Playlist: Art Ensemble of Chicago

Art Ensemble of Chicago began in 1965, a collection of eclectic solo artists who were all a part of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Original members Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Famoudou Don Moye, and Malachi Favors—multi-instrumentalists of both traditional and unexpected devices—rose to prominence in Paris, reaching the public consciousness in the early 1970s by soundtracking Moshé Mizrahi’s Les Stances a Sophie and collaborating with experimental French singer Brigitte Fontaine. In the 50 years since they arrived on the avant-garde jazz scene, they’ve defied definition, pulling from influences across genres to create a catalogue as vast as it is abstruse. Though the lineup has varied through the decades, one thing remains the same: a uniquely exploratory and collaborative approach to composing and performing.

Art Ensemble comes to the Wex this Saturday, February 3. To prepare, hit the playlist link above for a compilation of essential sounds.