The Squid's Ear Magazine


Mitchell, Roscoe / Ostravaska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission (Wide Hive)

"Distant Radio Transmission" was originally recorded as an improvisation by Roscoe Mitchell, Craig Taborn, and Kikanju Baku in 2013, then transcribed by Stephen P. Harvey in 2016, extended for strings by John Ivers in 2017, and then fully orchestrated by Roscoe Mitchell himself in 2017; the album also includes "Noonah Trio", "Cutouts for Woodwind Quintet" and "8/8/88".
 

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Personnel:



Dana Reason-piano

John C. Savage-flute

Catherine Lee-oboe

Roberta Michel-flute

Christa Robinson-oboe

Carlos Corddeio-clarinet

Sara Schoenbeck-bassoon

John Gattis-French horn

Petr Kotik-conductor

Daniel Havel-flute

Malgorzata Hlawsa-flute

Kamila Motkova-oboe

Denisa Bila-oboe

Lukas Danhel-clarinet

Carlos Cordeiro-clarinet

Stefanie Liedtke-bassoon

Jan Soukup-bassoon

Monika Cerovska-horn

Jan Garlathy-horn

Andy Kozar-trumpet

William Lang-trombone

Gergely Lukacs-tuba

Adam Maros-percussion

Miklos Hollo-percussion

Chris Nappi-percussion

Keiko Shichijo-piano

Ivana Dohnalova-harp

Conrad Harris-violin

Pauline Kim Harris-violin

Eszter Krulik-violin

Marco Cano-violin

David Danel-violin

Nikolaus Schlierf-viola

Juraj Madari-viola

Liuh Wen Ting-viola

Andrej Gal-violoncello

Matthias Lorenz-violoncello

Juho Laitinen-violoncello

Frantisek Vyrostko-contrabass

Juraj Bajus-contrabass

Thomas Buckner-baritone voice

James Fei-electronics

Roscoe Mitchell-soprano saxophone, composer


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UPC: 698873034729

Label: Wide Hive
Catalog ID: WH-0347
Squidco Product Code: 28474

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack - 3 panel
Track 1 recorded in 2017.

Track 2 recorded in New York City, New York, on March 5th, 2019, by Sascha von Oertzen.

Tracks 4, 5 and 6 recorded by Seth Horvitz.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Roscoe Mitchell With Ostravaska Banda Performing "Distant Radio Transmission", "Nonaah Trio", "Cutouts For Woodwind Quintet", And "8.8.88".

The first Piece 'Distant Radio Transmission' was first recorded as an improvisation by Roscoe Mitchell, Craig Taborn, and Kikanju Baku in 2013 and released as the third composition on Roscoe Mitchell Conversations I (Wide Hive Records WH-0317). It was then transcribed by Stephen P. Harvey in 2016 with further Transcription and Orchestration of air sounds for Strings by John Ivers in 2017 and finally then fully Orchestrated by Roscoe Mitchell in 2017. Here it is performed in 2019 by Mr Mitchell on Soprano Saxophone and the influential Czech Orchestra Ostravaska Banda.

"Nonaah Trio" was recorded in Oregon with Roscoe Mitchell on Soprano Saxophone, Dana Reason on Piano John C Savage on Flute, and Catherine Lee D. Mus on Oboe.

"Cutouts for Woodwind Quintet" was rewritten for five instruments by Mr. Mitchell in 2019 and recorded in New York before his Park Avenue Armory performance in March of 2019.

"August 8, 1988" (8.8.88): Roscoe worte three compositions for piano intended for the great concert pianist Mr. Joseph Kubera. Since this work was not subject to the constraints associated with commissioned work Roscoe spent ten years finalizing the first movement. In 1998 The Mutable Music Foundation commissioned the composition's remaining movements. "8/8/88" consists of three sections. The first movement is 35 measures long, divided asymmetrically into uncommon time signatures such as 15/8, 11/8, 17/8 etc. The second movement has 17 measures and the third movement 44 measures. Here it is performed on a Disklavier by Seth Horvitz."-Wide Hive

Also available on vinyl LP.

Artist Biographies

"Brooklyn-based flutist Roberta Michel is dedicated to the music of our time. Praising her "extreme adventurousness," New York Concert Review said she "riveted with her performance, inspiring one to want a repeated hearing." Michel is the Co-artistic Director of Wavefield.

