ACF | connect presents AACM at 55: the Great Black Music Ensemble in Concert

The American Composers Forum (ACF) is proud to announce the culminating event of its two-year partnership with the Chicago-based, internationally-renowned Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and its Great Black Music Ensemble: a concert celebrating the 55th anniversary of AACM, taking place at AACM’s long-time partner, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts.

This is the first time AACM has collaborated with another organization to commission artists; the partnership also supported a long period of creative and relationship development among the artists. The Honorable Elizabeth A. Baker, Adegoke Steve Colson and Rudresh Mahanthappa were selected from over 100 submissions by AACM to collaborate with the Great Black Music Ensemble over the past two years, culminating in three new works to be presented in this captivating performance. The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker, a highly sought after new renaissance artist, was recently awarded a 2021-2022 Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellowship. Colson is a Grammy-nominated pianist and composer who has performed internationally as a leader of jazz ensembles ranging from trios to orchestras. Mahanthappa, a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, is currently the Anthony H. P. Lee ’79 Director of Jazz at Princeton University, and named alto saxophonist of the year multiple times by Downbeat Magazine and the Jazz Journalists Association.

The Great Black Music Ensemble features some of Chicago’s most visionary artists of improvisation and creative music. An ensemble ranging in size from three to 30 musicians, the Ensemble carries on the legacy of Chicago’s South Side creative music by expressing the excitement of new sounds and rhythms while invigorating the traditions of Great Black Music.

American Composers Forum’s ACF | connect program is made possible with the outstanding generosity of the following individuals: Jane Anfinson, Thomas Arneson, Suzanne Asher, Carol Barnett, Pearl and Bob Bergad, Margee and Will Bracken, Karen Brooks, Richard Cisek and Kay Fredericks, Dee Ann and Kent Crossley, Julia W. Dayton, C. Lee Essrig, Rosemary & David Good Family Foundation, Katherine Goodale, Jeff and Hyun Mee Graves, Mike and Kay McCarthy, Carol Heen, Steve Heitzeg and Gwen Pappas, Kathleen Henschel and John Dewes, Linda and Jack Hoeschler, Leaetta Hough and Bob Muschewske, Sam Hsu and Sally Cheng, Hella Mears Hueg Estate Gift, Thelma Hunter Estate Gift, John and Ruth Huss, George Frederick Jewett Foundation East, Art and Martha Kaemmer, Jon Lewis and Lisa Merklin, Greg McNeely, Alfred and Ann Moore, Louis and Gloria Nuechterlein, John Nuechterlein and Dan Monson, John and Debbie Orenstein, I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation in memory of Thelma Hunter, David and Judy Ranheim, Denice Rippentrop, Vanessa Rose, Bill and Susan Sands, Gale Sharpe, Doug and Kathy Skor, Dan and Ellie Thomas, Stephen and Jayne Usery, Kathleen van Bergen, Janika Vandervelde, Jim Wafler, and Margaret and Angus Wurtele.