8 Bold Souls

Perhaps it is because he remained devote Chicago while therefore a lot of his AACM colleagues moved to NY, or possibly because he’s a little younger than his even more well-known compatriots, but tenor saxophonist Edward Wilkerson Jr. hasn’t gotten the publicity his skills deserve. Within the ’80s, when N.Con.C.-centered saxophonist and bandleader David Murray was getting raves for his octet work, Wilkerson’s 8 Strong Souls were making music just as profound. Certainly, Wilkerson’s clothing outshone Murray’s in lots of ways — with regards to compositional rigor and ensemble accuracy 8 Daring Souls was much more advanced than Murray’s music group — however they got non-e of the crucial interest afforded that excessively loose device. The band 1st came jointly in January 1985 for some Thursday evening concerts on the downtown Chicago functionality place Chicago Filmmakers. The concerts themselves had been entitled SONGS for 8 Daring Souls; the name trapped. Wilkerson’s lively tenor may be the prominent solo tone of voice; as impressive a new player as he’s, however, 8 Daring Souls is mainly a compositional automobile (to listen to Wilkerson in best improvisational type, hear the three-piece Cultural Heritage Outfit). The music group showcases the leader’s good-humored, extremely ambitious, and multi-faceted composing design. Wilkerson exploits the band’s uncommon instrumentation, gleaning uncommon timbres from a mixture that emphasizes the low end from the tonal range (Wilkerson uses both dual bass and tuba). The music group continues to be intermittently energetic since their development. They recorded a set of albums for the Arabesque label in the first ’90s, but their following, (LATTER), didn’t show up until 1999 in the Chicago-based Thrill Jockey label. The group appears to have undergone something of the rebirth on the convert of the millennium; as well as the brand-new record, in 2001 they performed at Chicago’s Symphony Middle and several celebrations, including one in Lisbon, Portugal.