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Chicago tenor saxophone giants Edward Wilkerson Jr. and Ari Brown open the Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz concert series in a celebration of the seminal Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore album, Blowing in From Chicago which established what became known as the “Chicago Sound.” This event is free and open to the public on Thursday, July 19th at 6:30 p.m. at Millennium Park. The Allmusic review of the 1957 album Blowing in From Chicago by Scott Yanow awarded the album 5 stars stating "Clifford Jordan's first date as a leader actually found him sharing a heated jam session with fellow tenor John Gilmore ... This was one of Gilmore's few sessions outside of Sun Ra's orbit and, if anything, he slightly overshadows the cooler-toned Jordan. Recommended." This concert will also feature the rhythm section of Ken Chaney on piano, Harrison Bankhead on bass, and Ernie Adams on drums.
 Edward Wilkerson Jr. The AACM collective, with its spirit of community as well as unbridled creativity, has been a predominant nurturing force for Wilkerson and has informed much of his work. He was an original member of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (formed by percussionist Kahil El'Zabar upon El'Zabar's 1976 graduation from the AACM school) and remained with the group until 1997. Wilkerson was also becoming more involved in leading his own projects, which characteristically saw the reedman thinking big. His most ambitious project, Shadow Vignettes, was initiated in 1979; with 25 musicians and incorporating dance, poetry, and visual arts, the ensemble's influences include the big band work of Muhal Richard Abrams, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Sun Ra. Wilkerson's best-documented ensemble as a leader is 8 Bold Souls, an octet initiated in January 1985 with a series of Thursday night concerts at the Chicago Filmmakers performance space. The popularity of the concerts led Wilkerson to establish 8 Bold Souls as a working band, and since their formation, four Souls CDs have been released. Influenced by the small groups of Duke Ellington and Jimmie Lunceford, 8 Bold Souls also makes plenty of room for adventurous experimentation in the AACM spirit, drawing fully on the unusual sonic possibilities of the group's instrumentation of two woodwinds, trumpet, trombone, cello, tuba, bass, and trap drums. Overall, Wilkerson's work may be heard on 14 recordings, including two film soundtracks.  Ari Brown
Ari Brown was born on February 1st in 1944. Brown grew up in Chicago and attended Wilson College, where he met musicians such as Jack DeJohnette, Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, and Joseph Jarman. He played piano in R&B, blues and soul outfits int the 1960s, then switched to saxophone in 1965. Ari Brown began his musical career playing blues and R&B. In 1971 he joined the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), and turned his focus to jazz. During the 1970’s, Ari played with jazz giants such as Rufus Reid, and Sonny Stitt. In the 1980’s, he played with Lester Bowie, Von Freeman, Anthony Braxton, and Elvin Jones. In 1989, Brown became a member in Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio. Over the past thirty years he has become a versatile player who plays with many of Chicago's avant-garde musicians. Recently he has been playing with Pharoah Sanders. He has made three recordings as a leader on Delmark records.
Ari Brown biographic information was ataped from teh AACM website: aacmchicago.org/, Edward Wilkerson Jr.'s biographic information was adapted from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Wilkerson.
Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz is presented with major support from the Chicago Jazz Partnership: The Boeing Company, The Chicago Community Trust and The Joyce Foundation. The series is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts–Art Works. For more information about Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz visit www.jazzinchicago.org. |
Chicago 
Friday, 24 May 2013
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