In Paris, Aries 1973 cover

In Paris, Aries 1973

Released

For decades, this live album was a rare artifact. Saxophonist Oliver Lake, trumpeters Baikida Carroll and Floyd LeFlore, trombonist Joseph Bowie, and drummer Charles “Bobo” Shaw all traveled from St. Louis to Paris in late 1972, spending several months there. They recorded this album, and self-released it when they got back to the US. It contains just four tracks — the long “Echos” and “Re-Cre-A-Tion,” and the shorter “Something To Play On” and “OLCSJBFLBC” (the band members’ initials) — all of which are very much in the vein of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, with plenty of raucous interplay between the horns and all sorts of percussion, from congas and woodblocks to various hand-held shakers and rattles. Periodically, there are dramatic whispers and stagy effects, since BAG were always a multi-disciplinary organization that blended out jazz with avant-garde theater, radical poetry, free-form dance and abstract painting. In recent years, In Paris, Aries 1973 has been reissued, again on vinyl, but it’s never been available digitally or streaming.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Blues & Roots cover

Blues & Roots

Charles Mingus
Force Majeure cover

Force Majeure

Brandee Younger, Dezron Douglas
Maroon Cloud cover

Maroon Cloud

Nicole Mitchell
Levels and Degrees of Light cover

Levels and Degrees of Light

Muhal Richard Abrams
The Milwaukee Tapes, Vol. 1 cover

The Milwaukee Tapes, Vol. 1

Fred Anderson Quartet
Guitar cover

Guitar

Sonny Sharrock
Naked City cover

Naked City

John Zorn, Naked City
Gold Blood cover

Gold Blood

Fushitsusha
Liberty cover

Liberty

Dayna Stephens Trio