Biography
Avant-garde jazz enthusiasts during the 1970s embraced this ensemble, attracting listeners formed by Frank Zappa whose interest had sometimes been sparked only briefly by electric violin soloists including Jean-Luc Ponty and Sugarcane Harris. Leroy Jenkins, the Revolutionary Ensemble’s violinist, shared the blues-inflected, swinging approach of those performers yet channeled his often intense improvisations inside a free-jazz power trio free of Zappa’s theatrical charts and rhythm-and-blues repetition. Such an account nevertheless captures only part of the group’s sound, just as the label “violinist” only begins to describe Jenkins, who also composed and performed on assorted “little instruments” whose purpose lay less in technical display than in opening space for whimsical kazoo or harmonica textures. Percussionist Jerome Cooper and bassist Sirone, born Norris Jones, completed the trio and proved equally inclined to construct hushed sonic environments or erupt into heated interplay. Early releases on ESP suffered from inferior pressings that rendered quiet passages remote while the louder, propulsive sections featuring electric violin persuaded nearly every listener.
The ensemble’s major opportunity arrived with a contract from Horizon, A&M Records’ new prestige jazz imprint that packaged its artists with transcriptions and stereo-imaging diagrams. The People’s Republic emerged as a flawed yet remarkable achievement and gave rise to a persistent music-business anecdote. Quincy Jones, dining at Herb Alpert’s home, was shown the label’s latest offerings; upon examining a copy of The People’s Republic he asked, “Want to hear some?” After listening he informed Alpert that the recording was not music, let alone jazz. The episode concluded with the label’s abrupt closure and the departure of its producer, John Snyder.
The Revolutionary Ensemble nevertheless persisted for additional years and further recordings. A single reunion concert occurred at the Nickelsdorf Jazz Festival in Austria in 1990, yet the group’s essential story belongs to the 1970s free-jazz milieu. It coalesced in 1971 after Jenkins relocated from Chicago, where he had participated in the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music and formed one-third of the Creative Construction Company alongside Anthony Braxton and Leo Smith. Arrival in New York resembled an emissary’s task; the city’s jazz environment still revolved around competitive cutting contests while Chicago practice emphasized collective exploration. Unable to integrate into existing bands, Jenkins established his own ensemble to sustain the approach he knew. The resulting music achieved a subtlety rare among 1970s innovators. That refinement arose solely through sustained rehearsal; Jenkins later recalled, “So we got together and practiced every day. In fact, we were rehearsing on 13th Street there every day, five days a week, anywhere from 11 to two o’clock. I mean, we just hung out. We just played and played, and my art of improvisation got tremendously better, and the group got beautifully tight.” The decade’s downtown lofts drew audiences partly because of the artists performing there, and Jenkins functioned as an informal guide leading listeners among lower-Manhattan spaces.
By 1978 the original members pursued separate paths. Jenkins maintained the most visible profile, issuing recordings, leading ensembles, and premiering compositions while retaining the distinctive nuance of his style. Sirone, already sought after before the Revolutionary Ensemble, continued performing with Cecil Taylor and Dewey Redman. Cooper earned acclaim for solo concerts and recordings that examined particular rhythmic, timbral, or instrumental concerns in a manner comparable to Eddie Prévost’s work and Braxton’s compositional models. By the late 1990s Cooper appeared less frequently in New York clubs yet still presented house concerts in the East Village.
The ensemble’s major opportunity arrived with a contract from Horizon, A&M Records’ new prestige jazz imprint that packaged its artists with transcriptions and stereo-imaging diagrams. The People’s Republic emerged as a flawed yet remarkable achievement and gave rise to a persistent music-business anecdote. Quincy Jones, dining at Herb Alpert’s home, was shown the label’s latest offerings; upon examining a copy of The People’s Republic he asked, “Want to hear some?” After listening he informed Alpert that the recording was not music, let alone jazz. The episode concluded with the label’s abrupt closure and the departure of its producer, John Snyder.
The Revolutionary Ensemble nevertheless persisted for additional years and further recordings. A single reunion concert occurred at the Nickelsdorf Jazz Festival in Austria in 1990, yet the group’s essential story belongs to the 1970s free-jazz milieu. It coalesced in 1971 after Jenkins relocated from Chicago, where he had participated in the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music and formed one-third of the Creative Construction Company alongside Anthony Braxton and Leo Smith. Arrival in New York resembled an emissary’s task; the city’s jazz environment still revolved around competitive cutting contests while Chicago practice emphasized collective exploration. Unable to integrate into existing bands, Jenkins established his own ensemble to sustain the approach he knew. The resulting music achieved a subtlety rare among 1970s innovators. That refinement arose solely through sustained rehearsal; Jenkins later recalled, “So we got together and practiced every day. In fact, we were rehearsing on 13th Street there every day, five days a week, anywhere from 11 to two o’clock. I mean, we just hung out. We just played and played, and my art of improvisation got tremendously better, and the group got beautifully tight.” The decade’s downtown lofts drew audiences partly because of the artists performing there, and Jenkins functioned as an informal guide leading listeners among lower-Manhattan spaces.
By 1978 the original members pursued separate paths. Jenkins maintained the most visible profile, issuing recordings, leading ensembles, and premiering compositions while retaining the distinctive nuance of his style. Sirone, already sought after before the Revolutionary Ensemble, continued performing with Cecil Taylor and Dewey Redman. Cooper earned acclaim for solo concerts and recordings that examined particular rhythmic, timbral, or instrumental concerns in a manner comparable to Eddie Prévost’s work and Braxton’s compositional models. By the late 1990s Cooper appeared less frequently in New York clubs yet still presented house concerts in the East Village.
Albums