A founding member of Duo RoMi and Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Michel has also performed with: Ecce Ensemble, Portland String Quartet, Newspeak, SEM Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, Argento, Iktus, Wordless Music Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble LPR, and Cygnus Ensemble among others. Recent venues include: Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tulley Hall, Merkin Hall, The Kennedy Center, Roulette, Issue Project Room, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She can be heard on New Dynamic, Innova, Tzadik, and Meta Records. Michel has commissioned and premiered hundreds of new works and has worked with many notable composers of our day.

Michel holds degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder, SUNY-Purchase College, and the City University of New York Graduate Center. She is a winner of the NFA Graduate Research Competition for her dissertation on the flute music of Salvatore Sciarrino, resulting in a presentation at the 2013 National Flute Association Convention in New Orleans. Her teachers include Robert Dick, Tara O'Connor, and Alexa Still. She currently teaches at St. Francis College, Sarah Lawrence College, and at her private studio in Brooklyn."

-Roberta Michel Website (http://robertamichel.com/about/)
3/27/2024

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"Sara Schoenbeck is a bassoonist who dedicates herself to expanding the sound and role of the bassoon in the worlds of classical, contemporary notated and improvised music. The Wire magazine places her in the "tiny club of bassoon pioneers" at work in contemporary music today and the New York Times has called her "riveting, mixing textural experiments with a big, confident sound."

Originally from California, Sara spent her time on the west coast freelancing in various orchestral bassoon sections such as Santa Barbara Symphony, California Symphony, Redlands, Mancini Orchestra, the Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra and touring as a member of creative music ensembles Gravitas Quartet with Wayne Horvitz, Ron Miles and Peggy Lee, Anthony Braxton's 12+1(tet) and Vinny Golia's Large Ensemble. Sara also recorded for various sound and film projects including the Matrix 2 and 3 and Spanglish.

Sara now calls Brooklyn home and performs regularly with Petr Kotek's SEM ensemble, the composers group WetInk, Wordless Music Orchestra, LPR, Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Orchestra, Gravitas, Harris Eisenstadt's Golden State Quartet,the Lyrica Chamber Orchestra as well as performing with many other creative and inspiring musicians in the New York scene.

She has performed at major venues and festivals throughout North America and Europe, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the Kitchen, Iridium, Disney Hall, SXSW, New Orleans Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival, Free Music Festival in Antwerp Belgium, Biennale Musica in Venice Italy, Montreal Jazz Festival, Ottawa Jazz Festival, the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and the San Francisco Jazz Festival to name a few. Sara received her BFA from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts."

-Sara Schoenbeck Website (http://saraschoenbeck.weebly.com/bio.html)
3/27/2024

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"Petr Kotik (surname originally Kot’k) (born January 27, 1942, in Prague) is a composer, conductor and flutist living in New York City. He was educated in Europe (Prague Conservatory, graduated 1961; Vienna Music Academy, graduated 1966; AMU Prague, graduated 1969). From 1960 to 1963, Kotik studied composition privately with Jan Rychl’k in Prague, and from 1963 to 1966 at the Music Academy in Vienna with Karl Schieske, Hans Jelinek, and Friedrich Cerha. In Prague, he founded and directed Musica Viva Pragensis (1961Ð64) and the QUAX Ensemble (1966Ð69). He came to the United States in 1969 at the invitation of Lukas Foss and Lejaren Hiller to join the Center for Creative and Performing Arts at the University at Buffalo.

Since 1983, Kotik has been living in New York City. Kotik is the founder and Artistic Director of the S.E.M. Ensemble, based in New York City, which presents both chamber and orchestra concerts. Kotik has received numerous commissions and composition grants, from the National Endowment for the Arts. Kotik received a 1996 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award. He is also known for his realization of the complete musical works of Marcel Duchamp.

With the S.E.M. Ensemble (which he founded in 1970), Kotik has for many years actively promoted the work of other (mostly American) composers sharing a stylistic affinity with his own work, giving frequent performances as conductor and performer with the group as well as its larger version, the Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble.

Kotik's music is composed in the minimal vein, with works often being of long duration and featuring slow tempi and quiet dynamics. Though his works feature innumerable gradual, slight changes, giving them a seemingly static quality, his harmonies, however, are more complex than those employed by many other American minimal composers, and his musical process is not as apparent to the listener as, for example, in the works of Steve Reich or Philip Glass. Further, Kotik does not draw as heavily on jazz or rock in his works as do many of his American colleagues (though, like Steve Reich, he is quite interested in Medieval music and often integrates Medieval compositional techniques into his works). These qualities set Kotik's music apart from American minimal trends, giving his music a decidedly European character more similar in outlook to, for example, that of Hungarian minimalists such as Zolt‡n Jeney, L‡szl— S‡ry, or L‡szl— Vidovszky.

