Les Stances a Sophie

Performer: The Art Ensemble of Chicago
Distributor: MSI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Fontella Bass (vocals, piano, tambourine); Roscoe Mitchell (flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, bass saxophone, percussion); Joseph Jarman (flute, saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, percussion); Lester Bowie (trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion); Malachi Favors (acoustic bass, electric bass, percussion); Famoudou Don Moye (drums). Recording information: Pathe Marconi, Boulogue (07/22/1970). In 1970, the members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago were living as expatriates in Paris. The group had only recently expanded to its permanent quintet status with the addition of drummer/percussionist Don Moye when they were asked by New Wave director Moshe Misrahi to provide the soundtrack for his movie, Les Stances a Sophie. The music was never used in the film but, luckily, it was recorded. The result was one of the landmark records of the burgeoning avant-garde of the time and, simply put, one of the greatest jazz albums ever. On two of the tracks, the Art Ensemble is joined by vocalist Fontella Bass, at the time the wife of trumpeter Lester Bowie and riding the success of her pop-soul hit Rescue Me. She's featured most prominently on the opening number, Theme De Yoyo, an astounding piece that has achieved legendary status as the finest fusion of funk and avant-garde jazz ever recorded. The mix is indeed seamless, with Moye and Favors laying down a throbbing, infectious groove, Bass singing the surreally erotic lyrics with enormous soul and the horn players soloing with ecstatic abandon. The remaining pieces cover a wide range stylistically with no less beauty and imagination, including two variations on a theme by Monteverdi, intense free improvising and soft, deeply probing sonic investigations.Their extensive knowledge of prior jazz styles, love of unusual sound sources (the so-called "little instruments) and fearless exploration of the furthest reaches of both instrumental and compositional possibilities came into full flower on this record. ~ Brian Olewnick

The Wire (p.68) - "LES STANCES A SOPHIE combines elements of carnival and earnest research, iconoclasm and respectful parody, fierce free blowing and cool abstraction."

A four- (later five-) piece collective founded in 1968, Art Ensemble of Chicago was a shining light of jazz's avant garde over the next several decades. Drawing on virtually the entire history of African-American music, they brought invention and wide open space to the realm of free jazz, and with a combination of social awareness and theatrical wit, they imbued their music with a wide emotional range, from anger to humor. Although the band never officially broke up, they remained quiet after founding member Lester Bowie's 1999 death, and reunited briefly in 2001 to record a tribute to him.

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