Urban Bushmen
Occupation
- Lester Bowie: trumpet, bass drum, vocals
- Malachi Favors Maghostut: double bass, percussion, melodica, vocals
- Joseph Jarman: saxophone, vocals, clarinet, bassoon, flute, percussion
- Roscoe Mitchell: saxophone, flute, percussion, clarinet, vocals
- Don Moye: drums, percussion, melodica, balafon, vocals
Urban Bushmen (English city Bushmen ) is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, which was recorded in May 1982 at the America House Munich and released on the ECM label.
Background
The double album was recorded at a concert in Munich. The album is characterized by three long pieces, Urban Magic from the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Precondition Two / Theme for Sco by Moye and Jarman and Uncle Mitchell. Besides ballads are included. The piece of New York is Full of Lonely People is one of the most famous and beautiful ballads of Lester Bowie.
Reception
Allmusic awarded 4.5 stars out of 5. Stephen Cook wrote of the album at Allmusic:
"Urban Bushmen not only Provides an excellent summation of the Art Ensemble of Chicago 's work since 1966, but thus substantiates the group 's reputation for putting on intense and inspired shows .... This is one of the Art Ensemble 's best recordings, but due to its intense breadth it might also not be in ideal first purchase for newcomers. "
"Urban Bushmen not only provides an excellent summary of the work of the Art Ensemble of Chicago since 1966, but also established the reputation of the Group for the implementation of intensive and inspired performances ... This is one of the best recordings of the Art Ensemble, but due to its intensive width it may not be the ideal first purchase for newcomers. "
The critic Tom Moon emphasized the title Sun Precondition Two / Theme for Sco, which show the special talent of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, which was responsible for the most vividly illustrated free jazz of the 1970s and 80s. Other highlights of the album are the percussive scale Bush Magic, which remind you of an African village square, and the other extreme, Urban Magic, which can be heard only by whistles and sirens between his solo passages. The members of the Art Ensemble are fabricating solely by variety of instruments - Jarman alone play 22 - a different atmosphere: " That's the beauty of free jazz as practiced by the Art Ensemble: It thrives not on one big idea but a thousand little ones ."
The Penguin Guide to Jazz by Richard Cook and Brian Morton, the album is rated 3 ½ stars; the authors consider Urban Bushmen for the best album of the ECM phase, whose desultory productions were disappointing. In about 90 minutes, the group show the virtuosity of its wide panopticon of equipment. For all constraints, it remains a useful introduction to their work.
Similarly, Eric Thacker said: The album was much the best little compendium of the range of vision of the Art Ensemble and more consistent than later productions (such as The Third Decade, also on ECM). One can not deny that different parts of Urban Bushmen their inspiration received from a music that was far from the Jazz, but the eclecticism of the ensemble is characterized by a hopeful interpretation of receipt of the jazz avant-garde and of the recognition that the roots of jazz itself would have strange roots.
Effect
Kahil El'Zabar took based on the album of the Art Ensemble of Chicago on an eponymous album.