By Eathan Janney
This article began as brief history of free jazz and the avant-garde but my investigations led me to the conclusion that a brief history would be inadequate. I hope instead the reader will be able to move beyond simple facts and dates and develop a sense of the trends and cultural currents to which these terms refer. We begin with a comment from percussionist Kahil El'Zabar, a respected figure in the Chicago music and art scene. He explains the nebulous nature of the terms "free jazz" and "avant-garde."
"Louis Armstrong would have definitely been considered avant-garde in the 1920's; Sun Ra, Muddy Waters or Lennie Tristano, in the forties; Muhal [Richard Abrams] or Von [Freeman] or Richard Davis, in the fifties; The AACM or Hal Russell or Phil Cohran in the sixties. They, as well as many others, have contributed an incomparable legacy of music and art to this planet."
This statement illustrates that these labels aren’t popular with every so-called “free jazz” musician. Some question the value of the classifications “free jazz” and “avant-garde.” Despite these protestations writers, critics, fans, and players have continued used the terms extensively. Whether the classifications are tenuous or not they are undeniably part of our vocabulary and can at least be thought of as one entry point into the multifaceted history of creative musicians in Chicago.
According to Alan Shipton in his comprehensive work, A New History of Jazz, "On May 8, 1965, a new kind of musical revolution began in Chicago, when Muhal Richard Abrams started the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, otherwise known as the AACM." The organization served to provide a support system for creative musicians deprived of opportunities to perform.
Though free jazz in Chicago is heavily associated with the AACM, members continually stress the versatility of the organization. As George Lewis, author of a highly anticipated study of the association, and who joined the collective as a teenager in 1971, states: “The standard histories of the AACM say that it was designed to promote free jazz. No one ever talked about anything like that ... it was mainly a matter of, well, what is it you would like to do and how can we sustain and support that.”
In the spirit of supporting musicians’ interests, important figures such as Fred Anderson stepped to the forefront and began to create opportunities for performance. By 1967, AACM founder Abrams had moved to New York and many members of the organization, such as those in the famed Art Ensemble of Chicago, had left to travel, tour and settle in other locales. Anderson chose to remain.
Fred opened a North Side venue called the Birdhouse in the late 70’s. The attempt was abortive for several reasons. According to Todd R. Brown of AllAboutJazz.com, Fred experienced harassment by the city, random vandalism, and the feeling that “somebody” didn’t want them there. After closing that space, Anderson founded another club on the South side called the Velvet Lounge around 1982. It thrives to this day, having survived a difficult relocation a few years back. Again, it’s important to stress that the venue is not exclusively devoted to so-called “free” music or even jazz, though music reflective of the jazz tradition is a focus. Consider this as an illustration: the tribune critic Howard Reich referred to Ernest Dawkins's January 28th performance as “a jazz/gospel/blues-type suite,” but at same time, one can occasionally catch groups like Soul Power Trio, which likens itself to Black Sabbath, Band of Gypsys, and Pentagram.
Though a small fraction of the AACM’s activities spread to other parts of the city its focus was on the South Side, where a majority of members lived. At the same time, on the other side of the city, a different scene was germinating around figures like Hal Russel who joined the Joe Daily trio in 1961 and went on, according to the liner notes of his posthumously released record the Hal Russel Story, to “help pioneer free form jazz in Chicago.”
If the AACM led to the emergence of contemporary figures such as Ernest Dawkins, Kahil El'Zabar, Ed Wilkerson and Nicole Mitchell, then what Hal Russel was doing seems to have led to the likes of Ken Vandermark, Kent Kessler, Jeb Bishop, Tim Daisy and what is sometimes called the North Side Scene. The passing of the torch seemed to have happened through Russel’s NRG ensemble.
In 1989, Ken Vandermark, who became involved with the NRG ensemble as a sax sub for Mars Williams, moved to Chicago. Reflecting on his early years in Chicago, he said: “Right now things are much more organized than when I first got here. There were people doing things then. Like Hal Russel was active. Michael Zerang was developing different projects. A guy named Damen Short, who still performs in Chicago, was around. But all these little things were happening in pockets, in my perception. And there weren’t very many places to play.”
“It wasn’t until the 90’s that the scene that was happening not connected to the AACM got more organized and became more visible. There were a lot of things that happened simultaneously. WNUR ... John Corbett was here organizing events ... there were writers like Peter Margasak.” Ken also stressed the importance of record labels like Okkadisk and Atavistic and the influence of the AACM not just aesthetically but in terms of their “D.I.Y. mentality.”
Looking back from the inchoate twenty-first century, one thing stands out about the musicians involved in what is known as the avant-garde. They are empowered individuals developing a supportive community in Chicago. Whether it’s through the AACM, which still thrives, newer non-profit organizations like Umbrella Music or the Elastic Arts Foundation, which states on its Web site that it “fosters interest and support for new and under-exposed artists and art forms,” or clubs such as the Velvet Lounge or the Hideout, what is also called contemporary improvised music is thriving in Chicago. It may be that those musicians that take responsibility for the support of their expression through community, whatever form that expression may take, can truly be defined as “free” musicians.
In my interviews, most everyone was uncomfortable making predictions about the future direction of this music. There do seem to be some major trends though. The attentive reader may have noticed that the apparent organization of music into a North Side scene and a South Side scene may have roots beyond simple geography. Vandermark has said that when he first got here “it was still much more racially divided in terms of the AACM and white musicians outside of it interacting,” but went on to say, “That’s softened quite a bit, especially in the last decade or so.” In discussing the apparent division Ernest Dawkins mentioned that he wanted to organize a summit where people could play as well as talk.
Others, like trombonist Jeb Bishop, seem to be less concerned: “In practical terms of working together I haven't found that people think much about whether person X is in the AACM or not. At least, I don't.”
“I've been very fortunate to work with great musicians like Jeff Parker, Nicole Mitchell, Harrison Bankhead, Corey Wilkes, Aaron Getsug ... In some cases I'm not even sure whether a particular musician is an AACM member or not. The important thing is the musical experience.”
