The Spiritual Explained

The Spiritual
Type:Album
Artist:Art Ensemble of Chicago
Cover:The Spiritual.jpg
Released:1969
Recorded:June 26, 1969
Studio:Polydor Studios (Dames II), Paris, France
Genre:Jazz
Length:38:34
Label:Freedom
Black Lion Records
Producer:Alan Bates, Chris Whent
Prev Title:Tutankhamun
Prev Year:1969
Next Title:People in Sorrow
Next Year:1969

The Spiritual is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in 1969 for the Freedom label as the same sessions that produced Tutankhamun.[1] [2] It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors Maghostut.

Reception

The AllMusic review stated "this stunning 1974 album, The Spiritual, finds the Art Ensemble of Chicago at their artistic height. Reduced to an unusual drummerless quartet for this session (reedsmen Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell, horn player Lester Bowie and bassist/banjo player Malachi Favors all double on various types of percussion), the group explores one of the main stems of jazz, New Orleans gospel and second-line music, without sacrificing its freer sounds. Indeed, without a traditional drummer, the group is free to play at its most unrestrained, unfettered by conventions of tempo".

Track listing

  1. "Toro" (Roscoe Mitchell) - 8:30
  2. "Lori Song" (Joseph Jarman) - 3:58
  3. "That the Evening the Sky Fell Through the Glass Wall and We Stood Alone Somewhere?" (Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman) - 6:00
  4. "The Spiritual" (Mitchell) - 20:06

Personnel

trumpet, percussion instruments

bass, percussion instruments, vocals

saxophones, clarinets, percussion instruments

saxophones, clarinets, flute, percussion instruments

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