Art Ensemble of Chicago live at the North Sea Jazz Festival 1990

Here's one I keep coming back to regularly. Beautifully recorded by Dutch radio, this is an excerpt of their performance at the NSJF in Scheweningen in 1990. I went to see them in 1987 and I recall they were playing up on the roof of the main concert building in Scheweningen which is just outside The Hague. I'm not sure whether this is the first set or whether it is a cut and paste of their full performance. There is a longer audience tape of the full one, but of lower audio quality. So I'm sticking with this one instead, even if shorter.

We get to hear first the serene "Prayer for Jimbo Kwesi" which was out on "The Third Decade" album. Then follows an improvisational passage, featuring Roscoe Mitchell among other exciting happenings, and after that it segues into the stately "Song for Atala" which was on their "Dreaming of the Masters", showing that the AEC can play 'em as straight as anybody. The info file that came with this set lists more than what you actually get to hear here.

The line-up is the usual quintet which you can see above. So what else to say but enjoy the company of the masters! Just possibly my fave ensemble of all and anytime!