Roscoe Mitchell Music

it is altogether fitting that i should be listening to this recording a memorial day weekend, the first four selections sound like dirges, forms of solemn anthems, but incredibly rhythmic, as is the whole cd, the rhythm holds everything together and gives it majesty in a democratic way.

things pick up with hop hip bip bir rip, with mitchell's sax as a ball of twine dropped that slowly begins to unravel before spinning crazily down a steep hill with everyone else in mad pursuit. hop hip etc reminds me of coltrane's my favorite things.

bessis harris is a series of wonderful solos by the group members.

fallen heroes attempts a talking horn, my guess as a eulogy.

big red peaches is an upbeat tribute to robert johnson's hot tamales, hot tamales can be heard on cassandra wilson's belly of the sun. not to be disrespectful or anything, but listening to leola the second time around i heard a bit of big red peaches and for a brief moment had a vision of a big hip woman.

I don't know why someone would give this album two stars and then say "I'm just a casual jazz fan who doesn't like this"! Then WHY bother reviewing it? I have been listening to jazz, free-jazz, avant-garde , and free impov for over ten years now, and I can tell you that this album is a trues classic that would fit into all of those categories. It is one of roscoe's masterpieces, and it is a great place to start if you interested either in free-jazz of the 90's or Roscoe Mitchell's work. The mood and tone on the album range from delicate and meditative to free-wheeling and chaotic. It's not unobtrusive. Some of it very demanding, some of it even violent and disturbing. But overall Roscoe's amazing feat was to capture the spontaneity and choas (even in the very quiet tunes somehow) of this amazing double quartet--two drums, two basses, two pianos, two horn--on this recording. Some of it comes out in flawless compositions, such as Leola *possibly the best free-jazz composition in to date), and sometimes in the freeflowing jams, as in Hip, hop, bip, burr, rip. This album takes the orginal free-jazz experiment of Ornette Coleman, later taken up briefly by Coletrane, to new levels of possibilities, and it is one of the only examples of this daring musical approach. HIGHLY recommended. This is one of the gems in my free-jazz collection. Admittedly, this is not for fans of smooth jazz or mainstream jazz, this is for the open minded.

This music represents spirituality to me. The musicians evoke deep feeling and inner peace. Thank you, Roscoe Mitchell.

I am a pretty open-minded person when it comes to music, but I just could not get myself to enjoy this album. The music was erratic and moody, as if it was the soundtrack to a nightmare. I only recommend this album to listeners who can appreciate the art behind the music, not casual jazz fans such as myself.

I was terribly disappointed with the jazz album Amazon.com rated as the best of 1999. I found this recording unpleasant to listen to because the music was depressingly low key, but in no way melodious. It often sounded like the musicians were simply tuning their instruments. A terrible purchase.

In an online exchange on amazon, I listed my top five jazz albums of all time. The Louis Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven albums had to be first, both for the quality of the music (Louis is phenomenal!) and their importance in the history of jazz. I listed John Coltrane's Ascension --an absolutely stunning album and, I feel, one of great importance in shaping the path of free jazz after it appeared.

Third, I listed Roscoe Mitchell's stunningly beautiful and excitingly confrontational album, Nonaah, which, praise be!, is at last available once more. Here's what I wrote about it:Roscoe Mitchell's double album, Nonaah, was issued by Nessa Records in the early or mid-seventies. I don't think it was ever released in CD format and it's out of print now. I don't think this album was ever that influential but Mitchell was and is. Multi-reedplayer Mitchell is the most inventive and musical of all the five members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the longest living and arguably most influential of AACM groups, and this album shows him, both as performer and composer, at the peak of his considerable creative powers. There are several takes of "Nonaah," one of his best known tunes (the Art Ensemble also plays it on the Atlantic recording, Fanfare for the Warrior). The most arresting is a LONG solo rendition, but there is a shorter solo version and an arrangement for four saxes, that is arresting and of the highest musical quality. I've packed my LPs away so I don't have the album cover in front of me to check, but my memory is that George Lewis plays with him on one or more cuts, and Anthony Braxton and Henry Threadgill as well. This is what jazz is supposed to be like, and it is a shame that this original and powerful album has not been re-released on CD. (Just as it's a shame that David Murray's Ming is no longer available.)

Lester Bowie said that Music is the "Master of the Universe," and indeed it is. After listening to this music, you will know what it is like to travel into the worlds beyond via the sound current. I have travelled into the worlds beyond (earth) many times only using the mantra of "HU." I do this by closing my eyes and singing HU which sounds like the proper name "Hugh." Nothing compares with this experience, but If a novice should ask me what is it like to travel into the other worlds, I might suggest that he or she acquire Roscoe Mitchell's "Star Music," for that's what I call it, and listen!