Among Kotik's best known works is the six-hour opera Many Many Women (1976Ð78), based on a text by Gertrude Stein, for whose work, appropriately, Kotik has a special affinity.

As a performer, Kotik has been an active chamber musician throughout much of his life. Until 1992, Kotik did not have the slightest interest in orchestra. That changed in 1992, when he conducted Atlas Eclipticalis by John Cage with the 86-piece Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble in Tribute to John Cage at Carnegie Hall, with David Tudor as the soloist. Since then, Kotik has been organizing large-scale events, expanding the S.E.M. Ensemble into The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble, and encouraging and commissioning other composers to write for orchestra. In 1999, after conducting Gruppen by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kotik initiated a project of compositions for 3 orchestras and commissioned the creation of new 3-orchestra works by Alvin Lucier, Christian Wolff, Martin Smolka, Phill Niblock and Olga Neuwirth. In 2001, Kotik founded the biennial Ostrava Days, an Institute and Festival of New Music in Ostrava, Czech Republic. This three-week program, one of the largest in existence, focuses on works for orchestra, with 2 resident orchestras and number of resident composers, chamber music groups and soloists.

Although Kotik entered the conservatory at the age of 14, he only began composing in his late teens. This was due to his lack of interest in classical harmony, a tendency shared with other composers such as Christian Wolff and John Cage. As a composer, Kotik is essentially self-taught, in spite of his education in Western composition fundamentals in Prague and Vienna. His technique has very little to do with commonly used compositional methods.

Kotik's compositional system can be compared to a game in which the use of controlled chance is balanced by conscious decision-making. The two alternate, one influencing the other. In this way Kotik triggers unpredictable processes while the work progresses in the envisioned direction. In recent years, Kotik has relied increasingly on intuitive gestures. The strategies and limitations Kotik imposes on chance, along with intuitive decisions, are at the root of his compositional process.

Among Kotik's best-known compositions are Music for 3 (1964) for piano and 2 strings; Spontano (1964) for piano and ensemble (composed for Frederic Rzewski); Kontrabandt (1967), a live electronic work commissioned by the WDR Electronic Music Studio; Many Many Women (1975Ð78) on a text by Gertrude Stein; and Letters to Olga (1988Ð91) on a text by V‡clav Havel. His orchestra pieces include: Quiescent Form (1994Ð96); the one-hour-long Music in Two Movements (1998Ð2002); Variations for 3 Orchestras (2002Ð2005); and Spheres and Attraction (2005Ð2006) for 2 voices, string quartet and percussion on a text by R. Buckminster Fuller.

"KotikÕs massive and too modestly named Fragment (1st movement of Music in Two Movements), which he conducted with his SEM Orchestra gives me sufficient pretext to voice the overdue sentiment that he is one of the best composers working today...among those writing abstract works for ensembles of unconventional instruments, Kotik stands very near the top and possibly at the top. He produced some of the most durable, though still little-known musical monuments of the post-Cage 70s, and his output has been amazingly consistent in quality.Ó (New York music critic and composer Kyle Gann, The Village Voice 1998).

Kotik's music is available on the Labor, Dog w/a Bone and Ear-Rational labels.

His father was the painter Jan Kot’k. He is married to the curator and art historian Charlotta Kotik, great-granddaughter of Tom‡ Garrigue Masaryk, and has a son, Tomas (Tom), who is a New York-based sculptor. His other son, Jan Jakub Kotik, was born in 1972 and died of cancer in 2007."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petr_Kotik)
3/27/2024

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"Originally from Long Island, trombonist William Lang is an active performer, improviser, and teacher based in New York City. He can be found playing in all settings and style, from the avant-garde and classical to Broadway and indie chamber pop. He has given his signature unaccompanied recitals throughout the United States, played concertos in both America and Europe, and has also recorded with such artists as Philip Glass, David Bryne, St. Vincent, and Jonsi (of Sigur Ros.) Intensely passionate for chamber music, he regularly performs alongside his groundbreaking ensembles loadbang (an original and unique group of musicians interested in cutting edge music) and the Guidonian Hand (a trombone quartet dedicated to breaking boundaries within the brass community.) The New York Times has called his playing "fiercely, virtuosic" and the Boston Globe has hailed him for his "superb performance" in past solo works."

