Jazz Articles about Roscoe Mitchell

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Propelling Personality: The Roscoe Mitchell Trio at UMASS

by Lyn Horton
May 24, 2007

Roscoe Mitchell Trio University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts April 26, 2007

When Roscoe Mitchell joined with his fellow Chicago musicians in 1965 to create the AACM, his primary motivation was to unravel how music reflecting the integrity of sound-making from a set of individual instruments could best be expressed. Judging from the recent performance by his trio at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, it's clear that Mitchell's motivation has remained constant. With bassist-cellist Harrison ...

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Roscoe Mitchell: Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 14, 2007

E se alla fine l'annosa diatriba sulla opposizione/dialettica tra composizione e improvvisazione fosse solo frutto di un errore percettivo? E l'essenza del “farsi" musica [in tempi più o meno meditati o immediati] emergesse dal negativo, come in quelle illusioni prospettiche, rivelandosi un brulicare di “altro" cui incredibilmente non si era fatto caso? La domanda è ovviamente e volutamente paradossale e non può distogliere dalla ricchezza del continuo rapportarsi tra materiale composto e improvvisato nella musica creativa dell'ultima parte del secolo ...

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

by John Kelman
May 11, 2007

While perhaps best known for his ground-breaking improvisational work with The Art Ensemble of Chicago and assorted personal projects, woodwind multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell has also been exploring, over the past four decades, contemporary classical music and the integration of written form with exploratory improvisation. Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3 is Mitchell's most successful example of scored improvisation, and may well turn out to be his magnum opus: an ambitious and sprawling eighty-minute suite that finds him paired with the ...

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Roscoe Mitchell: No Side Effects

by Marc Medwin
December 17, 2006

Very few musicians have made a first statement like Roscoe Mitchell's Sound, recorded for Delmark in 1966. Like the proverbial big bang's reverberations, all of his subsequent work consists of gestures from but not confined to that era and the freedom it fostered. Mitchell's recordings can elicit a deeply intuitive but ultimately inexplicable sense of unification in the face of superficial diversity, and this newest double disc is no exception. The pieces can consist of the quickest ...

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Mitchell-Zurzolo-Moye Quintet: Samsara

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 4, 2006

Itinera è una giovane etichetta che nasce direttamente dall'esperienza del Pomigliano Jazz Festival, con l'idea di offrire spazi alla creatività degli artisti e favorire l'incontro di culture musicali diverse. E quali migliori ambasciatori di questa dichiarazione d'intenti potevano essere scelti se non Roscoe Mitchell, Don Moye e Marco Zurzolo ? I primi due, con l'Art Ensemble of Chicago, hanno abbattuto definitivamente ogni tipo di barriere e pregiudizi stilistici, proclamando l'avvento della Great Black Music, mentre Zurzolo ha sempre fatto della ...

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Roscoe Mitchell & Tatsu Aoki: First Look: Chicago Duos

by Jerry D'Souza
December 19, 2005

The manipulation of sound has been a divining rod for Roscoe Mitchell, who has taken it into uncharted territory, creating motifs that are sturdy yet allow for manipulation. History testifies to his propensity for the unusual and the daring, a trait that still flows within his being. He has just the right complement and foil in Tatsu Aoki.

There is an unhurried gait to the duo's music. Time floats by slowly, the gongs and the bass in ruminative ...

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Roscoe Mitchell/Tatsu Aoki: First Look: Chicago Duos

by John Kelman
October 30, 2005

While the concept of totally free improvisation can appear daunting to those more accustomed to traditionally structured music, it needn't be. In the hands of players with strong listening skills, egos that don't require persistent reinforcement, and a desire to truly create something out of nothing, in-the-moment extemporization can yield rich rewards. With its own distinct complexion, the vibrant Chicago jazz scene has created numerous landmarks of free improvisation for decades, with woodwind multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell at its zenith, most ...