# The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Melissa Aldana, Ben Monder and more: Photos, Videos, Sounds

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2019/04/16/the-art-ensemble-of-chicago-melissa-aldana-ben-monder-and-more-photos-videos-sounds/
- Published: 2019-04-16T10:30:35+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**The Art Ensemble of Chicago, “Oasis at Dusk”**

For a broad coalition of adventurous listeners, few albums this year are as highly
anticipated as _We Are On The Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration_. Due out on 
Pi Recordings on April 26, it’s a two-disc magnum opus by The Art Ensemble of Chicago,
which has crossed the half-century mark at full stride.

Saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, 78, and drummer Famoudou Don Moye, 72, are now the 
only charter members of the group. (Their fallen comrades receive acknowledgement
in the album subhead: “Dedicated to Lester Bowie, Shaku Joseph Jarman and Malachi
Favors Maghostut.”) But _We Are On the Edge _isn’t an elegiac work by any stretch;
its radiant energies speak clearly to the longtime Art Ensemble motto, “Great Black
Music, Ancient to the Future.”

The album’s title comes from a spoken-word poem by Moor Mother, aka the radical 
Afrofuturist writer Camae Ayewa. She’s the latest addition to a band roster that
also includes cellist Tomeka Reid, flutist Nicole Mitchell, and electronic artist
Christina Wheeler. Also in the fold are longtime collaborators like Hugh Ragin and
Fred Berry on trumpet. The conductor of this orchestral assemblage, on both a studio
session and a disc recorded at Edgefest last fall, is Stephen Rush.

[[

“Oasis at Dusk” is a Moye composition that closes Disc 1 in an evocative Bedouin
spell. Opening with a rustle of percussion, including djembe and mbira, the song
takes on a springy vamp, over which a melody moves in haunting drifts. The subtle,
shifting details in the music are captivating, as is the air of calm reflection.
It feels like a vintage Art Ensemble offering even as it peers off toward new horizons.

**Ben Monder, “My One and Only Love”**

Guitarist, composer and spellbinder Ben Monder has been a catalyst in a great variety
of ensemble settings, from the Maria Schneider Orchestra to Guillermo Klein’s Los
Guachos to Dan Weiss’ Starebaby. On his impressive new double album, _Day After 
Day, _Monder offers two new views of his own: a solo guitar recital and a trio with
Matt Brewer on bass and Ted Poor on drums.

[[

Both discs feature covers — from Mancini to Messiaen, Bacharach to Dylan — and the
constant throughout is an exquisite approach to harmonic voicing and tonal detail.
You will absolutely want to hear the trio’s blistering take on the _Goldfinger _theme,
but for our purposes here I wanted to highlight the beautiful way that Monder reframes“
My One and Only Love.”

**Melissa Aldana, “Visions”**

Each album by tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, going back almost a decade, has 
been stronger than the last. Her forthcoming effort, _Visions_, will be no exception:
it’s a smart, contemporary statement coming from a place of personal reflection.
Created through a Jazz Gallery commission and inspired by the art and example of
Frida Kahlo, it finds Aldana marshaling a cohort of her peers: pianist Sam Harris,
vibraphonist Joel Ross, bassist Pablo Menares and drummer Tommy Crane.

The album’s title track — no relation to the [Stevie Wonder song](https://youtu.be/fy4fMlLj_B8)—
involves an autumnal melody scored for Aldana and Ross, set against a tumble of 
polyrhythmic triple meter. Harris takes the most expeditionary solo on the track,
before a probing and judicious statement by Aldana. There’s a deep synthesis of 
modern style here, and it extends throughout the album, which will be available 
six weeks from today.

**Eric Reed, “Martha’s Prize”**

The gospel church has long been a touchstone for pianist Eric Reed, as he demonstrates
on his new album, _Everybody Gets the Blues_. Just out on Smoke Sessions Records,
it’s not a concept album — in his liner notes, Reed goes out of his way to disparage
the over-intellectualizing of the music — so much as a celebration of personal influence.
So there are pieces by Freddie Hubbard, John Coltrane and Paul McCartney, as well
as a tribute to the late pianist Cedar Walton.

In addition to an original titled “Cedar Waltzin’,” Reed includes this lively arrangement
of “Martha’s Prize,” which Walton featured on his 1996 album _The Composer. _There’s
a spirited alto saxophone solo by Tim Green, and a pliably sound foundation from
Mike Gurrola on bass and McClenty Hunter on drums. As for the shape of the piece,
Reed took his cues from [a recent version](https://youtu.be/jfogAxj5rUI) by drummer
Jamison Ross, one of a handful of younger artists who have recorded Walton’s tune.(
Another was trumpeter Roy Hargrove, whose theme “Strasbourg / St. Denis” crops up
in the vamp after the piano solo, at around 6:05.)

**Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, “In Memory****’s**** Prism”**

_Mandatory Reality_ is the calmly hypnotic new album by Joshua Abrams & Natural 
Information Society, a group with a strong feeling for the slow reveal. Abrams, 
who is best known as a bassist, mainly plays guimbri, a three-stringed Gnawan lute,
on the album; his partners include Ben Lamar Gay on cornet, Lisa Alvarado on harmonium
and gongs, and Hamid Drake on tabla and tar.

[[

“In Memory’s Prism” is the opening track, a nearly 24-minute odyssey built over 
a serpentine drone. It’s a journey full of peaceful reflection, but not without 
its tensions: listen for the subtle dissonance between the vamp and the long tones
played by the horns. In the album liner notes, Alan Licht draws a comparison between
this music and the durational aspect of classical minimalism. That feels true but
slightly skewed, because of the root connection that traditional African music expresses
in this performance. Like the Art Ensemble as mentioned above, Abrams and company
are looking far into the past while negotiating with the near future.

![On 'Visions,' saxophonist Melissa Aldana leads a band with Sam Harris, Joel Ross,
Pablo Menares and Tommy Crane](https://i0.wp.com/www.wbgo.org/sites/wbgo/files/styles/
medium/public/201904/melissa_aldana_6__c__anna_yatskevich.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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