ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO—Nice Guys (ECM):: The Ensemble continues to alternately pay homage to and extend various forms of black music maintaining their base, of free form improvisation, humor and evocative arrangements. The amount of imagination and emotional commitment displayed, as well as the consistency with which their propensity for risktaking results in cohesive musical statements, makes for superior entertainment. The highlight of this set is Joseph Jarman's "Dreaming Of The Master," cast ip a Miles/Coltrane post-bop mode with an avant-garde centerpiece, and fondly recalling an era of midnight &axes and '"'querulous trumpets. R.C.W.

SUSAN—Falling In Love Again (RCA)::This Beantown quartet shows so many influences that they never establish any sort of foothold. There's Bad Company ("Power"), Raspberries ("A Little Time") and ineyitably Boston themselves (Charles Leland's vocal on "Marlene"). I don't think that Ms. Dietrich, would really approve of having part of her old classic stuck in the middle of this mesfe, though I'd love to see the look on her face when and if a royalty check shows up. B.A.