Bass on Top a column by Malachi Favors away from the Art Ensemble of Chicago While the Art Ensemble of Chicago (AEC) was one of the most enduring, beloved and critically acclaimed* of avant garde ensembles, the outside fame of its “frontline” of reed and windplayers Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman and trumpeter Lester Bowie was not equally shared by its linchpin, bassist Malachi Favors Maghostut (maybe the same can be said for later drummer Famoudou Don Moye but that is another column for another writer). Part of that, of course, has to do with his instrument but more so prevalence of the group’s recordings in his discography, akin to a Pat Patrick with the Sun Ra Arkestra (more on Patrick a little later). [*unless your name was Whitney Balliett, who famously trashed their New York debut in 1973, saying, among other things, “Its only number, which was entertaining for a third of the forty-five minutes it lasted ... had a hocus pocus majesty” and “It took twenty minutes to clear the stage after the Art Ensemble had finished, and the steady shuffling, scraping, clicking, and bonging were, to all intents and purposes, the group’s second number.” And while saxophonist Lew Tabackin had little positive to say about the horns of the AEC during a 1980 DownBeat Magazine Blindfold Test of their Nice Guys ECM album, he praised Favors specifically for his “nice, woody sound”.] This column will try to change that perspective by focusing entirely on albums where Favors is not playing with AEC. It is a surprisingly healthy and diverse list, covering the entirety of his performing career. It will include neither instances where he is performing under one of his AEC bandmates nor sessions where he was heard only on percussion or within a massive ensemble and thus not easily perceptible for his contributions. This is not to say that Favors was completely unrecognized as a bassist unto himself. He regularly placed in DownBeat Magazine Critics Polls, mostly in the ‘70s, both as “Established” and “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition,” with John Litweiler a particular champion. Also, showing how weird these polls could be, he placed a few times for “Miscellaneous Instruments.” A bit of background to start. Favors was the oldest of the AEC members by at least a decade; his birth year was often erroneously given as 1937 and birthplace Chicago. His 2004 obituary, however, gives 1927 and Mississippi, his pastor father moving the family up north when Favors was a child. Various interviews credit his interest in the bass to seeing Oscar Pettiford with Duke Ellington (according to ellingtonia.com, this would have to have been 1946). His first musical endeavor though was as part of one of the vocal quartets popular at the time. While he had no formal bass lessons, he credited mentorship from the older Wilbur Ware and younger Paul Chambers. He spent time in the army in the mid ‘50s, met pianist Muhal Richard Abrams in the beginning of the ‘60s (later becoming a founding member of his Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), then the future members of AEC, which began as a trio of Favors, Mitchell, and Bowie before having foundational albums under Mitchell and Bowie, adding Jarman and officially becoming Art Ensemble of Chicago upon a move to Europe, where they would add Moye to form its classic lineup. While it is hard to confirm the information, it seems that Favors’ first credit came with saxophonist Paul Bascomb in October 1953: the tune “Jan” for a Parrot Records shellac, where he plays a simple line but already possessed of a nice tone. His next records came three years later in October 1956, presumably after he returned to Chicago from his military service. Appropriately, he was backing up a vocal quartet, the De’Bonairs, part of a band that also had future legends in pianist Andrew Hill (a high school friend of Favors), saxophonists Von Freeman and Pat Patrick – their only known work together – and drummer Wilbur Campbell. Given the context, Favors is hardly audible on the four tunes on two singles, felt rather than heard. But the session (released on Ping) yielded something far more valuable, just the backing band on two more singles, four tunes credited to Hill, Freeman or Patrick, with Favors effective on the basic forms and Hill also playing organ. According to a Freeman interview from the November 1976 issue of DownBeat, this period found him leading gigs at the Pershing Hotel with Favors in his groups. In July 1958, Hill and Favors would also be heard together for four songs by tenor saxophonist Clifford Scott put out by King but their most important work came the year later, with Favors on Hill’s leader debut So In Love (Warwick), a trio date completed by drummer James Slaughter. Favors sounds far more developed, unsurprisingly, and the material, standards and Hill originals, is more of a challenge than the earlier generic blues. A sidenote is the inclusion