Jazz Articles about Roscoe Mitchell

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Roscoe Mitchell: Opening Doors

by Celeste Sunderland
June 13, 2004

Our elders often pass on truths learned along the road of life, old adages that become mantras repeated continually. Roscoe Mitchell’s father gave him one piece of advice that he’ll always remember: “Time is very important. Use your time wisely.” Sure, it’s a universal truth, but for Mitchell, this advice is especially relevant, because the saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, percussionist, composer has so much to offer, his only hope is to strike up a deal with Father Time. Or just hop ...

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Roscoe Mitchell: In Search of the Super Musician

by Jack Gold-Molina
January 8, 2004

For more than 35 years Roscoe Mitchell's innovation as an improvisor, composer, and solo performer has placed him at the forefront of modern music. He is a founding member of the Creative Arts Collective of East Lansing, Michigan, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. He is the recipient of many honors and awards including the Outstanding Service to Jazz Education Award from the National Association of Jazz Educators; the Certificate of Appreciation ...

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Roscoe Mitchell & The Note Factory: Song For My sister

by Jerry D'Souza
September 23, 2002

Roscoe Mitchell has made several significant recordings during his long career. His is an ever evolving, constantly shaping mind, imagination molded into often stunning art. The placing and melding of sound patterns, the confluences or the expulsion of time, lend character and dimension to his work.

For this recording, Mitchell has musicians that understand his ethos and work in developing it. Consequently, the music is imbued not only with the individuality of the players but with the attributes ...

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Roscoe Mitchell and the Note Factory: Song for My Sister

by Dan McClenaghan
August 11, 2002

The band comes out swinging, lush, loose, rollicking, on the disc's title track, “Song for My Sister". Leader/multiple reedman Roscoe Mitchell on tenor sax, front line partner Corey Wilkes blowing trumpet. The band is filled with duos--two pianos, a pair of basses, a couple a drummers. “Song for My Sister", the song, is lush, full-bodied without being clamorous or cacophonous, lyrical, delicately-cut from a dense musical soundscape. Instrumentalists and solists are responsive to the musical flow, no stepping on each ...

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Roscoe Mitchell: More Cutouts

by Glenn Astarita
April 1, 2000

More Cutouts represents archival material originally recorded in Florence, Italy 1981, by the trio of saxophonist and leader of the date Roscoe Mitchell, percussionist Tani Tabbal and trumpeter Hugh Ragin. On “Song For The Little Feet –Take A”, the musicians execute pure, innocent motifs in alternating fashion as Ragin and Mitchell produce simple themes that could easily be reformulated into nursery rhymes or songs geared for children. The Trio pursues somewhat animated bop-ish lines on the title track, “More Cutouts” ...

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Roscoe Mitchell: Nine To Get Ready

by Glenn Astarita
May 1, 1999

Nine To Get Ready is Roscoe Mitchell & The Note Factory which is an aggregate of modern day jazz stylists well known for improvisational abilities and equally at home in a structured environment. To quote Mitchell from the liners......”Nine To Get Ready is the coming together of a dream I had many years ago of putting together an ensemble of improvising musicians with an orchestral range”. Mitchell’s vision is starkly realized as these fine musical craftsmen conquer Mitchell’s diverse, musically ...

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The Roscoe Mitchell Quartet: In Walked Buckner

by Jack Bowers
April 1, 1999

For what it is, this second recording by the Roscoe Mitchell Quartet may be exceedingly well done. The challenge lies in trying to figure out exactly what it is. Some random parts — most notably the breezy title selection, which showcases Mitchell’s brawny tenor — are recognizably Jazz as we know it; others appear to be tone poems whose bond to conventional Jazz (that is, improvised music that swings) seems tenuous at best. Examples of this include “Offshore,” “Squeaky,” “Fly ...