Track Listing

1. Illistrum
2. Barnyard Scuffel Shuffel
3. Nonaah
4. Fanfare for the Warriors
5. What's to Say
6. Tnoona
7. Key

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #184112 in Music
• Released on: 1999-01-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

Amazon.com
The compositions on this 1973 studio recording demonstrate some of the individual directions that its members brought to the Art Ensemble. Lester Bowie's "Barnyard Scuffel Shuffle" suggests a key source in the music of Charles Mingus with a kinetic mix of swing, R&B, bop, and free-jazz elements, with Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell providing great honking tenors. "Nonaah" is an intriguing early performance of a permutational composition that Mitchell has continued to recast to the present. Jarman's title piece is a driving free-jazz anthem, highlighted by the composer's blazing alto solo. Muhal Richard Abrams, a crucial early mentor, is added to the Ensemble for much of the date. His piano is a striking complement to the group, thoughtfully expanding the music's harmonic languages. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

A classic
Of all the AEC recordings, I think that this recording best defines who the AEC is.

It generally is more raw than their ECM recordings, and this has the best balance between improvistation and composition. You have the otherworldly Illistrum, the raw but ritualistic title track, the R&B tinged Scuffle Shuffle, and a few vibrant non-Western styles in What's to Say. Nonaah is how Stockhausen would have sounded if he had hung out in the South Side of Chicago.

This effort has a get-down-to-business approach which leaves virtually no dead spots on this project.

This recording gets the highest of possible ratings.

best studio recording by the Art Ensemble!
I heard FANFARE FOR THE WARRIORS for the first time when it finally appeared on CD in 1999. The original LP had been released in 1974. It is the Art Ensemble's finest studio recording! Joined by Muhal Richard Abrams on piano, it is a flawless representation of the band's facets, talents, and overall effect. FANFARE opens with Joseph Jarman reading an epic Pan-African poem by Malachi Favors over the famous Ensemble "little instruments." This captures the theatrical and mythical elements of the band at the outset. Their performances were always rituals. The rest of the album is a perfect symmetrical journey. The sadly departed Lester Bowie kicks things off with the rollicking "Barnyard Scuffel Shuffel." Roscoe leads us into the mystical with his "Nonaah," culminating with the journey's destination -- Jarman's "Fanfare." A slighter Jarman piece "What's to Say" leads back to another enigmatic Mitchell passage, "Tnoona." The journey closes as always with a blues beat -- this time it's Roscoe's "The Key."

The best Art Ensemble recording is the live URBAN BUSHMEN, but FANFARE is a close second, and is a perfect introduction to the band. The overall effect was/is always greater than the sum of the parts, but each part is more perfectly realized on this album than anywhere else in their recorded output.

Another must!
Along with Bap-tizum this lp is a must and aptly documents the excitement that was the Art Ensemble of Chicago in the early 70's. From the lyrical exploration of "Illistrum" to the freeform taunting of the title track to the classically influenced "Tnoona" each and every song takes you on a sonic spiritual journey that few jazz records ever achieve. It's interesting to note that they did not release another album for five years and when they did their music had changed somewhat which makes this record that much more important as it is the final document of their first phase and an important one it is.