 | Things to Come from Those Now Gone by Muhal Richard Abrams
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $7.50 Classic of the AACM's grand old man. Includes many of the major players.
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 | Sound by Roscoe Mitchell Sextet
Buy new: $16.99 / Used from: $8.99 Roscoe's always wonderful, but this album defined much of the originality of the AACM.
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 | Art Ensemble of Chicago: Live by The Art Ensemble of Chicago
Buy new: $16.99 / Used from: $4.24 Their best stuff doesn't exist on CD (People in Sorrow is a masterpiece!) but this is a great live album from 1972.
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 | Humility in the Light of the Creator by Maurice McIntyre
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $6.20 This is one beautiful album by an underated musician. Shame he dropped out of active playing.
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 | 3 Compositions of New Jazz by Anthony Braxton
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $5.00 Okay, so this wasn't recorded in Chicago. Chicago still made Braxton in many ways. Not the best album he did, but it was groundbreaking.
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 | For Alto by Anthony Braxton
Buy new: $16.99 / Used from: $8.88 Gotta include this one too. Braxton almost singlehandedly developed the art of the solo sax concert.
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 | On the Run: Live at the Velvet Lounge by Fred Anderson
Buy new: $16.99 / Used from: $8.99 Fred's almost unknown outside of Chicago...he may not be the most innovative, but the guy has a huge soul and it comes out in his playing!
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 | Last Option by 8 Bold Souls
Buy used from: $6.05 One of the best new AACM groups...Wilkerson is a wonder!
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 | Spirits by Pharoah Sanders
Buy used from: $23.28 Okay, Pharoah is not a Chicago musician, but Baba Hamid Drake is and can he cook!!! He's also one of the few musicians here who can play both North and Southside styles.
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 | Live Air by Air
Buy used from: $23.09 Intensely creative trio. I caught them live back when I was in high school and became a groupie! Threadgill's hubcaphone was a marvel to see as well as hear!
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 | Chico by Chico Freeman
Buy used from: $49.99 Son of mainstream stalwart Von Freeman, Chico is a master in his own right. This is his impressive debut CD.
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 | Africa N'Da Blues by Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio
Buy new: $16.99 / Used from: $9.53 Little known outside of Chicago, this group is amazing...and they stimulate Pharoah to some really great blowing! The Shepp album is good too.
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 | Freebop Now! by Malachi Thompson
Buy new: $16.99 / Used from: $2.99 Malachi is another Chicago fixture. The Freebop band combines nods to tradition with some wonderful energetic playing.
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 | Song For by Joseph Jarman
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $8.39 Extremely important album by the griot of the Art Ensemble. Features a great band, including Fred Anderon and the underated Bill Brimfield on trumpet. Caught him just this week sitting in at No Exit!
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 | Simpatico by Vandermark 5
Buy new: $14.95 / Used from: $9.85 To the Northside, I love the V5, not only for Ken, but for the other wonderful players, particularly Jeb Bishop on guitar and trombone, and Dave Rempis.
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 | Destroy All Music by The Flying Luttenbachers
Buy used from: $16.95 Gotta love a guy with a name like Weasel Walter! Punk jazz in the tradition of John Zorn. And Vandermark plays here too.
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 | English Suites by Ken Vandermark & Paul Lytton
Buy used from: $27.00 For better or worse, Northside improv in Chicago is Ken. Either they play with Ken or they sound like him. Here is Ken in a duo with talented English drummer Paul Lytton.
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 | Axis and Alignment by Chicago Underground Duo
Buy new: $14.98 / Used from: $1.35 Another strong Northside group! Manurek's trumpet and Taylor's vibes define this album...there's also some great electronic effects.
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 | 98 Duets by Jeb Bishop
Buy used from: $6.90 Wonderful recording by one of the most interesting members of the V5. Bishop is terrific here in duets with musicians like Vandermark, Hamid Drake, and Fred Lonberg-Holm.
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 | Valentine For Fred Katz by Lonberg-Holm Trio
Buy new: $14.95 / Used from: $5.77 The man does rather interesting things with a cello!
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Listmania!
