Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians

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The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is a non-profit organization, founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States, by pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran.

The AACM is devoted "to nurturing, performing, and recording serious, original music," according to their charter. They support and encourage jazz performers, composers and educators. Their motto is, "Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future."

Early members included Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, Jack DeJohnette, Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago: Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Famoudou Don Moye, and Malachi Favors.

The AACM was formed in May 1965 by a group of musicians centered around pianist Muhal Richard Abrams who had organised an Experimental Band since 1962. The musicians were generally steadfast in their commitment to their music, despite a lack of performance venues and sometimes indifferent audiences. From 1969 the AACM organised a music education program for inner city youths. In the 1960s and 1970s AACM members were among the most important and innovative in all of jazz, though the AACM's contemporary influence has waned some in recent years. Many AACM members have recorded widely: in the early days on the Delmark Records Avant Garde Jazz series and later on the Black Saint/Soul Note and India Navigation labels, and to a lesser extent on the Arista Records and ECM labels.

The musical endeavors of members of the AACM often include an adventurous mixing of avant-garde jazz, classical, and world music. The AACM also ran a school, The AACM School of Music, with classes in all areas taught by members of the AACM. The AACM also had a strong relationship with an influential sister organization, the Black Artists' Group (BAG) of St. Louis, Missouri.

The AACM has received aid from the MacArthur Foundation and has a strong relationship with Columbia College.

Power Stronger Than Itself: The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians by George Lewis, will be published by the University of Chicago Press in May 2008.

Members of the AACM

A partial list of many important jazz musicians who have been members of the AACM:

• Muhal Richard Abrams
• Fred Anderson
• Harrison Bankhead
• Mwata Bowden
• Lester Bowie
• Anthony Braxton
• Billy Brimfield
• Jodie Christian
• Phil Cohran
• Pete Cosey
• Anthony Davis
• Ernest Dawkins
• Kahil El'Zabar
• Douglas Ewart
• Malachi Favors Maghostut
• Chico Freeman

• Fred Hopkins
• Joseph Jarman
• Leroy Jenkins
• George Lewis
• Steve McCall
• Nicole Mitchell
• Roscoe Mitchell
• Famoudou Don Moye
• Amina Claudine Myers
• Reggie Nicholson
• Jeff Parker
• Avreeayl Ra
• Wadada Leo Smith
• Henry Threadgill
• Edward Wilkerson

References

External links

• AACM official site
• A 1996 paper by a Kenyon College student: The Sixties, Chicago, and the AACM

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Last updated on Tuesday March 11, 2008 at 10:30:41 PDT (GMT -0700)
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