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Saxophone - United States - Avant-Garde Jazz

Joseph
Jarman

1937 - 2019, United States

Joseph Jarman spent his career proving that a saxophonist could also be a poet, a dancer, a priest, and a provocateur, all in the same set. He helped build the Art Ensemble of Chicago into one of the most theatrical bands in jazz history, then walked away from music almost entirely to run a martial arts dojo and study Buddhism, before quietly coming back to it later in life.

Free JazzAvant-Garde JazzSpiritual Jazz
Joseph Jarman

The Monk Who Played Everything

If you want to understand Jarman, don't start with the chaos — start with the quiet parts. The way he'll drop a flute line into the middle of a wall of noise, or let a single bell ring out before the band comes crashing back in. That's the real signature: a guy who could be as loud as anyone in free jazz, but never forgot the value of a held breath.

Facts
BornSeptember 14, 1937, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
DiedJanuary 9, 2019, Moline, Illinois
InstrumentSaxophones, clarinet, bassoon, flute, percussion, vocals
Active1960s - 2010s
Known forFounding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and a central figure in the AACM
Connections
Roscoe MitchellBandmate and co-founder, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Chicago
→
Lester BowieBandmate, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Chicago
→
Muhal Richard AbramsMentor and AACM founder, Chicago
→
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Discography

15 records
Song For
Song For
1966
As If It Were the Seasons
As If It Were the Seasons
1968
♫
Together Alone
1974
♫
Egwu-Anwu (Sun Song)
1978
♫
Sunbound, Volume One
1978
Black Paladins
Black Paladins
1980
Earth Passage - Density
Earth Passage - Density
1981
Inheritance
Inheritance
1984
♫
Calypso’s Smile
1992
♫
Connecting Spirits
1996
Out of the Mist
Out of the Mist
1997
Pachinko Dream Track 10
Pachinko Dream Track 10
1998
♫
LifeTime Visions (For the Magnificent Human)
2000
Joy of Being
Joy of Being
2001
♫
Poem Song (Joy in the Universe)
2004

Collaborations

Live on Youtube

Explore Further

Selected connections
Collective, United States
Art Ensemble of Chicago
The group Jarman helped define, mixing free improvisation with pan-African theater and ritual.
Explore →
Album, 1969
Message to Our Folks (1969)
An early, essential document of the Ensemble's wide-open, genre-scrambling approach.
Explore →
Reedist, United States
Roscoe Mitchell
Jarman's closest musical partner and fellow architect of the AACM sound.
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