We are delighted to welcome Vincent Davis, Ari Brown, and Ed Wilkerson, free jazz pioneers and all former members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) that flourished in Chicago in the late 1960s.
The Katalyst Conversation began in October 2021 with a series of concerts featuring Vincent Davis and Ari Brown at The Katalyst Coffee Lounge and Music Gallery in Chicago, an extension of Katalyst Entertainment. This independent label has for over 30 years focused on preserving the creative music that stemmed from the AACM tradition of ‘Great Black Music – Ancient to the Future’.
About
Born in Chicago, Vincent Davis is an internationally acclaimed jazz percussionist, composer and teacher. The seed of music was planted in Davis early, growing up in a home filled with the influences of rock, jazz and gospel. In 1979 Davis left Chicago to attend the Milwaukee Conservatory of Music, where his love of jazz and skill at drumming further bloomed and flourished. It was here that Davis met his mentor, Manty Ellis
Ari Brown is a Chicago-based reedman and occasional pianist who plays hard bop and post-bop as convincingly as he plays avant-garde jazz. After growing up on the city’s South Side and graduating from high school in the early ’60s, Brown attended Chicago’s Wilson College, where he met Jack DeJohnette, Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, and others who would later become members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Brown played piano in mostly soul and blues bands until 1965, when he took up the sax and started becoming seriously interested in jazz. In 1971, he joined AACM and made jazz his primary focus.
Ed Wilkerson is one of the great saxophone and clarinet players on the Chicago scene, and well known as a bandleader and composer. He has also been a major presence in Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), teaching composition at the organisation’s music school and serving for a time as AACM president.
Preyas Roy is a vibraphonist and marimba virtuoso. Born in New York, Preyas attended the University of Chicago and has been hosting regular monthly jam sessions at the Katalyst. He first joined Vincent Davis and Ari Brown for ‘The Conversation’ in March 2023.