-William Lang Website (http://www.williamlang.org/about.php)
3/27/2024

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

"Pianist & fortepianist Keiko Shichijo is a special voice in both the Classical and new music worlds. Her traditional Japanese sensibilities combined with her knowledge of European historical performance practices shape her unique vision, and this is reflected in her feeling for the music, the instruments and the story behind them.

Hailing from Japan and residing in the Netherlands for more than a decade, she is active around the world playing both solo and chamber music. She is a prizewinner in many international competitions, including twice the International Early Music Competition (solo and duo) in Brugge, Belgium, the International Early Music Competition "A Tre" in Trossingen in Germany and the Minkoff Prize from the music publisher, Edition Minkoff, and has performed in many international festivals such as the festivals Printemps Des Arts (France), Utrecht Oude Muziek Festival (Holland), MA Festival (Belgium), La Folle Journée Tokyo (Japan). In 2012, the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments in Japan released her first fortepiano solo CD of works by Schubert.

Her second solo CD "6 Dances by Komitas Vardapet", released in 2016, earned unanimous praise in the international press and was featured on the national Dutch TV program Vrije Geluiden.

Keiko Shichijo has a violin/fortepiano duo with renowned violinist Cecilia Bernardini which performs regularly throughout Europe.

As a specialist in contemporary music Keiko has worked with many composers, including Helmut Lachenmann, Tom Johnson, Johannes Kalitzke, Jürg Frey, Roscoe Mitchell en Bernhard Lang. Recently she premiered a concerto with the Janacek Philharmonic."

-Keiko Shichijo Website (https://www.keikoshichijo.com/about)
3/27/2024

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"Violinist Conrad Harris has performed new works for violin at Ostrava Days, Darmstadt Ferrienkürse für Neue Musik, Gulbenkian Encounters of New Music, Radio France, Warsaw Autumn, and New York's Sonic Boom Festival. In addition to being a member of the FLUX Quartet and violin duo String Noise, he is concertmaster/soloist with the S.E.M. Orchestra, Ostravská Banda, STX Ensemble, Wordless Music Orchestra and Ensemble LPR.

He has performed and recorded with such artists as Elliott Sharp, Robert Ashley, Alvin Lucier, David Behrman "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Jean-Claude Risset, Rohan de Saram and Tiny Tim. His recordings of the Lejaren Hiller Violin Sonatas with pianist, Joseph Kubera will be released in 2018 on New World Records. He has also recorded for Asphodel, Vandenburg, CRI, and Vinyl Retentive Records."

-Conrad Harris Website (https://www.conradharris.com/bio)
3/27/2024

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

"Pauline Kim Harris, aka PK or Pauline Kim is a Grammy™-nominated violinist and composer. The youngest student to have ever been accepted into the studio of legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz, she has since appeared throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia as soloist, collaborator and music director. Currently known for her work with classical avant-punk violin duo String Noise with her husband, Conrad Harris of the FLUX Quartet, she has toured extensively with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, has been a long standing member of the SEM Ensemble and OstravskaBanda in the Czech Republic and has been a guest artist with leading new music ensembles such as Talea, ICE, Alarm Will Sound, Argento, TRANSIT, Object Collection, Glass Farm Ensemble, Ensemble LPR, Wordless Music and Ensemble Signal in New York City.

Committed to the idea that music is one continuous lineage of expression and demonstration of time, Pauline has been dismantling the norm of expectation of a typical classical violinist by performing in concerts presented in museums, churches, nightclubs, out of doors, rooftops, pop-ups to major stages with an openness to genre. As a composer, Pauline searches for a tactile connection between memory and sound. Her music creates a multi-dimensional sonic matrix through composition, transporting the listener to an alternate co-existence. She introduces an environment that alters the listener's emotional identity to what they are experiencing.

Active in the experimental music scene, her work extends into interdisciplinary worlds, crossing boundaries and connecting visual art, electronics, media, film and dance to music. She has premiered and recorded works by Alvin Lucier, John Zorn, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, George Lewis, David Lang, Du Yun, Annie Gosfield and more.

