Sun Ra and the AACM

Allan Chase

In Chicago, another avant-garde jazz musicians' cooperative was founded in 1965: the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). The AACM was probably the most successful and long-lived of the musicians' cooperatives that emerged in the jazz avant-garde of the 1960s. It is still active in Chicago and New York at this writing.

Many writers have speculated that the organization and its members' music reflected Sun Ra's influence. The AACM developed out of the Experimental Band, a large ensemble of Chicago jazz musicians founded by Richard Abrams that began meeting regularly in 1961 to play members' compositions. Members of the Experimental Band included Victor Sproles and other DuSable High School graduates who knew Sun Ra and his musicians. Like Sun Ra, Abrams (b. Chicago, 1930) was a versatile pianist and arranger with a background in earlier jazz piano styles who gained considerable experience as an accompanist to visiting and local artists beginning in his teens. Abrams was the first president of the AACM, and, along with saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, probably exerted the strongest artistic influence on the group. Early members of the AACM included Phil Corhan, the trumpeter who had played with Sun Ra in 1959, and other musicians who had played with Sun Ra from time to time (Alvin Fielder, Malachi Favors).

Early recordings by AACM groups led by Roscoe Mitchell, Richard Abrams, and Joseph Jarman from 1966 through '68 show as many similarities to Sun Ra's free improvisational music as to the better known music of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, and John Coltrane. Like Sun Ra, the AACM groups tended to emphasize larger ensembles, group improvisation, disciplined ensemble interaction, and great variety of instrumentation, timbre, texture, and register. The Art Ensemble of Chicago, which began as Roscoe Mitchell's group, also employed theatrical gestures, costumes, musical satire, band vocals, spoken text, and had the motto, "Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future."

Critics and historians have often taken these similarities as proof of a strong and direct line of influence, but the evidence is equivocal. Sun Ra's free improvisational experiments of 1959 surely made a strong impression on Phil Corhan, Alvin Fielder, and others who participated in or heard the music, but his New York music of 1961 to '64 was probably not heard by many in Chicago. Judging by the recordings, it was in Sun Ra's early 1960s New York music that the similarities to the AACM's music were most profound. An alternative explanation is that Abrams, like Sun Ra, envisioned a new music in a way that was shaped by his experience. For both Abrams and Sun Ra, that experience included large ensemble arranging, in which instrumental color and texture are prime considerations; skill in playing stride, blues, and modern jazz piano -- a broader palette of instrumental techniques and sounds than that of the average jazz musician of the time; an attitude of openness to music of different times and cultures, including contemporary European classical music; and long exposure to Chicago's distinctive style of jazz, with its emphasis on ensemble cooperation and bluesy, song-like melody. The Art Ensemble of Chicago's theatrical presentation resembled Sun Ra's on the surface, but seen in the context of 1960s experimental arts (happenings, jazz and poetry events, and avant-garde theater, for example) and new expressions of respect for African-American culture and history, a variety of possible sources are apparent. These similarities of background go farther to explain the parallels between Sun Ra's and the AACM's music in the 1960s than do assertions that the AACM's music is simply an evolution of Sun Ra's music.

That said, Sun Ra's definable influence on the AACM can be put in better perspective by examining statements on the subject by the musicians involved. In an interview, Sun Ra recounted a 1964 visit from Abrams in New York. Sun Ra suggested that they go to the World's Fair, but (according to Sun Ra) Abrams said he had come to apologize for being one of those ridiculing Sun Ra in Chicago, and that he had come to realize that he had to "follow in my [Sun Ra's] footsteps" and organize something to help musicians, and to rehearse with them every day (Sun Ra interview). If the story is accurate, it implies that the Arkestra provided a model of discipline and dedication for Chicago musicians, although aspects of the philosophy and presentation that helped motivate their dedication had also brought the Arkestra ridicule from some quarters.

Lester Bowie, trumpeter with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, was asked by an interviewer, "Was Sun Ra an influence as far as these aspects of decoration and ways of thinking are concerned?" Bowie's reply suggests that Sun Ra's influence was acknowledged but indirect:

"In a way, but Sun Ra had left before to go to Philadelphia [sic]. He had an influence in the way that a lot of cats knew him. It was through his work that our work came about, because he was a little bit ahead of us. He wasn't there when the AACM was developing. I never knew Sun Ra until years later." (Coppens and Lagerweff 1979:14)

Art Hoyle, who worked with many of the AACM's members over the years, suggested that there was a significant musical influence:

"I think it [Sun Ra's 1950s music] had some influence on their [the AACM's] directions, very definitely. I think it blazed some trails for them . . . . In fact, Muhal has said as much. They were impressed by that, because it was a fresh, new approach. . . . Nobody else sounded like that at that time. It was quite radical." (Hoyle interview)

That Sun Ra provided inspiration for some AACM members later, after their musical style had begun to develop, is without question. AACM saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton acknowledged Sun Ra's vision and commitment:

"I'm interested in looking at the continuity of a person's involvement, and I draw strength from that; from people like Sun Ra . . . because it really is about a life's commitment . . . . Sun Ra is not a joke! People would like to think of him as a joke, but he has understood something, something very serious . . . . Because he has already demonstrated a viewpoint that could take into account the whole planet and the galactic perspective of things. This is a man who understands the world of abstract consciousness and the mystical dynamics of music. . . . Thanks to Sun Ra I would begin to understand different levels of responsibility, and not be afraid to move towards the visionary or to think of Earth culture." (Lock 1988:154)

I tried to interview Muhal Richard Abrams on this subject, but he declined.

Dear Saturnites,

I haven't had a chance to read Vijay Iyer's writing on Sun Ra and the AACM yet, but I thought I would send this excerpt on the subject from my MA thesis on Sun Ra ('92), which has a few relevant quotes from interviews I did. Please pardon the academic dryness. Very few people have read any of this, so I would welcome any discussion (by e-mail or on the Saturn List if appropriate).

Allan Chase

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