Chicago Music From

Originally comprised of saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman, trumpeter Lester Bowie, bassist Malachi Favors, and later, drummer Famoudou Don Moye, the Art Ensemble of Chicago enjoyed a critical reputation as the finest and most influential avant-garde jazz ensemble of the 1970s and '80s. Whether or not that reputation was wholly deserved is, in retrospect, subject to debate the World Saxophone Quartet and the Cecil Taylor Unit may well have been more influential.

Roots band Birds of Chicago formed in 2012 as a collaboration between Chicago's JT Nero (JT & the Clouds) and Vancouver's Allison Russell (Po' Girl). Although both singer/songwriters were actively leading their own projects, their combined efforts were convincing enough to make a go of it and they set about recording their debut. Though a talented songwriter in her own right, a big part of the Birds of Chicago sound came from the material Nero had written specifically for Russell to interpret, and it was their combined voices that won over fans on 2012's self-titled Birds of Chicago LP.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is the new Netflix film, out December 18, that stars Viola Davis as blues icon Ma Rainey and the late Chadwick Boseman in his final on-screen performance. Today, the soundtrack, featuring original music from Branford Marsalis, has been announced; it’s also out on December 18 (via Milan Records).