Chuck Nessa

Chuck Nessa was an important force in documenting many of the early AACM sessions. He started the Nessa label in 1967 and soon recorded Roscoe Mitchell and Lester Bowie about the time that the Art Ensemble of Chicago was being formed. In addition, Nessa was involved as a producer in most of Delmark's more important free jazz dates of the era. Although the Nessa label was primarily avant-garde-oriented, with sets by Bobby Bradford, Hal Russell, Charles Tyler and Fred Anderson, among others, it also included sessions by such tenor saxophonists as Ben Webster, Warne Marsh, Lucky Thompson and Von Freeman. The Nessa label has been mostly inactive since the late '70s, but Chuck Nessa was involved in a 1993 Art Ensemble of Chicago box set. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi