One of the giants of free jazz, Albert Ayler was also one of the most controversial. His huge tone and wide vibrato were difficult to ignore, and his 1966 group sounded like a runaway New Orleans brass band from 1910.

Unlike John Coltrane or Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler was not a virtuoso who had come up through the bebop ranks. His... [+] Read More

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Genius is a rare commodity in any art form, but at the end of the 20th century it seemed all but non-existent in jazz, a music that had ceased looking ahead and begun swallowing its tail. If it seemed like the music had run out of ideas, it might be because Anthony Braxton covered just about every conceivable area of creativity during the course... [+] Read More

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Archie Shepp has been at various times a feared firebrand and radical, soulful throwback and contemplative veteran. He was viewed in the '60s as perhaps the most articulate and disturbing member of the free generation, a published playwright willing to speak on the record in unsparing, explicit fashion about social injustice and the anger and... [+] Read More

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The critical buzz aroused by David S. Ware's work with Andrew Cyrille and Cecil Taylor in the '70s had, by the late '90s, turned into a consonant roar. New York's collective jazz press -- always on the lookout for the music's next messiah -- crowned Ware the "King of Free Jazz" on the basis of his energetic quartet albums from the mid-'90s.... [+] Read More

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At first glance, Derek Bailey possesses almost none of the qualities one expects from a jazz musician -- his music does not swing in any appreciable way, it lacks a discernible sense of blues feeling -- yet there's a strong connection between his amelodic, arhythmic, atonal, uncategorizable free-improvisatory style, and much free jazz of the... [+] Read More

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Blues-rock/fusion guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly was born on November 23, 1960, in Chicago, IL, to parents who were first-generation Haitians. Early on, Bourelly learned about Yoruba music from his grandmother, sang Rossini at the Lyric Opera House at ten years of age, and took both piano and drum lessons. But by the age of 14, Bourelly had... [+] Read More

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Hemphill was best known for his work with the World Saxophone Quartet -- he was arguably the band's most distinctive writer -- but his work as an improvising saxophonist and composer encompassed a variety of other contexts over the course of his career. Hemphill worked with everything from big bands to duos; he especially excelled at composing... [+] Read More

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Reggie Lucas was a jazz guitarist at one time, but he enjoyed far more popularity and exposure as half of a songwriting and production team. Lucas played with Miles Davis and Norman Connors in the early '70s and met percussionist Mtume while touring with Davis. The two later teamed to write and produce hits for several artists, most prominently... [+] Read More

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Of the electric guitar's few proponents in avant-garde jazz, Sonny Sharrock is easily the most influential; he was one of the earliest guitarists to even attempt free playing, along with Derek Bailey and Sonny Greenwich. Sharrock's visceral aggression and monolithic sheets of noise were influenced by the screaming overtones of saxophonists like... [+] Read More

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Originally comprised of saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman, trumpeter Lester Bowie, bassist Malachi Favors, and later, drummer Famoudou Don Moye, the Art Ensemble of Chicago enjoyed a critical reputation as the finest and most influential avant-garde jazz ensemble of the 1970s and '80s. Whether or not that reputation was wholly... [+] Read More

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