Art Ensemble of Chicago
September 6 1975
Five Spot
NY, NY
master audience cassette > cdr (recorded and transferred transferred by orchiddoctor)
cdr > eac(secure mode) > peak pro 5.2(adjust volume, trim wave files) > flac(level 6) (tracked/edited by carville, no noise reduction)

total time 87:24

1st set 45:55
1 Toro, Erika

2nd set 41:29
1 "Card Game", Odwalla

Lester Bowie
Malachi Favors Maghostut
Joseph Jarman
Roscoe Mitchell
Famoudou Don Moye

notes from orchiddoctor:
9-6: This was my first show. I'd waited for two years to see them and flew in to New York when I heard they were at the Five spot. I wasn't disappointed. Instead, I was awed, shocked, amused, and enlightened. Set one featured "Toro" which I immediately recognized. There they were: Lester in his lab coat, Roscoe, Joseph, Malachi and Moye painted and garbed. It was almost too much. It ended with a fine rendition of Jarman's "Erika." Just to set the picture for set two: Jarman, Moye, and Bowie came out stage right and sat at a table. Roscoe was on stage left. Malachi was offstage initially. The conversation begins. Buncha jive ass motherfuckers hanging out, playing cards while sco plays. Drunken profanity. Slapstick. They were really playing cards and ordering drinks. It took them around five minutes to deal---cards flew everywhere. Bowie calls for Malachi--a pool player ("there's your cue"). Slow progression away from table to musical sheets ("what kind of cards are these?") to the AEC playing music.Nice long improvisational set, ending with "Dreaming of the Master."

This is the third of thirty seven Art Ensemble shows (generally two sets each), most of which I taped, between 1975 and 1980. I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to have seen them so often and in such intimate spaces. My first show was actually 9/6/75, and it was amazing. Tunes, improvisation, theatrics — everything they were known for in their earlier years. Well worth the three year wait to see them. The Five Spot was a hole in the wall on St. Mark's in Manhattan. It seated around 100 or so people. I also saw Ornette and Don Cherry there—and Braxton. The intimacy was thrilling; we sat perhaps 20 feet from the band. Most of the shows I attended were in lofts, clubs, or smallish halls such as the Public Theater or The Village Gate.

I did a lot of photography of the loft scene and got to know the members of the band at least well enough to exchange pleasantries. I was invited backstage a few times and got to know them as people. Malachi wasn't always silent, Roscoe loved to talk about anything, Moye was always up, Jarman was kind and embracing, and Lester—well, he was Lester: talkative, rambunctious, full of energy and style.

Of the nearly thirty shows that I actually attended, I never saw two that were alike, and I was never, ever disappointed. Never.

The tapes—being 30-35 years old, hold up pretty well over all. I'd rate them in general from B—A- Caveat emptor: a few tapes run out just before the set ends, and you will hear the occasional tape hiss and other anomalies. Thanks goes to Carville for cleaning them up a bit.

notes from carville:
These tapes are overall pretty clean. Some of course are better than others but generally speaking, the smaller the venue the better the tape. This one is a 2nd gen but has almost no hiss.
There are also quite a few Art Ensemble related solo projects that orchiddoctor sent that should be forthcoming as well. Please let the man know how you feel about these tapes and his recollections. When he first told me about them three years ago I said well yeah, right, someday… Lo and behold.
Dig out those old tapes people!