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The AACM and American Experimental Music
University Of Chicago Press
May 2008
On Sale: May 15, 2008
690 pages
ISBN: 0226476952
EAN: 9780226476957
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Founded in 1965 and still active today, the Association for
the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is an American
institution with an international reputation. From its
working-class roots on the South Side of Chicago, the AACM
went on to forge an extensive legacy of cultural and social
experimentation, crossing both musical and racial
boundaries. The success of individual members and ensembles
such as Muhal Richard Abrams, the Art Ensemble of Chicago,
and Anthony Braxton has been matched by the enormous
influence of the collective itself in inspiring a
generation of musical experimentalists. 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. Faced with shrinking economic opportunities in Chicago and
a segregated music industry, the original members of the
AACM found inspiration in the civil rights movement’s call
for change through self-determination and collective
action. These musicians pooled their individual strengths
in a new organization powerfully committed to a forward-
thinking approach to musical creation and performance.
Evolving a range of experimental methods, from invented
instruments and unusual musical scores to improvisation and
the early use of computers, the AACM challenged the borders
separating classical music and jazz. 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.
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