Crossing over into the rock and pop worlds, she has played and recorded as collaborator and leader for Jeff Beck, Lenny Kravitz, David Byrne (Talking Heads), Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Tyondai Braxton, Max Richter, Gordon Gano (Violent Femmes), Jon Brion, Savion Glover, Gabriel Kahane, Mica Levi (Micachu and the Shapes), Jay Z/Beyoncé, Adele, Peter Gabriel, Somi, Jane Siberry, Macy Grey, Laurie Anderson, Björk, Roscoe Mitchell, Max Richter, Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend), Michael Leonhart, Placido Domingo, Joni Mitchell, John Cale (Velvet Underground), Billy Martin (Medeski, Martin & Wood), Jason Moran, Dan Romer, William Basinski, Jherek Bischoff, Stars of the Lid, Goldfrapp, Chilly Gonzales, Louis Michot (Lost Bayou Ramblers), Kishi Bashi, Nico Muhly & Doveman, Nu Deco Ensemble and with Jónsi Birgisson (Sigur Ros) in the fall of 2019.

Pauline was the first Music Director for the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company and has been the featured artist for choreographers David Parker, Kora Radella and Pam Tanowitz. She has performed at MASS MoCA, MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, iMOCA, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Guggenheim, The Drawing Center, Paula Cooper Gallery, Barnes Foundation, Brooklyn Museum and Noguchi Museum to name some.

She has appeared at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Ghent Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, White Light Festival, Big Ears Festival, Liquid Music, Jacob's Pillow, Barbican, Miller Theater, Baryshnikov Center, DiMenna Classical Center, Symphony Space, Joyce Theater, Roulette, Issue Project Room, BAM, Sydney Opera House, Library of Congress, FringeArts, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall.

Pauline moved to NYC at the age of 15 to study with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School and is currently a sought after mentor to dance and drama students through the Juilliard Mentoring Program."

-Pauline Kim Harris Website (http://www.paulinekimharris.com/about)
3/27/2024

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

Matthias Lorenz is a German cellist, a member of Neues Leipziger Streichquartett. He has also recorded with Euphorium_freakestra, and Ostravaska Banda.

-Discogs (https://www.discogs.com/artist/3539413-Matthias-Lorenz)
3/27/2024

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"For decades, baritone Thomas Buckner has dedicated himself to the promotion and performance of new and improvised music, collaborating with a host of new music luminaries including Robert Ashley, Noah Creshevsky, Tom Hamilton, Earl Howard, Matthias Kaul, Leroy Jenkins, Bun Ching Lam, Annea Lockwood, Roscoe Mitchell, Phill Niblock, Wadada Leo Smith, Chinary Ung, Christian Wolff and many others.

Buckner has appeared at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Herbst Theatre, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Berlin Spring Festival, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Prague Spring Festival, and the Angelica Festival of Bologna. He is featured on over 50 recordings, including 6 solo albums, the most recent being "New Music for Baritone & Chamber Ensemble," which includes works by Annea Lockwood, Tania Leon, and Petr Kotik. Buckner also appears in the CD/DVD "Kirili et le Nymphéas (Hommage à Monet)" filmed at the Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, which houses the Monet's celebrated Water lilies murals.

For the past thirty years Thomas Buckner has curated the Interpretations series in New York City, and continues to produce recordings on the Mutable Music label, introducing current artists and repertoire, as well as presenting important historic material, previously unavailable in CD format."

-Thomas Buckner Website (http://www.thomasbuckner.com/short-biography/)
3/27/2024

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"James Fei (b. Taipei, Taiwan) moved to the US in 1992 to study electrical engineering. He has since been active as a composer and performer on saxophones and live electronics. Works by Fei have been performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble, MATA Micro Orchestra and Noord-Hollands Philharmonisch Orkest. Recordings can be found on Leo Records, Improvised Music from Japan, CRI, Krabbesholm and Organized Sound. Compositions for Fei's own ensemble of four alto saxophones focus on physical processes of saliva, fatigue, reeds crippled by cuts and the threshold of audible sound production, while his sound installations and performance on live electronics often focus on electronic and acoustic feedback. Fei received the Grants for Artists Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in 2014. Fei has taught at Mills College in Oakland since 2006, where he is Associate Professor of Electronic Arts. www.jamesfei.com

