Nice Guys (album)

Nice Guys is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, recorded in May 1978 and released on ECM the following year—their debut for the label. The quintet features trumpeter Lester Bowie, saxophinists Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell and rhythm section Malachi Favors Maghostut and Famoudou Don Moye.^[1][2][3][4]

Nice Guys
Studio album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago
Released	1979
Recorded	May 1978
Studio	Tonstudio Bauer Ludwigsburg, West Germany
Genre	Jazz
Length	44:35
Label	ECM 1126
Producer	Manfred Eicher
Art Ensemble of Chicago chronology
Kabalaba (1974) Nice Guys (1979) Live in Berlin (1978)

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[6]
Pitchfork	9.5/10[7]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[8]

The AllMusic review by Al Campbell noted that "Nice Guys was the first Art Ensemble of Chicago album released after a five-year recording hiatus and the group's first for the ECM label. During those five years, the Art Ensemble toured Europe and continued to expand its compositional, improvisational, and theatrical jazz fundamentals, captured abundantly on Nice Guys... the album reveals how the AEC managed to turn individual compositions into a fully realized, surprisingly accessible, avant-garde group collective."^[5]

DownBeat critic Art Lange writes that Nice Guys, while not the Art Ensemble's best album, "is possibly their most representative, a variegated showcase illustrating much of what they do best."^[9]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 3 stars out of 4, stating that "much of the music seems almost formulaic, the improvisation limited".^[6]

Track listing

1. "Ja" (Lester Bowie) – 8:43
2. "Nice Guys" (Roscoe Mitchell) – 1:45
3. "Folkus" (Don Moye) – 11:03
4. "597–59" (Joseph Jarman) – 6:46
5. "CYP" (Mitchell) – 4:53
6. "Dreaming of the Master" (Jarman) – 11:40

Personnel

Art Ensemble of Chicago

• Lester Bowie – trumpet, celeste, bass drum
• Joseph Jarman – saxophones, clarinets, percussion, vocal
• Roscoe Mitchell – saxophones, clarinets, flute, percussion
• Malachi Favors Maghostut – bass, percussion, melodica
• Famoudou Don Moye – drums, percussion, vocal

References

1. Art Ensemble of Chicago discography accessed 22, July, 2009
2. Jazzlists: Art Ensemble Of Chicago discography, accessed November 26, 2017
3. ECM Records Catalog: 1100 series, accessed November 26, 2017
4. ECM Records Catalogue, accessed November 26, 2017
5. Campbell, A. AllMusic Review accessed July 27, 2011.
6. Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.). London: Penguin. pp. 54. ISBN 978-0-141-02327-4.
7. Shteamer, Hank (August 11, 2024). "Art Ensemble of Chicago: Nice Guys Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
8. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. United States: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 14. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
9. Lange, Art (1994), Wynn, Ron (ed.), All Music Guide to Jazz, San Francisco: Miller Freeman, p. 48, ISBN 0-87930-308-5