The Squid's Ear Magazine


Mitchell, Roscoe & The Note Factory: Song for My Sister (Pi Recordings)


 

Price: $14.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 5.00 units

Sample The Album:


product information:

Personnel:



Roscoe Mitchell

Leon Dorsey

Vijay Iyer

Vincent Davis

Gerald Cleaver

Spencer Barefield

Jaribu Shahid

Corey Wilkes

Craig Taborn


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 808713000320

Label: Pi Recordings
Catalog ID: PI 03
Squidco Product Code: 839

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2003
Country: USA
Packaging: Jewel Tray
February of 2002 in Roscoe's home of Madison, WI

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.
Song for My Sister is the Note Factory's first release since 1999's Nine to Get Ready. The CDs nine tracks, all new compositions, cover a lot of ground. The band sound has been more fully realized with time and the addition of new members. Roscoe has written one of the most memorable hard-bop tunes in recent years and placed it along side; contemporary classical, open improvisations, notated card pieces and music that can only be described as uniquely Roscoe.

Artist Biographies

"Roscoe Mitchell (born August 3, 1940) is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb - if idiosyncratic - saxophonist." The Penguin Guide to Jazz described him as "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz; All About Jazz states that he has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past 35 years. Critic Jon Pareles in The New York Times has mentioned that Mitchell "qualifies as an iconoclast." In addition to his own work as a bandleader, Mitchell is known for cofounding the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

Mitchell was born in Chicago, Illinois. He also grew up in the Chicago area, where he played saxophone and clarinet at around age twelve. His family was always involved in music with many different styles playing in the house when he was a child as well as having a secular music background. His brother, Norman, in particular was the one who introduced Mitchell to jazz. While attending Englewood High School in Chicago, he furthered his study of the clarinet. In the 1950s, he joined the United States Army, during which time he was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany and played in a band with fellow saxophonists Albert Ayler and Rubin Cooper, the latter of which Mitchell commented "took me under his wing and taught me a lot of stuff." He also studied under the first clarinetist of the Heidelberg Symphony while in Germany. Mitchell returned to the United States in the early 1960s, relocated to the Chicago area, and performed in a band with Wilson Junior College undergraduates Malachi Favors (bass), Joseph Jarman, Henry Threadgill, and Anthony Braxton (all saxophonists). Mitchell also studied with Muhal Richard Abrams and played in his band, the Muhal Richard Abrams' Experimental Band, starting in 1961.

In 1965, Mitchell was one of the first members of the non-profit organization Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) along with Jodie Christian (piano), Steve McCall (drums), and Phil Cohran (composer). The following year Mitchell, Lester Bowie (trumpet), Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (tenor saxophone), Favors, Lester Lashley (trombone), and Alvin Fielder (drums), recorded their first studio album, Sound. The album was "a departure from the more extroverted work of the New York-based free jazz players" due in part to the band recording with "unorthodox devices" such as toys and bicycle horns.

From 1967 Mitchell, Bowie, Favors and, on occasion, Jarman performed as the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, then the Art Ensemble, and finally in 1969 were billed as the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The group included Phillip Wilson on drums for short span before he joined Paul Butterfield's band. The group lived and performed in Europe from 1969 to 1971, though they arrived without any percussionist after Wilson left. To fill the void, Mitchell commented that they "evolved into doing percussion ourselves." The band did eventually get a percussionist, Don Moye, who Mitchell had played with before and was living in Europe at that time. For performances, the band often wore brilliant African costumes and painted their faces. The Art Ensemble of Chicago have been described as becoming "possibly the most highly acclaimed jazz band" in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mitchell and the others returned to the States in 1971. After having been back in Chicago for three years, Mitchell then established the Creative Arts Collective (CAC) in 1974 that had a similar musical aesthetic to the AACM. The group was based in East Lansing, Michigan and frequently performed in auditoriums at Michigan State University. Mitchell also formed the Sound Ensemble in the early 1970s, an "outgrowth of the CAC" in his words, that consisted mainly of Mitchell, Hugh Ragin, Jaribu Shahid, Tani Tabbal, and Spencer Barefield.

