The Leaders

In the mid-1980s a collective called the Leaders came together as a supergroup of jazz musicians inclined toward progressive directions. Its frontline consisted of three notable figures from the period: trumpeter Lester Bowie, associated with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, then viewed as the decade’s most critically praised ensemble; alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, whose Columbia releases nearly secured wider popular recognition for free jazz without quite achieving it; and tenor saxophonist Chico Freeman, whose albums integrated mainstream jazz elements with the intensity and invention of the avant-garde. These horn players were joined by pianist Kirk Lightsey, bassist Cecil McBee, and drummer Famoudou Don Moye, producing two generally strong though unremarkable albums. Like most supergroups, the Leaders operated chiefly as a novelty, assembled more to draw notice than to function as a developing artistic organism. The rhythm section later released its own recordings on Sunnyside under the name Leaders Trio.