8 Bold Souls
Among the musicians most often celebrated for the innovations Marsalis disdains are members of the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. In questioning Marsalis recently about his failure to feature more “experimental forms” of jazz, “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross cited Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, all long associated with the AACM. Marsalis responded with the back of his hand: “I don’t feel that most of what they’re playing is jazz, so I don’t feel obligated to present it at Jazz at Lincoln Center.”
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While all the group’s material was written and arranged by saxophonist and clarinetist Wilkerson, 8 Bold Souls doesn’t consist of a leader and sidemen. As its name suggests, it’s an ensemble with eight individual voices. Wilkerson’s playing is displayed no more prominently than anyone else’s. And his compositions and arrangements exploit the other members’ instruments and strengths so consistently that it’s evident he works with these particular musicians in mind. As he put it at the beginning of the concert, “We’ve been together many years now, and we’ve accumulated a lot of love and trust for one another.” Like Joe Mantegna in a David Mamet play, the members of 8 Bold Souls readily inhabit the musical lines Wilkerson’s written for them.