In the 1990s, Mitchell started to experiment in classical music with such composers/artists such as Pauline Oliveros, Thomas Buckner, and Borah Bergman, the latter two of which formed a trio with Mitchell called Trio Space. Buckner was also part of another group with Mitchell and Gerald Oshita called Space in the late 1990s. He then conceived the Note Factory in 1992 with various old and new collaborators as another evolution of the Sound Ensemble.

He lived in the area of Madison, Wisconsin and performed with a re-assembled Art Ensemble of Chicago. In 1999, the band was hit hard with the death of Bowie, but Mitchell fought off the urge to recast his position in the group, stating simply "You can't do that" in an interview with Allaboutjazz.com editor-in-chief Fred Jung. The band continued on despite the loss.

Mitchell has made a point of working with younger musicians in various ensembles and combinations, many of whom were not yet born when the first Art Ensemble recordings were made. Mainly from Chicago, these players include trumpeter Corey Wilkes, bassist Karl E. H. Seigfried, and drummer Isaiah Spencer.

In 2007, Mitchell was named Darius Milhaud Chair of Composition at Mills College in Oakland, California, where he currently lives. Mitchell was chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in March 2012 in Minehead, England."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roscoe_Mitchell)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Described by The New York Times as a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway," VIJAY IYER has carved out a unique path as an influential, prolific, shape-shifting presence in twenty-first-century music. A composer and pianist active across multiple musical communities, Iyer has created a consistently innovative, emotionally resonant body of work over the last twenty-five years, earning him a place as one of the leading music-makers of his generation.

He received a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, a Grammy nomination, the Alpert Award in the Arts, and two German "Echo" awards, and was voted Downbeat Magazine's Jazz Artist of the Year four times in the last decade. He has been praised by Pitchfork as "one of the best in the world at what he does," by the Los Angeles Weekly as "a boundless and deeply important young star," and by Minnesota Public Radio as "an American treasure."

Iyer's musical language is grounded in the rhythmic traditions of South Asia and West Africa, the African American creative music movement of the 60s and 70s, and the lineage of composer-pianists from Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk to Alice Coltrane and Geri Allen. He has released twenty-four albums of his music, most recently UnEasy (ECM Records, 2021), a trio session with drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Linda May Han Oh; The Transitory Poems (ECM, 2019), a live duo recording with pianist Craig Taborn; Far From Over (ECM, 2017) with the award-winning Vijay Iyer Sextet; and A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke (ECM, 2016) a suite of duets with visionary composer-trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith.

Iyer is also an active composer for classical ensembles and soloists. His works have been commissioned and premiered by Brentano Quartet, Imani Winds, Bang on a Can All-Stars, The Silk Road Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, and virtuosi Matt Haimowitz, Claire Chase, Shai Wosner, and Jennifer Koh, among others. He recently served as composer-in-residence at London's Wigmore Hall, music director of the Ojai Music Festival, and artist-in-residence at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A tireless collaborator, he has written big-band music for Arturo O'Farrill and Darcy James Argue, remixed classic recordings of Talvin Singh and Meredith Monk, joined forces with legendary musicians Henry Threadgill, Reggie Workman, Zakir Hussain, and L. Subramanian, and developed interdisciplinary work with Teju Cole, Carrie Mae Weems, Mike Ladd, Prashant Bhargava, and Karole Armitage.

A longtime New Yorker, Iyer lives in central Harlem with his wife and daughter. He teaches at Harvard University in the Department of Music and the Department of African and African American Studies. He is a Steinway artist."

-Vijay Iyer Website (https://vijay-iyer.com/about/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Gerald Cleaver (born May 4, 1963) is an African-American jazz drummer from Detroit, Michigan. Cleaver's father is drummer John Cleaver Jr., originally from Springfield, Ohio, and his mother was from Greenwood, Mississippi. Gerald had six older siblings. Cleaver joined the jazz faculty at the University of Michigan in 1995. He has performed or recorded with Joe Morris, Mat Maneri, Roscoe Mitchell, Miroslav Vitous, Michael Formanek, Tomasz Sta ko, Franck Amsallem and others.

