AtoZ

More than 50 years since their inception, The Art Ensemble Of Chicago are a jazz institution, still releasing new music and performing across the world. Recorded during a 13-month stay in Paris, their soundtrack for Moshé Mizrahi’s 1971 film Les Stances À Sophie is an essential document of early Art Ensemble, featuring core members Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman (reeds/winds), Malachi Favors (bass), Lester Bowie (trumpet) and Don Moye (drums), along with powerhouse soul vocals from Bowie’s wife, Fontella Bass. “Theme De Yoyo” is the most well-known of these cuts for a reason, Bass’s voice beaming out poetry while the band plays furiously catchy, funk-inflected free jazz. “Theme Amour Universel” and “Theme Libre” are avant-garde delights, the latter fiercely living up to its name. Circling the cacophony while maintaining a sense of propulsive swing, Les Stances À Sophie is danceably adventurous – the life of the free jazz party.

Extras: New notes by music journalist Chris Morris. ANA GAVRILOVSKA

In 1958 – a decade before her landmark album Afro-Harping – the Philadelphia-born jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby made two records with flautist/saxophonist Frank Wess, first Hip Harp and then In A Minor Groove. The two musicians make an intriguing duo, sharing an unusual chemistry and a curious approach to rhythm and melody. Wess’s flute bops hyperactively all over “Taboo”, while Ashby’s harp adds an emphatic sense of mission to opener “Rascality”. Even when she’s not playing lead, she’s still doing interesting things in the background, strumming her harp like a guitar to fill the empty spaces during the bass solo on “Bohemia After Dark”. Part of the fun of this lively album is hearing them find new ways to use their instruments, which benefited