of a freeform piece credited to Hill called “Chiconga,” which may actually be an early flowering of Favors’ piece “Chi-Congo,” first heard on the AEC album of the same name from 1970. This early era of Favors closes out with a document from the group Favors joined after Hill left Chicago for New York: Stand By (Argo) from pianist King Fleming’s trio with drummer Royce Rowan and, on two tracks, vibraphonist Charles Stepney. A news item from the time in HiFi/Stereoreview spoke of Fleming’s band with “a very good bassist named Malachi Favors.” The mix of originals and standards on the album is solid if not distinctive, likely affected by Favors working with a much less interesting pianist than Hill was even early on. Fun, if unconfirmed, fact: both the Hill and Fleming albums’ liner notes indicate that Favors worked with Art Blakey. This would lead into the time when Favors met his future AACM collaborators, during which time they were shedding the concepts they would introduce on the aforementioned Mitchell and Bowie albums, with notices also having Favors playing with Muhal Richard Abrams’ Big Band at the Hyde Park Art Center in August 1968. The mid ‘60s also had Favors working locally around Chicago, trying to support his family, with at least one gig with Virgil Pumphrey advertised from 1966 (the saxophonist also an early member of the AACM and later joining Sun Ra, by which time he had changed his name to Abshalom Ben Shlomo) and a stand with Eddie Harris in 1967. The decade closed out with two more recordings, which, while impossible to be more different, foreground two key sides to Favors’ artistry. Either late in 1968 or early in 1969, Favors took part in a live service at the New Morgan Park Church with its Inspirational Young Adult Choir, written for and led by Jolene Gordon, daughter of the pastor, self-released by the church as Sing Unto The Lord A New Song. Favors is thick and gooey, forward in the recording and anchoring proceedings, which range from slow to fast gospelizing, even getting a mini-feature on “Let The Redeemed Say So.” Then in February 1969, Favors was one of two bassists – the other Mchaka Uba – for the leader debut of saxophonist Maurice McIntyre: Humility In The Light Of Creator (Delmark). McIntyre had worked with Favors previously on Roscoe Mitchell’s Sound in 1966. He, the bassists and paired drummers Thurman Barker and Ajaramu (né Joe Shelton) make a strong band for a session of pulsey, atmospheric music, reaching a wondrous climax on the LP’s second side, “Ensemble Fate,” adding trumpeter Leo Smith, saxophonist John Stubblefield and pianist Amina Claudine Myers. That summer – after the Jazz Institute of Chicago had presented younger players like Favors, Abrams, McIntyre, and Barker with older visiting luminaries Roy Eldridge, Coleman Hawkins, and Barry Harris in April – the not-yet-named AEC transplanted to Europe at the invitation of drummer Claude Delcloo. The time they spent there, numerous albums and concerts before returning in 1971, solidified the group as a force helping establish Chicago as an epicenter of creative music and raising the hackles of the Balliets of the critical world. Alongside his work with AEC, Favors had one of his busiest periods as a sideman alongside numerous other expatriates on releases for BYG-Actuel. Some of these would include fellow AECers while others had him alongside new partners. Across 11 days in August 1969, Favors was on dates by saxophonist Archie Shepp (three) and one each from drummer Sunny Murray and bassist Alan Silva. Two more albums, another Murray and one from saxophonist Dewey Redman, came later. [note: Favors would be on other BYG-Actuel dates during the year but only on percussion] These are of varying quality. Murray’s Sunshine is Favors heard from the first time with a real free drummer and he becomes more of a texture than a timekeeper on two pieces with lots of horns and/or a pianist or second bassist but acquits himself best on the trio track “Real” with just Murray and saxophonist Kenneth Terroade. The other Murray album, An Even Break (Never Give A Sucker), is stronger and better recorded on music ranging from impressionistic to fanfare with Terroade and second saxophonist Byard Lancaster. The Silva date, Luna Surface, the leader on violin, is a large ensemble conflagration with Favors alongside French bassist Beb Guérin and would have been better if instrumental separation had been emphasized. Favors is in a trio setting on Redman’s Tarik with drummer Ed Blackwell, with whom he has a nifty hookup, and also plays lots of arco, with the quietest track “Related And Unrelated Vibrations” the highlight. But it is the three Shepp dates, all pairing Favors intriguingly with drummer Philly Joe Jones, that stand out: Yasmina, A Black Woman almost brings him back to his roots supporting one or two saxophones (the other Arthur Jones), particularly just Shepp on “Body and Soul”; Poem For Malcolm a larger ensemble, Favors