I saw the news that Coca-Cola is discontinuing Odwalla, among other brands.
Did you know that the juice company took its name from the work of the Art Ensemble of Chicago? Odwalla, teacher to “the people of the sun,” is a character in a “myth poem” by Joseph Jarman, recited in the Malachi Favors composition “Illistrum,” on the Art Ensemble album Fanfare for the Warriors (Atlantic, 1973). Wikipedia has the story, with inaccuracies.
More famously, Roscoe Mitchell’s composition “Odwalla” was long the Art Ensemble’s closing theme in performance. Here are four versions, from 1972, 1981, 1991, and 1998. For a good idea of the Art Ensemble in performance, choose 1991. For the best sound, choose the 1998 studio recording (minus Jarman, who had left the group in 1993).
Some AEC posts
The AEC in Boston : The AEC in Cambridge : Joseph Jarman (1937–2019) : Joseph Jarman again : Lester Bowie on Fresh Air
[The Wikipedia inaccuracies have already been pointed out on a Talk page. I have the LP right here as I’m typing, but it hardly qualifies as a Wikipedia source.]
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Bye, Odwalla
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comments: 4
I checked the grocery the other day just to make sure it was really gone.
Originally a Santa Cruz, CA company. I remember when they used to have unpasteurized apple juice like I had as a kid back in the Midwest. Also liked the protein drinks.
I did not know that! Back in '91 the Art Ensemble came to LA for one of the big theatre/dance/music festivals we had back then (Impresario Peter Sellers curated this one). My friends and I got tickets to see them at the Wadsworth Theatre in Westwood, and our seats were not great - at first. By the second tune, olds were leaving in droves (so we knew this was going to be special) and we hopped on down to some empty seats in the front row. To this day probably the most mind-blowing jazz show I've ever seen. A couple years later Lester Bowie came to town with Brass Fantasy, and that was great too. Man, those guys. Wow.
That was fast — I didn’t realize the products would already be off the shelves.
Chas M, hello again. :) You and I are both fortunate to have heard the Art Ensemble. I would love to have heard Brass Fantasy. I did get to hear Bowie with his New York Hot Trumpet Repertory Company — just five trumpets, with Olu Dara, Stanton Davis, Wynton Marsalis (!), and Malachi Thompson. Another wow.
Yea, I think I told you that story back when Joseph Jarman passed. Ornette and Don Cherry also did a show that summer. Perter Sellers really brought an amazing international roster to this city in the 88/91 festivals. And with Reza Abdoh doing his thing downtown at LATC, LA was really having a theatre golden-era that I think few recognize. Sigh.
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