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Nicole Mitchell: Engraved In The Wind
ByPerhaps the pre-eminent flute stylist in contemporary jazz, Mitchell brings her compositional sensibility to bear on a program of sixteen mostly short cuts which examine a fascinating range of ideas. Interspersed among the largely extemporized pieces by Mitchell are five from the pens of others, written specially for this project. Adding further variety, and perhaps recognizing the task inherent in maintaining attention alone, Mitchell also utilizes over dubbing to provide her own counterpoint on four tracks. In this she recalls the experiments of one of her inspirations, James Newton who also multi-tracked his flute to stunning effect on Paseo Del Mar (India Navigation, 1979).
Mitchell calls on Newton more directly, as he contributes a piece for herthe punchy "Six Wings" which alternates drawn out tones and skippy altissimo phrases. Of the other commissions, most notable are Mitchell's collaboration with Aaya Samaa on the singing "Dadwee" and Yung Wha Son's "Song of Suchness" where sustained microtonality give way first to spacious meditation and then joyous folkiness before a return to the opening gambit. Many of the tune titles allude to the natural world, and indeed there is an elemental quality which pervades Mitchell's performance, manifest clearly on the rippling "Blue Mountain," the zinging dissonances of "Beehive," and the excitable multiple chorus of the pleasing "High light at the Waterfall." While unaccompanied flute may not be for everyone, those with an interest in either Mitchell or the instrument will be richly rewarded.
Track Listing
Blue Mountain; Dadwee; Forest Family; Cave of Forgotten Spring; Six Wings; Beehive; Making of Rose Quartz; Pratagraha: Virtue of Freedom from Attachment; Desert Choir; Boiling River; Song of Suchness; High Light at the Waterfall; Glacier Wall; Agoru III; Engraved in the Wind; Fireflies and Mischief on Dada B's Porch.
Personnel
Nicole Mitchell
fluteNicole Mitchell: flute.
Album information
Title: Engraved In The Wind | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: Rogue Art