only on Side Two but grounding Shepp on the beginning of “Rain Forest”; and Blasé being the finest of the three and some of both Shepp and Favors’ best work, free gospel with two harmonicas and the stirring vocals of Jeanne Lee, breadth demonstrated by the title track and closing “Touareg.” AEC was busy upon its return so the next time we hear Favors away from it only comes in 1975 but it is a true homecoming. Sightsong (Black Saint) is the luminous pairing of old friends, Favors and Muhal Richard Abrams. Adjectives like pithy, lovely, and buoyant apply, the dialogue feeling at times like a church service. The pieces are by Abrams (one dedicated to Favors mentor Wilbur Ware) apart from Favors’ “Way Way Way Down Yonder,” which is a solo foray opening with him as percussionist. The closing “Unity” is a delicious blowout. That solo piece foreshadowed Favors’ first major statement, Natural & Spiritual, made two years later and the third release on the AEC personal label. It documents a performance at the University of Chicago, Favors alone, moving among percussion instruments before switching to bass after nearly 10 minutes in what is less a concert than a ritual, AEC distilled without horns or drums, revelatory for how much Favors meant to the group. Favors’ next recordings came in a quick flurry in June 1979. He reconnected with Sunny Murray for a performance at Germany’s Moers Festival, in a trio with reed player David Murray, adding Senegalese percussionist Cheikh Tidiane Fall for part of the set. The music, released by the festival’s in-house label, has lots of chances to hear Favors’ deep expositions within various temperatures of fire music. Two days later, a very different session, African Magic (Circle) took place in nearby Cologne at the office of Circle Records: Favors, Murray, and Fall in a rhythm exploration that has bass necessarily out front in what becomes almost a trance-like excursion yet highly focused and made extra special when Favors switches to arco. Then, at the end of the month across the Atlantic in a New York studio, Favors and AEC bandmates Joseph Jarman and Don Moye took part in a session, First Time (Frasco), under the leadership of Japanese pianist Yosuke Yamashita. Favors sounds the most comfortable on this set of Yamashita compositions, the almost straight-ahead aesthetic an unusual context for the sidemen. This chapter of Favors’ discography closed in January 1980 with a session that makes sense on paper and becomes surprisingly convincing on vinyl. He, Amina Claudine Myers (piano, organ, vocals), and drummer Phillip Wilson (an early transient member of AEC and tragically murdered in 1992) support a vocal trio of Fontella Bass (Lester Bowie’s wife, who had collaborated with the AEC in Europe), her noted gospel singer mother Martha Bass, and brother David Peaston for the aptly titled From The Root To The Source (Soul Note). The program of mostly spirituals is uplifting, the instrumentalists channeling their own church backgrounds effectively, Favors transported back to that New Morgan Park Church service from over a decade earlier. In 1985 Favors was conscripted by producer Bill Laswell, alongside other jazz players and assorted rockers, for the seventh release by John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd., simply titled Album (Elektra). Favors is heard alongside Ginger Baker, Steve Vai, Bernie Worrell, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Steve Turre, and others on three tracks of acerbic post-punk. Well, “heard” is generous, as apart for quieter parts of “Bags,” he is indiscernible among the many layers. Still, he definitely got paid more for the one session than the entirety of his BYG-Actuel output. Favors’ longest association outside of AEC came as part of fellow Chicagoan drummer Kahil El’Zabar’s Ritual Trio, a band exemplifying its moniker fully via the sensitive communication between the leader and Favors, the only other fixed member. The group made nine albums between 1985 and 2000 for Sound Aspects, Delmark, and CIMP, plus two posthumous sessions released by Katalyst Entertainment. Initially it was either Lester Bowie or violinist Billy Bang as the third component, then saxophonist Ari Brown becoming the longest serving member and Pharoah Sanders guesting a few times, Archie Shepp once. Mostly the music was by El’Zabar, with Brown also contributing material and the occasional inclusion of works from the jazz, Great American, or traditional songbooks. The one deviation was the first release, a November 3rd, 1985 concert released in two volumes (the second of which added Donald Rafael Garrett on clarinet and percussion) as The Ritual and Sacred Love, respectively, the former all Favors compositions dedicated to the late AACM trumpeter/business manager John Shenoy Jackson. El’Zabar’s various percussion instruments and vocalizing are a tasty textural mix with that woody bass of Favors that Lew Tabackin liked so much, no matter who the