A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.22 (636 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0226476960 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 728 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-01-04 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
“Written with the eye of an ethnographer, the ear of a performer, and the heart of a hometown dweller, George Lewis’s account of the development of the AACM is an engaging story, a romance in which several generations of musicians triumph to create a music that travels around the world, yet is completely unique to their experiences. Reinscribing Chicago as a city of enormous artistic vitality and tough aesthetics, A Power Stronger Than Itself brilliantly redraws the map of jazz and widens the horizon for new and experimental music.”
Definitive AACM history by one of its greatest members Anthony C. Alexander George Lewis has written one of the great books about music. He interviews virtually every AACM musician of consequence and tells the story of the organization that transformed "jazz" only to be rejected by the jazz police of the 80s and 90s. As a Chicago native who followed this music from my first exposure to it in the early 70s, buying records, attending concerts, reading interviews, etc., I was astounded, upon reading this book, to discover how much I did NOT know about the AACM. These days, Threadgill, Braxton, Wadada, etc. are accorded elder statesman status, time having vindicated their musics, while Nicole . "his rigorous scholarly approach is more arm's length analytical than what could easily have become cheerfully self-congratulator" according to Glen S. Hall. George Lewis should get a medal for his insightful, comprehensive book on the AACM. Although Lewis has the benefit of being an insider in the organization, his rigorous scholarly approach is more arm's length analytical than what could easily have become cheerfully self-congratulatory on behalf of this staggeringly creative collective, many of whose members have become iconic, world renown artists. Full of details and personal anecdotes from and about AACM members, this is not a bloodless academic tome. It is made alive with accounts of the social and political realities that were the soil in which the AACM planted. "This is an awakening we're trying to bring about." according to greg taylor. George Lewis has given us a monumental gift. His history of the AACM is a combination of scholarly work that runs to over 500 pages and 70 plus pages of notes with the best kind of historical narrative. Lewis has written a group biography with the framework of an institutional history. He situates the origin of the AACM within the biographical stories of how the founders and members tried to address issues of resources, education and performance opportunities. He is relating all this within a history of Chicago's black community, a history of creative improv, a history of the struggle to control the definition of w
Founded in 1965 and still active today, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is an American institution with an international reputation. George E. Lewis, who joined the collective as a teenager in 1971, establishes the full importance and vitality of the AACM with this communal history, written with a symphonic sweep that draws on a cross-generational chorus of voices and a rich collection of rare images.Moving from Chicago to New York to Paris, and from founding member Steve McCall’s kitchen table to Carnegie Hall, A Power Stronger Than Itself uncovers a vibrant, multicultural universe and brings to light a major piece of the history of avant-garde music and art.