Under the name Veil of Names, Cleaver released an album called Adjust on the Fresh Sounds New Talent label in 2001. It featured Maneri, Ben Monder, Andrew Bishop, Craig Taborn and Reid Anderson and was a Best Debut Recording Nominee by the Jazz Journalists Association. Cleaver currently leads the groups Uncle June, Black Host, Violet Hour and NiMbNl as well as working as a sideman with many different artists."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Cleaver_(musician))
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Jaribu Shahid hails from Detroit, Michigan, and was raised in a diverse musical climate, playing with local luminaries such as Kenn Cox, Wendell Harrison, Jimmy Wilkins, J.C. Heard, Martha and the Vandellas and others. Principally self-taught, Jaribu's training began in the band of friend Kamau kenyatta and in bass studies with Bob Collins.

Around 1975 he was mentored by Faruq Z. Bey and joined the sci-fi band Griot Galaxy. This explorative music, greatly influenced by Sun Ra and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, featured the original concepts by Faruq Z. Bey. This was further realized in 1976 when Tanni Tabal moved to Detroit, establishing the principal rhythm section of his career. In 1978, he moved to Philadelphia and lived with the core of the Sun Ra Arkestra with whom he played intermittenly untils Sonny's passing.

In 1979 he had his first opportunity to work with Roscoe Mitchell. This led to his career-long involvement with Roscoe in the Roscoe Mitchell Sound Ensemble and, currently, the Roscoe Mitchell Note Factory. In recent years, Jaribu has been a member of various groups led by master saxophonist David Murray and the Freedom Arts Quartet.

Jaribu has recorded with Sun Ra, Roscoe Mitchell, James Carter, David Murray, Geri Allen, Rod Williams, Craig Taborn, Hugh Ragin, Abdoulaye Ndiaye and Blue Dog. He can be heard on the Milt Jackson DVD Vibes Surprise recorded live in Munich. After Malachi Favors' passing, he was invited to perform with the Art Ensemble of Chicago."

-Pi Recordings (https://pirecordings.com/artists/jaribu-shahid/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Corey Wilkes has established himself as one of the best improvising trumpeters in the modern era. Having the skill and maturity to approach mainstream repertoire of jazz standards with his own unique sensibilities, he combines them with his deep appreciation of hip-hop. Corey continues to bring his brand of musicianship and talent to the forefront of the genre.

As a child, growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Wilkes was surrounded by the sounds of Blues, R&B, Soul, Funk and Jazz. He picked up the trumpet for the first time at the age of 10 participating in his school band programs. Corey's natural talent immediately began to flourish. His confidence and maturity were well beyond his years. As a student at Rich South High School in Richton Park, Illinois, his hard work and dedication secured him a spot in the Illinois All State Honors Jazz Combo; the first student in the school's history to do so.

Corey has also shared the stage with numerous Jazz Masters including but not limited to; Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, James Moody, Kurt Elling, Von Freeman, Greg Osby, Roscoe Mitchell, Marcus Belgrave, Clark Terry, Harry "Sweets" Edison and Mulgrew Miller. His soulful notes can be heard gracing a variety of contemporary projects including sets by DJ Logic, Osunlade and Josh Deep; tracks on Hidden Beach Recordings Presents: Unwrapped Vol. 4, Kahil El Zabar's Ascension Loft Series as well as Nona Hendryx, Soulive, Meshell Ndegocello and Ledisi."

-ArtistEcard (https://artistecard.com/CoreyWilkes)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Craig Marvin Taborn (/ˈteɪˌbɔːrn/; born February 20, 1970) is an American pianist, organist, keyboardist and composer. He works solo and in bands, mostly playing various forms of jazz. He started playing piano and Moog synthesizer as an adolescent and was influenced at an early stage by a wide range of music, including by the freedom expressed in recordings of free jazz and contemporary classical music.

While at university, Taborn toured and recorded with jazz saxophonist James Carter. Taborn went on to play with numerous other musicians in electronic and acoustic settings, while also building a reputation as a solo pianist. He has a range of styles, and often adapts his playing to the nature of the instrument and the sounds that he can make it produce. His improvising, particularly for solo piano, often adopts a modular approach, in which he begins with small units of melody and rhythm and then develops them into larger forms and structures.

