January sees the publication of Message to Our Folks a new book on the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the seminal avant garde band spawned by the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in 1966.

Paul Steinbeck, an academic at Washington University in St. Louis, scrutinises their extraordinary musical times in the book. 

Published by the University of Chicago Press, Roscoe Mitchell, a founding member of the Ensemble, comments on the publisher’s website, and above second from the left pictured on the cover: “This book is more than we could have hoped for, telling the complete history of the Art Ensemble of Chicago in careful, engaging detail.”