Jazz Articles about Roscoe Mitchell

About Roscoe Mitchell

Album Review

Roscoe Mitchell and the Note Factory: Far Side

Read "Far Side" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 29, 2010

A settant'anni Roscoe Mitchell continua a essere una delle figure più originali della scena afroamericana e i suoi lavori per organico allargato lontani dall'Art Ensemble ne confermano tutta la geniale condotta espressiva: è certamente il caso della Note Factory, ottetto di coppie imperfette [a due batterie, due contrabbassi e due pianoforti si affiancano infatti le ance del leader e la tromba di Corey Wilkes] che troviamo qui in una registrazione dal vivo in Germania nel 2007. [Piccola parentesi: che con ...

190

Album Review

Roscoe Mitchell and the Note Factory: Far Side

Read "Far Side" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
November 12, 2010

Roscoe Mitchell's Far Side, with its theatrical quality, could easily function as a soundtrack to a modernist play. The beginning of the first and longest piece, “Far Side/Cards/Far Side," is reminiscent of the works of 20th century composers like Alfred Schnitke and Arvo Pärt, in the ominous sea of notes pouring out of the dual pianos and basses that buoy Mitchell's breathy and urgent alto sound. As Mitchell's saxophone grows stronger and clearer, the strings give way ...

194

Album Review

Roscoe Mitchell and the Note Factory: Far Side

by John Kelman
November 9, 2010

It's been over a decade since reed and woodwind multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell--a veteran of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), which he helped establish in the mid-1960s, in addition to co-founding the groundbreaking Art Ensemble of Chicago, around the same time--released Nine to Get Ready (ECM, 1999), with his Note Factory group. Far Side, Mitchell's first Note Factory session since The Bad Guys (Around Jazz, 2003), pares the group back to a double-quartet, with six members from ...

Album Review

Roscoe Mitchell – David Wessel: Contact

Read "Contact" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
August 30, 2010

Le sessioni del compositore David Wessel e del sassofonista Roscoe Mitchell contenute nel doppio CD-DVD “Contact" distano parecchio tempo (in termini musicali) l'una dall'altra: l'una ha avuto luogo presso l'IRCAM di Parigi come parte del festival Résonances il 20 ottobre 2004, l'altra al Center for New Music dell'UC di Berkeley il 13 e 14 ottobre 2002. Grazie soprattutto all'interessamento di Michel Bordon, che ha voluto registrare la sessione di Parigi inserendola in formato DVD nel catalogo della RogueArt, si può ...

576

Album Review

Roscoe Mitchell / David Wessel: Contact

by John Sharpe
February 2, 2010

While esteemed reedman Roscoe Mitchell has appeared in any number of challenging settings, this marks his first documented encounter with electronics. Not that this is a recent move, more that the fruits of his collaboration with David Wessel have not seen the light of day until now. They first met back in 1968 when Mitchell, along with other members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, moved into the house next door to Wessel's California home. Over the years projects included ...

738

Extended Analysis

Roscoe Mitchell: Nonaah

by Clifford Allen
September 28, 2008

Roscoe Mitchell Nonaah Nessa Records 2008

One of the significant things that set AACM music apart from its brethren in New York in the 1960s and early 1970s was its use of space, of opening up the music so that things could occur within broad, environmental relationships. That sense of space was very important. In an entirely different take on "energy" music, the challenge of discerning what could be perceived ...

401

Album Review

Roscoe Mitchell / The Transatlantic Art Ensemble: Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3

Read "Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
June 3, 2008

The distinction made between jazz and classical music is usually one of rhythm and artistic depth, of improvisation versus composition, of the player being the creator versus the player as interpreter. However, upon deeper reflection, the two musics both have composers and interpreters, with the difference being one of emphasis. Saxophonist and composer Roscoe Mitchell has long worked in the space where the composed and the improvised coexist and merge. Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3 is ...