This is a great album by a great group. Here is a brief biography that I found online about the group:
8 Bold Souls's Biography
Perhaps it's because he stayed put in Chicago while so many of his AACM colleagues moved to New York, or maybe because he's a bit younger than his more well-known compatriots, but tenor saxophonist Edward Wilkerson Jr. has never gotten the exposure his talents deserve. In the'80s, when N. Y. C. -based saxophonist and bandleader David Murray was getting raves for his octet work, Wilkerson 's 8 Bold Souls were making music every bit as profound. Indeed, Wilkerson 's outfit outshone Murray 's in many ways -- in terms of compositional rigor and ensemble precision 8 Bold Souls was far superior to Murray 's band -- yet they got none of the critical attention afforded that overly loose unit. The band first came together in January 1985 for a series of Thursday night concerts at the downtown Chicago performance venue Chicago Filmmakers. The concerts themselves were entitled New Music for 8 Bold Souls; the name stuck. Wilkerson 's energetic tenor is the dominant solo voice; as impressive a player as he is, however, 8 Bold Souls is primarily a compositional vehicle (to hear Wilkerson in top improvisational form, hear the three-piece Ethnic Heritage Ensemble ). The band showcases the leader's good-humored, highly ambitious, and multi-faceted writing style. Wilkerson exploits the band's unusual instrumentation, gleaning unusual timbres from a combination that emphasizes the lower end of the tonal spectrum ( Wilkerson uses both double bass and tuba). The band has been intermittently active since their formation. They recorded a pair of albums for the Arabesque label in the early'90s, but their next, ( Last Option ), did not appear until 1999 on the Chicago-based Thrill Jockey label. The group seems to have undergone something of a rebirth at the turn of the millennium; in addition to the new album, in 2001 they performed at Chicago's Symphony Center and several festivals, including one in Lisbon, Portugal.
8 Bold Souls was formed by Edward Wilkerson, Jr. in 1985 for a series of four concerts to perform his new works for octet. The concert series was an overwhelming success, and the musicians were invited to perform together again and again. And so 8 Bold Souls was born.
8 Bold Souls is noted for its unique instrumentation, compositional and instrumental virtuosity, and dynamic group sound. "Evocative textures float elegantly through shifting meters, easily slipping into another funky world" ( Downbeat ). The members of 8 Bold Souls are: Harrison Bankhead (bass), Mwata Bowden (woodwinds), Aaron Dodd (tuba), Robert Griffin (trumpet), Isaiah Jackson (trombone), Naomi Millender (cello), Dushun Mosley (percussion), Edward Wilkerson, Jr. (woodwinds).
Over the past ten years, the musicians have developed a close relationship with each other and bring this intimacy to their playing. They have been featured in music videos, and on CBS Nightwatch. In 1992, 8 Bold Souls performed a live soundtrack to the silent film "Within Our Gates", a landmark film by the seminal African-American filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux. 8 Bold Souls has toured the United States, Japan, Europe, and the Middle East. The octet's recordings include 8 Bold Souls (Sessoms Records), Sideshow (Arabesque Recordings), and AntFarm (Arabesque Recordings).
I will discuss the tracks later.
