Roscoe Mitchell

One of the top saxophonists to come out of Chicago's AACM movement of the mid-'60s, Roscoe Mitchell is a particularly strong and consistently adventurous improviser long associated with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. After getting out of the military, Mitchell led a hard bop sextet in Chicago (1961) which gradually became much freer. He was a member of Muhal Richard Abrams's Experimental Band and a founding member of the AACM in 1965. Mitchell's monumental Sound album (1966) introduced a new way of freely improvising, utilizing silence as well as high energy and "little instruments" as well as conventional horns. Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors were on that date and Mitchell's 1967 follow-up Old/Quartet. With the addition of Joseph Jarman and Philip Wilson (who was later succeeded by Famoudou Don Moye), the Art Ensemble of Chicago was born. The colorful unit was one of the most popular groups in the jazz avant-garde and Mitchell was an integral part of the band. Roscoe Mitchell (who, in addition to his main horns, plays clarinet, flute, piccolo, oboe, baritone and bass saxophones) also was involved in individual projects through the years and has recorded as a leader for Delmark, Nessa, Sackville, Moers Music, 1750 Arch, Black Saint, Cecma and Silkheart in settings ranging from large ensembles to unaccompanied solo concerts.

Vision Festival 2025

by Luciano Rossetti
July 10, 2025

A collection of photos from the Vision Festival in New York City from June 2, 2025 to June 7, 2025 featuring Roscoe Mitchell, William Parker, Amirtha Kidambi, Nicole Mitchell, Miriam Parker, Patricia Nicholson Parker, Ava Mendoza, Hamid Drake, Matthew Shipp, Mary Halvorson, Marilyn Crispell, and many many others. ...

Radio & Podcasts

Oversáez, Roscoe Mitchell, Marco Eneidi & Gulliver

by Maurice Hogue
July 7, 2025

Featured music in this episode begins with German pianist Sandro Sáez and his trio Oversáez. What an exciting and original trio! Their ablum Abstract Emotions is filled with mystery, unexpected twists and turns, power and subtlety. Definitely worth checking out. Then you might want to listen to One Head Four People, featuring the enduring master,Roscoe Mitchell, playing bass saxophone, or Wheat Fields Of Kleylehof by the Marco Eneidi Quintet. This late saxophonist is an often overlooked major influence on the ...

Album Review

Roscoe Mitchell: One Head Four People

Read "One Head Four People" reviewed by Fran Kursztejn

by Fran Kursztejn
February 7, 2025

"I'm always trying to take what's there and, in the end, make it sound like nothing's missing from it," Roscoe Mitchell relates in a 2016 interview, in relation to his string of European solo concerts, yet the statement is just as relevant to the jazz giant's newest studio release, One Head Four People, as any other. The recording comes just as Mitchell's 2014 performance (released on ugEXPLODE, 2021) A Railroad Spike Forms the Voice celebrates its ten year anniversary, and ...

Live Review

Roscoe Mitchell & Michele Rabbia ad AngelicA

by Libero Farnè
May 8, 2024

Roscoe Mtchell, Michele Rabbia Centro di Ricerca Musicale--Teatro San Leonardo Bologna 3.5.2024 AngelicA 34, festival musicale consolidato nella sua unicità trasversale e possibilista da oltre tre decenni di esperienza, ha aperto i battenti il 2 maggio con una serata dedicata a Stefano Scodanibbio, che collaborò più volte con la manifestazione felsinea come uno degli interpreti supremi di quell'unicità estetica. Nella seconda parte del concerto ha preso rilievo la performance del Quatuor Bozzini, quartetto d'archi canadese ...

Book Review

Sound Experiments: The Music of the AACM by Paul Steinbeck

by Tom Spargo
November 6, 2023

Sound Experiments: The Music of the AACM Paul Steinbeck 272 Pages ISBN-13: 978-0-226-82953-1University of Chicago PressHardback 2022/ Paperback 2023 Paul Steinbeck's Sound Experiments is a historical narrative and technical analysis of the music of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Steinbeck traces the chronology of this wildly creative organization from its origins in the mid-1960s to the present day through the course ten chapters, each dedicated to a particularly influential album, composition, or live ...

Live Review

Ostrava Days 2023

by Martin Longley
October 13, 2023

Klub Parník, Plato, Triple Hall Karolina, etc. Ostrava, Czech Republic August 28-September 2, 2023 Ostrava Days happens once every two years, mostly dedicated to the well-being of new music, composed for varying sizes of ensembles, right up to a fully-bloated orchestra. Sometimes, though, works will be penned for mere solo performers. It has always had extended ears for jazz, improvisation and electronic musics, as well as rock'n'roll being an increasingly strong influence on moderne ...

Album Review

Art Ensemble Of Chicago: The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris

Read "The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
July 23, 2023

Having first come to international prominence in Paris at the end of the '60s, it seems fitting for the Rogue Art imprint to celebrate the Art Ensemble Of Chicago's progression into their sixth decade in the same city. This double CD documents the performance of an extended AEC at the Sons d'hiver Festival in February 2019. Only reedman & composer Roscoe Mitchell and drummer Famoudou Don Moye survive from the original quintet but, rather than accept this as a limitation, ...

