Ancient to the Future: 40 Years of the AACM

presented by

Ars Nova Workshop and International House Philadelphia

 

Ancient to the Future is five live jazz concerts showcasing the progression of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Inc. (AACM). Formerly based in Chicago, this collective of black musicians and composers is dedicated to nurturing, performing and recording original jazz and contemporary music. Celebrating their 40th Anniversary in 2005, this dynamic collective of visionaries is now the oldest and most venerable organization of its kind in the US.

 

Ancient to the Future highlights the remarkable trajectory of these AACM elder statesmen and their pivotal place in jazz history.

 

Roscoe Mitchell

In 1966, Mitchell's sextet became the first AACM group to record. The resulting album, Sound, is still recognized as an achievement, and it signaled a change in the music. In 1969 Mitchell’s then group, the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, traveled to France. After under-going a lineup change, the band was reborn as the Art Ensemble of Chicago. For the next two decades they remained one of the most celebrated groups in music. In the time since, Mitchell has developed his solo music, as well as forming and composing for the Trio Space, the Sound Ensemble and the Note Factory as well as various configurations of trio, quartet, and sextet groups.

 

Anthony Braxton

Broxton is the founder and Artistic Director of the Tri-Centric Foundation, Inc., a New York-based not-for-profit corporation including an ensemble of some 38 musicians, four to eight vocalists, and computer-graphic video artists assembled to perform his compositions. He is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and a tenured professor at Wesleyan University. His teaching has become as much a part of his creative life as his own work, and includes training and leading performance ensembles and private tutorials in his own music, computer and electronic music, and history courses in the music of his major musical influences, from the Western Medieval composer Hildegard of Bingen to contemporary masters with whom he himself has worked, such as Cage and Coleman.

 

Wadada Leo Smith

Expanding on the ideas of Don Cherry, Smith has incorporated musical influences from around the world into his work. He has formed and written for various ensembles, including New Dalta Ahkri, N’Da Kulture, the Golden Quartet, and the Reflecativity trio. The music that he has created for these groups, which derives from his personal system of music and notation called Ankhrasmation, is as individual as his sound on the trumpet. In 1973 his book of musical philosophy, Notes (8 Pieces) Source a New World Music: Creative Music, was published by Kiom Press. In the time since he has taught at the University of New Haven 1975-'76, the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY 1975-'78, and Bard College 1987-'93. He has held the Dizzy Gillespie Chair at the California Institute of the Arts since 1993.

 

Ancient to the Future is made possible by a grant from the Philadelphia Music Project, an Artistic Initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, administered by The University of the Arts.