In 2011, Down Beat magazine chose Taborn as winner of the electric keyboard category, as well as rising star in both the piano and organ categories. By May 2016, Taborn had released six albums under his own name and appeared on more than eighty as a sideman."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Taborn)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Song For My Sister 10:55

2. Sagitta 4:18

3. This 9:07

4. When The Whistle Blows 3:36

5. The Megaplexian 4:54

6. Step One, Two Three 8:28

7. The Inside Of A Star 3:02

8. Wind Change 11:26

9. Count-Off 4:38

Related Categories of Interest:

Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
Before April-2006
Pi Records
Improvised Music
Jazz
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
Before April-2006

Search for other titles on the label:
Pi Recordings.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Art Ensemble of Chicago, The
We are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration [2 CDS]
(Pi Recordings)
Marking 50 years for Chicago's most important and innovative ensembles, formed in 1969 to advance creative musicians as part of the AACM, is this tribute to and based on music written by late members Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, and Joseph Jarman, performed by 15 innovative musicians young and old, and presented in 2 CDs: one in the studio and one live at the 2018 Edgefest.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Bauder, Matt and Day in Pictures
Nightshades
(Clean Feed)
Known for his more abstract Memorize the Sky project, tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Matt Bauder's band Day in Pictures adheres to jazz traditions with the superb quintet of Nate Wooley (trumpet), Kris Davis (piano), Jason Ajemian (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums).
Ensemble SuperMusique
Bruit court-circuit
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Jean Derome, Joane Hetu, Danielle Palardy Roger, Alexandre St-Onge and Martin Tetreault each composed works for this stellar group of nine Montreal-based musique actuelle players, a startling and wonderful release of style, approach and concept.
Gjerstad, Frode / Kevin Norton / David Watson
Tipples
(FMR)
Free improvising from saxophonist Frode Gjerstad and vibraphonist Kenvin Norton, recording in the same space as their previous duo CD, but with guitarist David Watson as a 3rd voice.
Ideal Bread
Transmit: Vol. 2 of The Music of Steve Lacy
(Cuneiform)
The 2nd volume of the quartet of Kirk Knuffke, Josh Sinton, Reuben Radding and Tomas Fujiwara's quartet plaing the compositions of the late soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy.
Gratkowski, Frank / Hamid Drake
Live In New Orleans
(Valid Records)
Live recordings from the duo of saxophonist Frank Gratkowski and drummer Hamid Drake performing in New Orleans in 2009; amazing and far-ranging dialog from two masters.
Dresser, Mark / Harkins, Ed / Schick, Steven
House of Mirrors
(Clean Feed)
Clever and sublime improvisations based on odd meters, tricky tempo relations and challenging passages, engaging and satisfying music from three masters.
Tamura, Natsuki Quartet
Hada Hada
(Libra)
Thunderous and intense free improvisation from Natsuki Tamurao's Quartet with Satoko Fujii playing sythesizer. 2003 release, first time in stock at Squidco.
Eduardo, Ze / Jack Walrath Quartet
Bad Guys
(Clean Feed)
Art Ensemble of Chicago
Sirius Calling
(Pi Recordings)
Smith, Wadada Leo / Anthony Braxton
Saturn, Conjunct the Grand Canyon in a Sweet Embrace
(Pi Recordings)
Art Ensemble of Chicago
The Meeting
(Pi Recordings)
Graves, Milford / Morgan, Sunny
Percussion Ensemble
(ESP-Disk)
Taylor, Cecil / Bill Dixon / Tony Oxley
Taylor, Cecil / Bill Dixon / Tony Oxley
(Les Disques Victo)
Smith, Wadada Leo's Golden Quartet
The Year of the Elephant
(Pi Recordings)
Threadgill, Henry's Zooid
Up Popped the Two Lips
(Pi Recordings)
Great record from Threadgill's Zooid ensemble, an all-acoustic group with guitar, cello, oud, tuba and drums, along with the leaders saxophone and flute. Beautiful compositions, nicely played.
Threadgill, Henry
Everybody's Mouth's a Book
(Pi Recordings)
Frith, Fred Guitar Quartet (w/ Didkovsky / Lussier / Stewart)
Upbeat
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Lepage, Robert Marcel
Les clarinettes ont-elles un escalier de secours?
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Clarinetist Robert Marcel Lepage takes the listener on a trip around the world aboard his clarinet with the help of twenty other musicians.
Frith, Fred Guitar Quartet
Ayaya Moses
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Fred Frith's leads a quartet of electric guitars (Rene Lussier, Nick Didkovsky, Mark Stewart) through 10 different journeys that explores the dynamic potential of this unique group composition.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC