Nice Guys (album)

Nice Guys is a 1979 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, their first to appear on the ECM label.[1][2][3][4]

For the 2005 film of the same name, see Nice Guys

Nice Guys
Studio album by Art Ensemble of Chicago
Released	January 1, 1979
Recorded	May 1978
Studio	Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, West Germany
Genre	Jazz
Length	44:35
Label	ECM ECM 1126
Producer	Manfred Eicher
Art Ensemble of Chicago chronology
Kabalaba (1974) Nice Guys (1979) Live in Berlin (1978)

Reception

The Allmusic review by Al Campbell awarded the album 4½ stars noting 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] Down Beat 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."[6]The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 3 stars out of 4 stating "'much of the music seems almost formulaic, the improvisation limited".[7]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[5]
Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.)	[7]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[8]

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

• Lester Bowie: trumpet, celeste, bass drum
• Malachi Favors Maghostut: bass, percussion instruments, melodica
• Joseph Jarman: saxophones, clarinets, percussion instruments, vocal
• Roscoe Mitchell: saxophones, clarinets, flute, percussion instruments
• 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. Lange, Art (1994), Wynn, Ron (ed.), All Music Guide to Jazz, San Francisco: Miller Freeman, p. 48, ISBN 0-87930-308-5
7. 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.
8. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 14. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.