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Matt Mitchell: Forage
by Dan McClenaghan
Alto saxophonist Tim Berne could have been called, at the dawn of the new millennium, the American artist least likely to join the ECM Records roster. The thought here was that Berne's relentless momentum and frequent agitation and flat out wild man brazenness wouldn't fit in well enough with the European impressionism/Nordic cool approach (a definite simplification of the way ECM rolls) to attract the attention of ECM Record's head Manfred Eicher. Then Berne appeared on guitarist David Torn's Prezens ...
Continue ReadingMatt Mitchell: Vista Accumulation
by Vincenzo Roggero
L'elenco delle formazioni a cui ha prestato i propri servigi è da paura comprendendo, tra gli altri, Tim Berne's Snakeoil, Dave Douglas Quintet, Rudresh Mahanthappa Bird Calls, John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, ossia una bella fetta della scena avant jazz statunitense, ma come leader il pianista Matt Mitchell è solo alla seconda prova. Vista Accumulation, che giunge dopo l'eccellente esordio di Fiction -gran duo con il batterista Ches Smith -presenta un quartetto di prim'ordine con musicisti dalla mente aperta e abituati ...
Continue ReadingMatt Mitchell: Vista Accumulation
by Mark Corroto
Growing up in a neighborhood, how do you get from, “Hey you kids, get off of my lawn!" to “Congratulations, Mr. Mitchell, on your son winning the Doris Duke Impact award and being named a Pew Fellow"? We are talking about the musical, not the suburban neighborhood here and in seemingly a blink of an eye, pianist Matt Mitchell is ubiquitous. His keyboard touch can be heard in the ensemble Snakeoil led by Tim Berne, Rudresh Mahanthappa's Birdcalls, ...
Continue ReadingMatt Mitchell: Vista Accumulation
by Hrayr Attarian
Composer and pianist Matt Mitchell creates haunting and vibrant soundscapes on his second release for Pi Records, Vista Accumulation. The eight, multilayered, originals that comprise the double disc set are organically fluid in structure with a tense ambience and a barely contained fervor within. Saxophonist and clarinetist Chris Speed opens the stimulating “The Damaged Center" with his fiery tenor. The rest of the ensemble percolates and gallops around him. Initially somewhat harmonious the group dynamics grows delightfully more ...
Continue ReadingMatt Mitchell: Vista Accumulation
by Dan Bilawsky
You never really know what's up pianist Matt Mitchell's sleeve. As a sideman he's constantly adapting and growing, creating different palettes and situations that expand the color and content in the music of the Dave Douglas Quintet, Tim Berne's Snakeoil, John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble, Rudresh Mahanthappa's Bird Calls quintet, and other high profile outfits; as a leader, there's less output to go on, but Mitchell's first two releases--Fiction (Pi Recordings, 2013) and this double-disc album--serve as demonstrations of his significant ...
Continue ReadingRudresh Mahanthappa: Bird Calls
by Dave Wayne
On Bird Calls, alto saxophonist and composer Rudresh Mahanthappa takes on the music of Charlie Parker in a personal and profound way, accompanied by his whip-smart, uber-hip and youthful backing band. Let's face it, folks; this is the sort of thing a jazz fan's daydreams are made of. The result doesn't disappoint; Bird Calls is a masterpiece, and will certainly grace many a critic's year end “Top 10" list. It's evident that Mahanthappa thought this album through from ...
Continue ReadingRudresh Mahanthappa: Bird Calls
by Dan Bilawsky
Charlie Parker has been deified, his methods have been codified, and his recordings have been analyzed ad infinitum. Six decades have passed since he left this realm, yet he remains the lodestar for a significant portion of the jazz community, from the aspiring to the elite, and his influence hasn't waned one bit. Given all of that, it's astonishing to realize that so few players have taken chances by looking beyond the songs, the music theory, the recordings, and the ...
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