Nice Guys (album) explained

Nice Guys
Type:studio
Artist:the Art Ensemble of Chicago
Cover:Nice Guys.jpg
Released:1979
Recorded:May 1978
Studio:Tonstudio Bauer
Ludwigsburg, West Germany
Genre:Jazz
Length:44:35
Label:ECM 1126
Producer:Manfred Eicher
Chronology:Art Ensemble of Chicago
Prev Title:Kabalaba
Prev Year:1974
Next Title:Live in Berlin
Next Year:1978

Nice Guys is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, recorded in May 1978 and released on ECM the following year—their debut for the label. The quintet features trumpeter Lester Bowie, saxophinists Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell and rhythm section Malachi Favors Maghostut and Famoudou Don Moye.[1] [2] [3] [4]

Reception

The AllMusic review by Al Campbell noted that "Nice Guys was the first Art Ensemble of Chicago album released after a five-year recording hiatus and the group's first for the ECM label. During those five years, the Art Ensemble toured Europe and continued to expand its compositional, improvisational, and theatrical jazz fundamentals, captured abundantly on Nice Guys... the album reveals how the AEC managed to turn individual compositions into a fully realized, surprisingly accessible, avant-garde group collective."[5]

DownBeat critic Art Lange writes that Nice Guys, while not the Art Ensemble's best album, "is possibly their most representative, a variegated showcase illustrating much of what they do best."

The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 3 stars out of 4, stating that "much of the music seems almost formulaic, the improvisation limited".[6]

Track listing

  1. "Ja" (Lester Bowie) – 8:43
  2. "Nice Guys" (Roscoe Mitchell) – 1:45
  3. "Folkus" (Don Moye) – 11:03
  4. "597–59" (Joseph Jarman) – 6:46
  5. "CYP" (Mitchell) – 4:53
  6. "Dreaming of the Master" (Jarman) – 11:40

Personnel

Art Ensemble of Chicago

Notes and References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/19990203134133/http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/8835/art.html Art Ensemble of Chicago discography
  2. http://www.jazzlists.com/SJ_AEC.htm Jazzlists: Art Ensemble Of Chicago discography
  3. https://www.jazzdisco.org/ecm-records/catalog-1100-series/#art-ensemble-of-chicago-nice-guys ECM Records Catalog: 1100 series
  4. https://www.ecmrecords.com/catalogue/143038750820/nice-guys-art-ensemble-of-chicago ECM Records Catalogue
  5. Campbell, A. AllMusic Review accessed July 27, 2011.
  6. Book: Cook, Richard. Richard Cook (journalist). Brian Morton. Brian Morton (Scottish writer). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. 1992. 8th. The Penguin Guide to Jazz. 2006. Penguin. London. 978-0-141-02327-4. 54.