other players may be, leading to a very consistent discography. The 1999 meeting with Shepp is especially successful given how well matched he and Favors had been 30 years prior. In the early part of that group’s existence, Favors had another BYG-Actuel-esque flurry of recordings in February 1987. While in Dallas, TX, he took part in sessions organized by local trumpeter Dennis González yielding albums by himself (Namesake), saxophonist Charles Brackeen (Bannar) and trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah (Liquid Magic), all released on Silkheart and including Brackeen and drummer Alvin Fielder, the González set also adding reed/wind player Douglas Ewart. Though necessarily all of a piece given the timeline and shared personnel, if funds are tight go with the Brackeen for its superior compositions. But no matter which one, Favors is the sticky resin holding them all together, beautifully recorded by Paul Christensen of Omega Audio. González would reconvene with Favors and Fielder, plus saxophonists Andrew Lamb and Tim Green, for the 2002 Entropy Stereo Recordings release Old Time Revival. The ‘90s saw Favors, now a respected elder, popping occasionally in various scenarios: nestled among yet mooring a panoply of horns on both bass and thunder sheet for Douglas Ewart’s Angles Of Entrance (Aarawak, 1990 and 1997); Windy City stalwart saxophonist Fred Anderson’s Black Horn Long Gone (Southport, 1993, only released in 2009), a trio date reuniting Favors with Ajaramu from the McIntyre album; a fascinating world music project led by German oud/guitar player Roman Bunka (of Embryo fame), Color Me Cairo (Enja, 1994) where Favors is alongside a group of Egyptian percussionists live at the Berlin Jazzfest; one track in collaboration with DJ Big Rub on Katalyst Live Sessions 97; membership in the AACM supergroup Bright Moments with Maurice McIntyre, Joseph Jarman, Kahil El’Zabar, and pianist Steve Colson for Return Of The Lost Tribe (Delmark Records, 1997), a collection of tunes by all participants apart from Favors; and, of special relevance for this column, a meeting with Japan-born Chicago mainstay and solo bass improviser Tatsu Aoki, 2 X 4 (Southport, 1999), the inclusion of percussion and wind instruments and a ceremony-like arc across the nine pieces transplanting the music from an urban studio to a forest jinja. For those that collect multi-bass recordings – and that can be assumed by readership of this column – this last one is a compelling must-have for its restraint and shared introspection. Four years before his passing, Favors was tapped by an old friend, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, for a new project. It would be the first time the two recorded together since Smith guested with AEC in 1969 and only the second after their first meeting under McIntyre. The multi-generational group had two dates for Tzadik in quick succession: Reflectativity with pianist Anthony Davis (who was on Smith’s self-released album of the same name with bassist Wes Brown back in 1974), adding another Chicago legend in drummer Jack DeJohnette for Golden Quartet, making a final date, The Year Of The Elephant, for Pi in 2002 as a foursome. Smith wrote all the compositions and the gravitas of his vision, one of the most measured and deliberate of new millennium jazz, required a player like Favors who, across his career, manifested a refreshing understanding of just what a particular piece of music needed while others focused on what they wanted it to have. Favors is positively Ent-like in his decision-making and his intuitive connection to DeJohnette makes one wish they had more time to work together. Smith would name the opening piece of Celestial Weather, his 2012 duet with bassist John Lindberg, “Malachi Favors Maghostut - A Monarch Of Creative Music,” which says more in eight words than this article does in over 3,000. The epilogue to Favors on record came about three months before his passing, released two years after as Live At Last (Rogueart, its fifth release of now well over 100), becoming only his second true leader date after Natural & Spiritual. It comprises five pieces recorded live on October 10th 2003 at the Union Terrace of the University of Wisconsin, plus a bonus track from Chicago’s Velvet Lounge recorded six days later. With him are two younger players, Wisconsinian saxophonist/flutist Hanah Jon Taylor (also keyboards) and Chicagoan drummer Vincent Davis. The set is eclectic: two improvisations, a piece by Taylor, Charlie Parker’s “Au Privave,” and traditional work “My Babe,” with the Parker tune a frothy workout, and 12+-minute improv “Maghstut” an AEC satellite in its textural emphasis. That the last song we would hear from Favors would be a reworking of an early 20th Century gospel piece, replete with loamy arco, brings his career full circle, embodying the AEC motto of “Ancient to the Future.”
© 2025 Andrey Henkin
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