NOW, A JAZZ MOMENT...

MUSIC:

One For The Whistler
CD: Blu Blu Blu
1991 Black Saint

IN 1965, NEA JAZZ MASTER MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS CO-FOUNDED AN ORGANIZATION IN CHICAGO CALLED THE ASSOSICATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF CREATIVE MUSICIANS ? OR AACM.

Muhal Richard Abrams: These were all musicians on the south side. Black musicians. We'd invite em in to let em talk and see who among them was open to the idea of having an organization that just dealt with original music ? no standards ? just original music. And developing a business sense of the music world to take control of our destinies as musicians.

THE AACM (WHICH, INCIDENTALLY, IS STILL GOING STRONG) PROVIDED AN OUTLET FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE OF ORIGINAL NEW MUSIC.

One day a contingent, I would say, of international representatives -- I guess musicologists and people like that -- they were touring Chicago. They expressed a desire to hear the AACM. So the guy brought em over to this daycare center where we were performing. And the guy from Germany, after we performed, he asked me, would I be interested in coming to the Berlin Jazz Festival. I said, sure. I didn't really believe him, I just said sure. So he took my information. And, lo and behold, not too much later I was contacted to really come to Germany with the Sextet.

MUSIC: up and fades

THIS JAZZ MOMENT WITH PIANIST AND COMPOSER MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS WAS CREATED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.