SINCE the demise of trumpeter Lester Bowie, not only has The Art Ensemble of Chicago not been the same, the furtherance of jazz as great black music has also diminished. In the last 20 years, Bowie was the pivot and inspirer of the new black music, having realised a revolutionary dream he began four decades ago. Bowie was the greatest new trumpeter since Miles Davis!
My first impression of Bowie was formed in 1977 when I met him at Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s residence in Lagos. Then, the Afro beat icon’s house had just been burnt down and was temporarily occupying a spacious suit at Cross Road hotels, Jibowu, Yaba where he had relocated. Bowie had come all the way from America without adequate preparation and financial support for the journey. By the time he came to Fela’s house, he had no money. He had no luggage. And I am sure he had no plans as to how to survive. But he was very optimistic. He had artistic brilliance written all over him. From his demeanor and the ideas he generated from conversation as he held tenaciously to his trumpet case, I had no doubt in my mind that he was a musician’s musician.
This assessment of Bowie was confirmed when he stayed with Fela for three months, recording three albums with the Afro beat legend on some of those controversial albums on Aphrodisiac label of the Decca group. Prominent among them is Dog eat dog, a free flowing rhythm over which horns make statements in the form of riffs. Essentially an instrumental, Bowie found it a favourite because it provided enough room for gimmicks that called for mutes. He demonstrated his remarkable bag of trumpet and flugel horn tricks which included half valve effects, bent notes and a wide vibrato punctuating one of the most humorous, yet striking solo styles among modern horn players. The unusual progression of the song together with its Afro feeling lent themselves to ample improvisation from a jazz man who was now at the peak of his career. Tenor saxophone player, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, trumpeter Tunde Williams and Bowie himself shared solo concessions and, apart from helping to lift the quality of the music in solo context, his presence inspired Fela and Tunde who had never had it so good solo-wise — from the spirit feel that was generated.
APPARENTLY the most outstanding crusader of the ‘great black music,’ Bowie was the President of an ideological group called, The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). He believed that jazz is great Black Music just as gospel and Afro beat which he greatly admired saying, “What we are trying to do today by the term, Great Black Music is to put emphasis on the quality of the music that black people have created in this world. I mean this music is so great that each one of its sub divisions has influenced the whole world… rock ‘n roll, blues, jazz, gospel, each one is a division of this music but actually all coming from the same thing.” Explaining the essence of jazz in this whole experiment, he further said, “The thing about jazz is that it fuses all these different elements together. Jazz is becoming the first world music. It is the contemporary music of this planet at this time. Therefore, it is very important for our people to know that out of everything happening to us on the planet, we have still maintained the pinnacle of culture.”
Bowie had strong views about African music, especially in terms of the way it is laced with the totality of African culture. And the Great Black Music which he preached and propagated was out to reveal the power of this cultural affinity.
As a matter of fact, Bowie’s attitude to jazz stems from the relevance of African culture and condemns the perception of the Western world that sees culture from the ephemeral perspective, as an element of decoration. His words: “The western world says that art is something that you put on the wall… art for art’s sake! Art has got to have meaning, there must be a connection, it has to be part of our everyday lives.”
Bowie became the President of Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM) in 1968. Their music had African heritage as focus, playing concerts every night and rehearsing all day with all kinds of different groups and combinations. The music was popular in Chicago, from where it was taken to Europe in 1969. Based in Paris, Bowie’s Art Ensemble of Chicago played at the theatre six nights a week. Before his exit, Bowie’s great black music had received wide acceptance on the jazz scene. And like a teacher and crusader of a new revolution, he was always critical of repertoires and exponents of what he referred to as establishment music.
His eclecticism led him to issue harsh denunciations of contemporary artists he felt revered only the bebop and hard bop jazz tradition. He never had kind words for the likes of Wynton Marsalis, a highly acclaimed jazz musician who was the Director of Lincoln’s Jazz Centre. “Wynton is the key,” he lashed out.”He is the one they use to stop the music. He has helped to destroy the music. Now what’s happening is that all his younger contemporaries are not making money or making a living or being accepted throughout the world because they are not doing anything. The only one making money is Wynton.”
The truth of the matter is that the philosophy of Bowie’s Great Black Music gave every musician the opportunity to create and develop along their individual lines rather than playing repertoires and standards by acknowledged American composers. This situation is bound to inhibit talent, originality and creativity!
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