‘Creative and Professional Success for Independent Artists/Musicians – Part One: What Defines Success?

The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) was founded in May 1965 in Chicago, Illinois, by pianist and composer Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Kelan Phil Cohran. In August 1965, it was chartered by the State of Illinois as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. The AACM has been established for more than 50 years as a collective formed to meet the emerging needs of dynamic and visionary artists, to expose and showcase their original compositions, and to create an outlet for the development and performance of their music. Internationally renowned for its unparalleled contributions to modern music, the AACM has been a leader in the cultural community in the United States and internationally.

The nine purposes of the AACM, as outlined in its charter and printed in brochures and publications produced by the organization are:

• To cultivate young musicians and to create music of a high artistic level for the general public through the presentation of programs designed to magnify the importance of creative music.
• To create an atmosphere conducive to artistic endeavors for the artistically inclined by maintaining a workshop for the express purpose of bringing talented musicians together.
• To conduct a free training program for young aspirant musicians.
• To contribute financially to the programs of the Abraham Lincoln Center, 700 E. Oakwood Blvd., Chicago, Ill., and other charitable organizations.
• To provide a source of employment to worthy creative musicians.
• To set an example of high moral standards for musicians and to uplift the public image of creative musicians.
• To increase mutual respect between creative artists and musical tradesmen (booking agents, managers, promoters, and instrument manufacturers, etc.)
• To uphold the tradition of cultured musicians handed down from the past.
• To stimulate spiritual growth in creative artists through recitals, concerts, etc., through participation in programs.

According the organization’s website, “Since its inception, one mission has been to provide an atmosphere conducive to the development of its member artists and to continue the AACM legacy of providing leadership and vision for the development of creative music. The organization takes particular pride in developing new generations of talent through the free music training program conducted by members for city youth, the AACM School of Music. Another equally important aspect of AACM’s mission is the high moral standard members seek to provide in their capacities as performers, artists, teachers, and role models.”

Reeds player and multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell has dedicated his life to creative music as a performer and educator. “I studied music in high school. I studied the clarinet in Milwaukee and then we came back to Chicago and I continued to study at Inglewood High School,” he said in a 2004 interview. “I also studied when I was in the Army with the first clarinetist of the Heidelberg Symphony. I would say I started to develop some musician chops when I was in the Army because there you were functioning 24 hours-a-day as a professional musician.”

Since the early 1960’s, Mitchell’s innovation as an improviser, composer, bandleader and solo performer has placed him at the forefront of modern music. He is a founding member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the Creative Arts Collective of East Lansing, Michigan, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. “‘The Art Ensemble’ became ‘The Art Ensemble of Chicago’ when we went to France. Like ‘The Art Ensemble’ and other small groups like Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Wadada Leo Smith, Muhal Richard Abrams, all of these groups are outgrowths from the larger organization which was the AACM – the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. This is an organization that came together because musicians wanted to have more control over their destinies, and they wanted to sponsor each other in concerts of their own creative music. When we went to Europe, we became ‘The Art Ensemble of Chicago.’ We decided on that name because it kind of let people know where we were from.”

“’69 is, I think, when we went to Europe,” Mitchell continued. “We got ourselves established there and we ended up doing a tour of France, all on Maison de la Courtiers, while we were there. We did concerts in Denmark, in Sweden. We’d be in Chicago for a while but before we went to Europe we had been out on the West Coast a couple of times, and we had just exhausted our places to go in the States. We had been to Canada, and so on. We figured it would take about 20 years to get known because you didn’t have the Internet like you do now. So, for us it was the next kind of logical step.”

Although Mitchell has received numerous grants from such institutions as the National Endowment for the Arts, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Institut de Recherche at Coordination Acoustique Musique in Paris, France, his focus has never strayed from his continuous artistic growth. “Our goal has always been just to study music. I’m a very strong believer to be really a good improviser you have to understand how composition works also. So, you have to be able to write, you have to be able to play, you have to be able to improvise as a soloist, you have to be able to improvise in a larger ensemble, and so on and so forth like that.”

Mitchell is the recipient of many high profile honors and awards including the Outstanding Service to Jazz Education Award from the National Association of Jazz Educators, the Certificate of Appreciation from the St. Louis Public Schools Role Model Experiences Program, the Certificate of Appreciation for the Art Ensemble of Chicago from the Smithsonian Institution, the Jazz Masters Award from Arts Midwest, the International Jazz Critics Poll, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) Image Award. He has conducted numerous workshops in the United States and Europe and has held artist-in-resident positions throughout the world. He has taught at the Creative Music Studio, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians’ School of Music, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Illinois, the California Institute of the Arts, and Mills College in Oakland, California, where he has held the Darius Milhaud Chair of Composition since 2007.

Another example of an independent creative musician who has received high profile recognition for her contributions as an artist and educator is Seattle-based saxophonist Kate Olson. She has shared the stage with the likes of Wayne Horvitz, Elvis Costello, Terry Riley, and Sir Mix-A-Lot, and has a musical focus and versatility that covers multiple styles ranging from creative and mainstream jazz to rock and hip hop. She has earned degrees in Music and Improvisation from the University of Wyoming and the University of Michigan. “I guess success is a matter of viewpoint,” she said, when asked about how she defines success as an artist. “I think I’m an engaging performer, I work hard to deliver a good product, and I’ve trained for years to not only be a professional musician, but also a business person. My mission is to help make the world a more beautiful and caring place by bringing people together over authentic and creative performances.”

“I’m not exactly living my dream, but I don’t have any complaints,” she continued. “I was raised to be financially responsible and independent, so I don’t really have a choice, culturally, to step away from that. I can’t think of anyone in Seattle who doesn’t have a tight web of support and system of bail outs who is able to subsist on their income solely from music, or who does that without occasionally sacrificing what they do artistically. I take the amount of paying work that I need to make that happen.”

Olson’s own projects include KO SOLO and KO ELECTRIC, and her collaborations include Syrinx Effect, Ask the Ages, Seattle Rock Orchestra, Electric Circus, and Seattle Jazz Composers Ensemble. She has been featured in television commercials, has performed in Europe, Latin America and Korea, and has been nominated for the Earshot Golden Ear Award on five separate occasions in four different years. “I’m not funded,” she said, when asked about creativity as it relates to funding. “The closest thing to funding I have at the moment is a 4culture grant that is helping to offset the cost of making the next Syrinx Effect record. We were awarded $6k. That is not the full cost of the record.”

“Ideally, I would be making more passive income,” she continued. “I’m not really internet savvy enough to monetize any of my social media, although I know that’s possible. I’ve thought about writing some method books or publishing some transcriptions. I’m also interested in writing for video games, but again, I don’t have a way into the scene, so it’s a struggle to think about dedicating time to networking in that direction. I’ve put up my own money for everything. Ideally, I’d also be applying for every grant I possibly could, and hopefully getting some of them. I think residencies would be great too.”