Having played with many jazz luminaries, Famoudou Don Moye is best known as the drummer for The Art Ensemble of Chicago, the most influential avant-garde jazz group of the 1980s and 1990s. The musician joined her while living in Paris, in 1969.
Born in Rochester, Don Moye studied philosophy and percussion at Detroit State University under the tutelage of trumpeter Charles Moore. When the opportunity presented itself, he traveled to Europe with a Detroit free jazz group, escaping the political turmoil that had erupted in the country following the assassination of African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
As drummer for The Art Ensemble of Chicago, he has made over 70 live recordings, as well as studio albums, videos and DVDs for various labels including Atlantic Records, ECM, Disk Union, Nessa Records, Delmark, Pi Recordings.
Today, only Don Moye and Roscoe Mitchell remain from the five predecessors of the famous group, who continue to nurture the legacy of the bright memory creators of "The Art Ensemble of Chicago" - Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, Joseph Jarman.
In the 1980s, in addition to this group, Don Moye played with musicians from the Black Artists Group of St. Louis, pianist Randy Weston, in a duo with Stev McCall. In 1984, he joined avant-garde stars L. Bowie, Chico Freeman, Arthur Blythe, Don Cherry, Kirk Lightsey, becoming a member of the jazz supergroup The Leaders.
Don Moye's discography includes 180 CDs, including over 100 recorded with L. Bowie's Brass Fantasy and New York Organ Ensemble, The Kirk Lightsey Trio, The Leaders. The drummer has participated in numerous recording sessions with Sun Ra, Milford Graves, Wadada Leo Smith, Hamiet Bluiett, Julius Hemphill, Kenny Clarke, R. Weston, Baba Sissoko, Cecil McBee.
He has played with a host of other notables including Sonny Sharrock, Steve Lacy, Archie Shepp, Mal Waldron, Pharaoh Sanders, Sun Ra All Stars, Von & Chico Freeman Quintet, Sam Rivers, David Murray , Oliver Lake, Billy Cobham, Billy Higgins, Roy Haynes, Jack De Jonette, Cecil Taylor.
The drummer calls himself an eternal student, he continues to study African-American, African and Caribbean percussion instruments and rhythmic techniques, he continues to collect rhythms from Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Congo, Morocco, Cuba. He picked up secrets from Moroccan gnawa musicians, studied the possibilities of the djembe with drum master Famoudou Konaté, from whom he took his name.
In his work, Don Moye recalls the glorious days of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, founded in 1965, was a strong catalyst of the Chicago experimental scene, which turned the careers of many jazz innovators).
He believes that cultural exchange can contribute to the preservation of world peace and the development of human creativity.
