Lester Bowie Tribute Concert

Lester Bowie (1941–1999) was best known as co-founder and leader of the Art Ensemble of Chicago from 1968 until his passing in 1999. Bowie’s work in that group, and in other projects including his brass nonet titled Brass Fantasy and the New Directions Quartet led by Jack DeJohnette, became highly influential for its reinvention of the trumpet as a vehicle for humor, virtuosity, and lyricism. His showmanship and sense of adventure were evidenced in the diversity of resume, which included membership in the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), arrangements of pop tunes by Puccini, Cole Porter and the Spice Girls, and recording the theme song for The Cosby Show. The Village Voice referred to him in his obituary as “the wiliest jazz provocateur of his generation.”