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Roscoe Mitchell and Craig Taborn, Joey Defrancesco Trio, Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
December 4, 2014

As 2014 marches inexorably toward its conclusion, it's shaping up to be another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis. This week's noteworthy performances include a visit from one of the top jazz organists in the business; the long-awaited return of a major jazz innovator, in duo with one of today's most in-demand keyboardists; plus a whole lot of holiday-themed jazz, and more. Let's go to the highlights.... Tonight, organist Joey DeFrancesco and his trio return to ...
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Video / DVD

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Roscoe Mitchell Sampler

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
November 30, 2014

When multi-instrumentalist and composer Roscoe Mitchell performs with keyboardist Craig Taborn next Friday, December 5 at The Stage at KDHX, the concert sponsored by New Music Circle will be his first St. Louis appearance since the 1990s. After first gaining wide attention in the 1960s as a founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musician, Mitchell has gone on to combine improvised music with more formal methods of composition, putting him ...
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Performance / Tour

New Music Circle 2014-15 Season to Include Roscoe Mitchell and Craig Taborn, Tim Berne, Thumbscrew, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
July 31, 2014

New Music Circle has announced their 2014-15 season, with seven concerts featuring what looks to be an intriguing mix of edgy jazz and improvised music, electronics, and contemporary composition. The schedule kicks off with a concert by Thumbscrew, featuring guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, on Friday, September 12 at Joe's Cafe, the “house concert" venue at 6014 Kingsbury Ave in the Central West End. All NYC-based, Thumbscrew's members first worked together as the rhythm section ...
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Contest

Enter the "Roscoe Mitchell - Conversations II" Giveaway!

Source: All About Jazz
July 26, 2014

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the Wide Hive Records “Roscoe Mitchell - Conversations II“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on August 25th. Click here to enter the contest (Tracking Roscoe Mitchell at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.) Good luck! Your Friends at Wide Hive Records About Conversations II Roscoe Mitchell is an unmistakably unique icon of modern composition and jazz and with the second ...
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Performance / Tour

Mills College Premieres Renowned Musician Roscoe Mitchell's Compositions

Source: Katie Ismael
March 28, 2012

Lesser-known side of the iconic jazz performer and Mills College professor to be showcased at the Littlefield Concert Hall on March 31 The Mills College Music Department is proud to present a concert of recent works by its Distinguished Darius Milhaud Professor of Music Roscoe Mitchell. Acclaimed for its academic excellence and innovation, the Music Department announces the West Coast orchestral premiere of the legendary artist's distinctive new compositions on Saturday, March 31, at 8:00 pm in the Jeannik Méquet ...
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192

Recording

Delmark Now Distributes Sackville Records; Roscoe Mitchell's "Quartet," 1975

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
April 9, 2011

Good news for modern jazz appreciators: selected titles in the legendary Sackville Records catalog will now be available through Delmark. It involves the avant jazz catalog and, so I hear, may eventually include unreleased recordings. In keeping with the welcome turn of events I'll be looking today at one of the early Sackville masterworks, Roscoe Mitchell's 1975 live recording Quartet (Sackville SKCD2- 2009). I've had this recording on vinyl since it first came out, so I view it as an ...
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155

Interview

On Roscoe Mitchell

Source: Ars Nova Workshop
March 16, 2011

On Thursday, March 17, Ars Nova Workshop presents Archer Spade and Drew Ceccato performing the work of Roscoe Mitchell, a founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). For this special night in ANW’s Composer Portrait series, Archer Spade, a duo of Philadelphians Nick Millevoi (guitar) and Daniel Blacksberg (trombone), will unite with Drew Ceccato (woodwinds), who is currently studying with Mitchell at Mills College. The trio will be performing ...
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245

Recording

Roscoe Mitchell/the Note Factory - Far Side (ECM 2010)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
December 14, 2010

Saxophonist and composer Roscoe Mitchell has had a long and productive career with has included long stints in the AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, along with an ambitious schedule of solo works. This album reunites him with his octet The Note Factory consisting Mitchell on saxophones and flutes, Corey Wilkes on trumpet and flugelhorn, Craig Taborn and Vijay Iyer on piano, Jaribu Shahid on bass, Harrison Bankhead on bass and cello and Tani Tabbal and Vincent Davis on ...
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Performance / Tour

Big Deep - Benefit Concert for Deep Listening Institute

Source: All About Jazz
April 10, 2009

On Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 8 pm the Friends of Deep Listening Institute will host Big Deep, a benefit concert at The Kitchen in New York City. The lineup of performances include a duo with Roscoe Mitchell and Pauline Oliveros, the Deep Listening Band with Stuart Dempster, David Gamper and Pauline Oliveros, video artist Benton-C Bainbridge and an afterparty with DJ Olive and DJ Oliveros.

In addition to these special performances, Deep Listening Institute will be honoring Roscoe Mitchell ...
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237

Award / Grant

Deep Listening Golden Ear Award Presentation to Roscoe Mitchell as Part of Big Deep - Benefit Concert

Source: All About Jazz
March 5, 2009

The Friends of Deep Listening Institute Presents Big Deep

A benefit concert for Deep Listening Institute, Ltd.

With special presentation of Deep Listening Golden Ear award to Roscoe Mitchell

Saturday, April 18, 2009 8 pm

The Kitchen 512 W 19th St New York, NY

On Saturday, April 18 at 8 pm, Deep Listening Institute will be honoring Roscoe Mitchell with the 2009 Deep Listening Golden Ear award as part of Big Deep, a benefit ...
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