Art Ensemble of Chicago live at the Empty Foxhole, Philadelphia, March 1976

This is a repost of a post originally published here in October 2013. The reason for reposting is basically to draw attention to the list of amateur recordings made by "orchiddoctor", mostly in the period 1975-1980. Listed by "carville" in the comments section, this is a huge collection of live concerts by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and various spinoffs as well as other bands active on the loft jazz scene in NY and outside in those years. All together, it provides an invaluable insight to a scene that is not well documented. I have now the entire set, courtesy of carville, and the idea is to post all this material in the weeks and months to come. Needless to say, this is a huge project, but one well worth doing for the historical record.

What follows is the original post with all the comments from then:

This post was inspired by a comment from reader and follower "santos curser" who went to see the AEoC at the Empty Foxhole in Philadelphia in 1980, a performance which was somewhat "interrupted" by a young amateur saxophonist who wanted to play with the band. He was eventually escorted out of the venue. It occured to me that I did have some archive files of the AEoC at the Empty Foxhole in 1976. Two consecutive nights, 12 and 13/14 March. These were recorded by "orchiddoctor" and posted on the Dime torrents site by "carville". There were 67-68 concerts posted in all, basically coverning the 1975-1980 period, many of these recorded in snall clubs in NYC and beyond. For me and other AEoC fans, invaluable historical documents. When it comes to the AEoC, critical faculties are permanently suspended. It's all good.

What we have here are two performances, two sets each, both lasting close to three hours in all. There were some dicussions at the Dime site about the exact location of these two gigs. I can't add anything to it, never been to Philly and certainly not then. Listening to these two performances, it seems obvious to me that they were not recorded in the same place. The acoustics of the 12 March performance sound as if the recording is from a small club, closer, more intimate. The 13 March performance is from a much larger locality, spacy, roomy sound.  So my guess is that the 12 March gig is at Geno's Empty Foxhole, located in the basement of the Saint Mary's Church on the Uinversity of Pennsylvania campus. The 13 March sounds as if it was recorded in the actual Church which would explain the acoustics. Reportedly the band was delayed by a snowstorm, so what we're hearing was performed from four in the morning. Must have been quite atmospheric!

The lo-down:

March 12 1976
Empty Foxhole
Philadelphia, PA

total time 177:21
1st set 88:22
1 improv including Ohnedaruth and Tutankhamen (tape flip) 44:44
2 cont'd 43:38
2nd set 88:59
1 improv including Dreaming of the Master (tape flip) 57:15
2 cont'd 31:43


March 14 1976
Empty Foxhole
Philadelphia, PA

total time 170:51
1st set 88:51
1 improv (tape flip) 61:20
2 cont'd 27:30

2nd set 81:59
1 Reese and the Smooth Ones, Odwalla (tape flip) 39:56
2 cont'd 42:03

Much more from where that's coming from. I estimate my AEoC collection runs to about 200 performances, so I'll sprinkle a little now and then.

Collage c/o the 2nd First Look website.

Enjoy!