a sense of endless possibility as Ra worked to include passages of free, group improvisations within the confines of composed music (6). While Ra was one of the earliest proponents of electronic keyboards, the way that he approached the instrument changed dramatically during his New York period (9). The loss of the Arkestra may have proved problematic to Chicago’s jazz scene, but by 1961 there was not too much work in the city anyway.

As a part of a blighted and ignored section of Chicago, Cohran along with Roscoe Mitchell and Richard Abrams set upon forming the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) to help players find gigs around town (7). Abrams did not significantly factor into recordings groups affiliated with the AACM would record, but functioned more as a figure head. Mitchell, as one of the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s principal players, would go on to a lauded recording career. Of course, the fact that his group moved to Paris during the late sixties has more than a just a bit to do with its renown. While in Europe, the Art Ensemble changed dramatically and sought to incorporate the percussionist Don Moye into the fold. African rhythms had always played a significant part in the Art Ensemble’s music, but with a single player devoted to working in those sounds, the band would push forward, always looking to include new instruments and eventually even a vocalist. The band would return home eventually, but its stint in Paris represented the most prolific period for the Art Ensemble as the cohort recorded eight albums over the course of 1969 alone.

01: http://www.vogueidea.com/abstract-paintings.html

02: http://www.theremin.info/-/viewpub/tid/12/pid/23

03: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0iftxqy5ldje~T1

04: http://www.furious.com/perfect/sunra.html

05: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:39ftxqtgld0e~T1

06: http://philcohran.com/pc_wr_fr.htm

07: http://homepage.uab.edu/moudry/ra&aacm.htm

08: http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-06-10/music/steve-albini-is-built-for-the-long-haul

09: http://www.elrarecords.com/

10: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wifwxqt5ld6e~T2

11: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:f9fexqe5ld6e~T1