I do expect this music to be the vanguard of music that will change the world. I know this may sound like hyperbole, but music has changed the world in the past, get ready for it to happen again.

Spread the word about this music, be a part of a revolution.

I wanted to add some remarks and context to the info provided above from John Litweiler's liner notes. There are three CDs in this set.
CD1 is entitled Tech Ritter and the Megabytes and features Mitchell on various saxophones or flutes and the percussion cage. Many of the pieces are overdubbed. Even the ones that are not overdubbed may seem like they are for Mitchell, like Evan Parker or Braxton, is capable of circular breathing while playing so fast and distinctly that it sounds like at least two saxs are being played. Mitchell is also capable of playing with great serenity as he does on 1999/2000. And remember this is the man who with his very first recordings brought into the free jazz aesthetic an attention to space and layers in music. Before his CD, Sound, there was much skronking in free jazz. Still is. But after that CD, there were other possibilities as well.
CD2 is called Solar Flares (for Alto Sax) and consists of ten alto soli. About these I will only say that they are lyrical, harsh, and very impressive to me. I have listened to solo sax players for over thirty-five years now and there are very few who are Mitchell's peers. I suggest some time that you put on CD2 and do nothing but listen to these improvs. They are worth the focus.
CD3 has surprised me by how much I enjoy it. This is called The Percussion Cage And Music On The Go. This consists of 17 pieces for the cage and flutes and four shorter soprano sax soli. The percussion cage is a just that- a four sided structure on which hang the hundreds of "little instruments" that Mitchell has collected since his early days in Chicago and the AACM. Some are instruments, some are things that he has collected that have a nice ring to them. Mitchell does not use them as percussion instrements but as a means to carry a melodic line, indeed, a complete musical structure. These are surprisingly lovely and approachable pieces.
Roscoe Mitchell is one of those individuals who seems to be constantly striving for a music that is just out of his reach. His is a demanding aesthetic that will not let him settle for the mundane. To a remarkable degree over the years his CDs have lived up to that standard. This set is a wide-ranging document of his current work that will satisfy those of us who have followed his work from his early recordings as well as those who are just now coming to it. Keep your ears open, people, and hang on. We got some expanding to do.

. . . and create previously unheard but strangely familiar music.

Don't get me wrong: This is music entirely beyond the scope of normality. Yet it resonates with our deepest longings in such homely, even accessible, fashion, despite its surface weirdness, that it should (and one is tempted to say absolutely ought to be) heard by the widest possible audience.

Each of these remarkable players has a formidable, if somewhat abstruse, resume. They've played together and been recorded on three or four different occasions. They've been part of, together or separately, some of the most evocative exploratory jazz.

That they've come together in the early third millennium to record music of this consequence is not only unexpected but entirely serendipitous.

Yes, it's admittedly sometimes difficult to integrate the welter of sounds into a coherent aural palette, yet it's always worth the effort, at least in my opinion. Take, for example, the sonic rarity of "Dramaturns" near the end of its remarkable 18-plus minute excursion: We have lunatic piano juxtaposed against ethereal laptop then morphed into odd trombone voicings (laptop and trombone courtesy of the inimitable George Lewis) resolving into unexpected coherence. What to make of this seemingly bizarre aural nonsense save musical genius of the first water?

And again, check out the piano-percussion-laptop musical collage of "Soundhear" (weird song titles merely enhancing the inherent aural oddness), sounding like Gismonti/Vasconcelos on steroids filtered through some arcane yet friendly postmod Scelsi/John Adams sound design.

Look.

The gauntlet's thrown down. It will be interesting to see which avant-jazz warrior(s) will rise to the challenge.

there are no themes here so there are no variations, and without themes there is nothing to improvise. cecil taylor has passed through this musical territory from time to time, and don pullen has skirted the borders, but this isn't avant garde or free jazz. there have been pioneers, mahler, harry partch and quite a few 19th century pianists/composers, so only (kind of) traditionally can streaming be considered experimental music. keith jarrett has visited the territory. settlers have been anthony braxton and anthony davis, check out his middle passage. that's about as close as i want to get with a description of abrams' streaming.

this is a highly sophisicated cd, an extraordinary achievement. and i like the terse statements, mostly on the art of improvisation, by the players george russell, roscoe mitchell and abrams for linear notes.

and i also like the cover painting by muhal richard abrams.