Ugly Beauty: The Month In Jazz – October 2017

On Friday, October 6, the Art Ensemble Of Chicago played their first New York show since 2004. The last time they were in town, original bassist Malachi Favors had died only three months earlier, so the show was something of a memorial to him. Jaribu Shahid, who had worked with Art Ensemble founder Roscoe Mitchell going back to 1981, filled the bass chair. Trumpeter Lester Bowie, another founding member of the group, had died in 1999; Corey Wilkes, substantially younger than the other members of the band, replaced him. The two shows they played at the New York club Iridium were recorded for a 2006 double CD, Non-Cognitive Aspects Of The City. That was the last Art Ensemble album to be released.