The Leaders
| The Leaders | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Creative jazz |
| founding | 1984 |
| Founding members | |
| Chico Freeman | |
saxophone |
Arthur Blythe |
| Don Cherry (until 1985) | |
| Don Pullen (until 1985) | |
| Cecil McBee | |
| Don Moye | |
| Current occupation | |
Reeds |
Chico Freeman |
Reeds |
Bobby Watson |
Trumpet |
Eddie Henderson |
piano |
Fred Harris |
bass |
Cecil McBee |
Drums |
Billy Hart |
| Other members | |
Trumpet |
Lester Bowie (1986-1999) |
piano |
Kirk Lightsey (from 1986) |
The Leaders is an American modern creative jazz band .
history
"The Leaders" is an all-star formation from the AACM circle that was founded in 1984. The then members were Arthur Blythe , Chico Freeman , Cecil McBee and Famoudou Don Moye . At first, you also belonged to Don Cherry and Don Pullen , for whom Kirk Lightsey and Lester Bowie came on in 1986.
Moye, Freeman and their European agent Philippe Devisscher initially conceived the formation as a pure touring project; until 1986 there were also two European tours. Due to the continued success it became a regular band; In 1986 she left the New York club "Sweet Basil" on a lengthy tour of the USA. Her first album Mudfoot was created in the summer of 1986 . What was innovative about the concept of the Leaders (in contrast to the conventional "All Star" tours) was that all members contributed their compositions on an equal footing and merged their different experiences into a group sound.
Between the poles of the parodic anarchy of the Art Ensemble of Chicago , to which Moye and Bowie belonged, the leaders succeeded in developing their own aesthetic for the music of the Brass Fantasy Bowies , Chico Freeman's more free style and the soul funk of his formation Brainstorm. Against the background of freer jazz forms, the Leaders, under the influence of Bowie, turned to the jazz traditions from Armstrong , Bix Beiderbecke to Miles Davis . Because of this relationship to the jazz tradition in connection with freer forms of play, rooted in the AACM movement and the music of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Geoff Dyer in his essay Tradition, Influence and Innovation considers the music of the leaders to be the “best jazz of the late years 80s ".
After Lester Bowie's death in 1999 and Arthur Blythe's illness, Chico Freeman and Cecil McBee continued the Leaders project. Her CD Spirits Alike was recorded with Bobby Watson , Eddie Henderson , Billy Hart and the relatively unknown pianist Fred Harris .
Discography
- 1986 - Mudfoot (Black-Hawk)
- 1986 - Out Here Like This (Black Saint)
- 1988 - Unforeseen Blessings (Black Saint)
- 1988 Heaven's Dance (Sunnyside), The Leaders Trio album with Lightsey, McBee and Moye
- 1993 - Slipping and Sliding (Sound Hills)
- 2007 - Spirits Alike ( Double Moon Records )
literature
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Geoff Dyer: But Beautiful - A book about jazz . Berlin, Argon, 2001
- Dr. Herb Wong: Liner Notes to Mudfoot , 1986
Web links
- Portrait of the current line-up of the Leaders
- Concert announcement in the New York Times 1987
- Articles from jazz ethics
Remarks
- ↑ With the rhythm section of the Leaders, Lightsey formed the Leaders Trio in 1988.
- ↑ cf. Liner notes by Dr. Herb Wong
- ↑ cf. Cook & Morton, 2002
- ↑ Dyer writes in his book: "If the entire history of jazz were rolled up in a ball and pressed onto a plate, the result would probably be a sound that would be very similar to that of the Leaders." (Dyer, p. 239)