Works by Fei have been performed at Merkin Hall, The Kitchen, Knitting Factory, Tonic, Roulette, Experimental Intermedia, MATA Festival, Engine 27, The Stone, Issue Project Room (all New York), SFMoma, Empty Bottle (Chicago), Akedemie der Künste (Berlin), Beurs van Berlage (Amsterdam), Steim (Amsterdam), Overtoom 301 (Amsterdam), JFC Club (St Petersberg), Super Deluxe (Tokyo), Shinjuku Pit Inn (Tokyo), Osaka Arts-Aporia, Bridge (Osaka), and National Recital Hall (Taiwan). Fei has lectured at Columbia University, Wesleyan University,The Art Institute of Chicago, Taipei Normal University,Taipei National University of the Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Theremin Center (Moscow), Pro Arte (St. Petersberg), Krabbesholm (Denmark), IAMAS (Ogaki, Japan) and NUAS (Nogoya, Japan)."

-James Fei Website (http://www.jamesfei.com/bio.html)
3/27/2024

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"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)
3/27/2024

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Track Listing:



1. Distant Radio Transmission 19:56

2. Nonaah Trio 14:45

3. Cutouts for Woodwind Quintet 8:44

4. 8.8.88, Pt. 1 4:20

5. 8.8.88, Pt. 2 1:10

6. 8.8.88, Pt. 3 3:18

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Jazz
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NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
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Piano & Keyboards
Large Ensembles
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Neha
(Another Timbre)
Neha, the Slovakian word for tenderness, is expressed by composer Adrián Demoč in this lovely and gentle work performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra; and "Popínavá hudba", written for the international symphony orchestra for new music, Ostrava New Orchestra, referencing the growth of climbing plants through an alluring melodic line that shifts and spreads in direction.
Mitchell, Roscoe Orchestra & Space Trio
At The Fault Zone Festival
(Wide Hive)
Adapting Roscoe Mitchell's large work "Distant Radio Transmission" for the 2022 Fault Zone Festival in a large ensemble conducted by Steed Cowart, along with four other compositions performed in varying configurations from very large ensemble, two pieces from the Space Trio of Mitchell, Thomas Buckner & Scott Robinson, and a duo with pianist Sarah Cahill and violinist Kate Stenberg.
Art Ensemble Of Chicago
Les Stances a Sophie [VINYL]
(Play Loud! Productions)
Recording in France in 1970, the Art Ensemble of Chicago (Malachi Favors on bass, Joseph Jarman on saxophone, Roscoe Mitchell on saxophone, Lester Bowie on trumpet) recorded the soundtrack to director Moshé Mizrahi's movie Les stances à Sophie, joined by vocalist Fontella Bass, releasing a classic and exciting album that stands as a great testament to the versatility of its players.
Art Ensemble Of Chicago
The Sixth Decade: From Paris To Paris [2 CDs]
(RogueArt)
Celebrating 50 years since formed as a quintet in Paris, original Art Ensemble members saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell and percussionist Famoudou Don Moye present this live concert at Maison des Arts de Creteil in France with an oustanding chamber jazz ensemble including trumpeter Hugh Ragin, flutist Nicole Mitchell, bassist Jaribu Shahid, cellist Tomeka Reid and violinist Jean Cook.
Smith, Wadada Leo
String Quartets Nos. 1-12 [7-CD BOXSET]
(Tum)
Since 1965 Wadada Leo Smith has developed string quartets influenced by a diverse set of composers including Ornette Coleman, Claude Debussy, Howlin' Wolf, Scott Joplin, Olly Wilson, &c. heard here in 12 Quartets from 3 major periods of his work, compositions exploring the African-American experience, with scores that leave room for interpretation and expression from his players.
Schoenbeck, Sara
Sara Schoenbeck
(Pyroclastic Records)
A document of bassoonist Sara Shoenbeck's collaborations recorded between 2019-2021 in recording studios across North America, showing the inspired curiosity she brings to improvisation through a diverse set of duos performed with Harris Eisenstadt, Nicole Mitchell, Nels Cline, Roscoe Mitchell, Matt Mitchell, Mark Dresser, Wayne Horvitz, Peggy Lee and Robin Holcomb.
Rogers, Erin
2000 Miles
(Relative Pitch)
Focusing intently on multiphonics and long-form statements on the saxophone, the second solo album from Canadian-American saxophonist based in New York City, Erin Rogers, is a tour-de-force of unusual language on the instrument, exploring every inch from the reeds to the pads in manners uniquely harrowing, ingenious, awe-filled, unorthodox, and always inspired.
Mitchell, Roscoe
Dots / Pieces For Percussion And Woodwinds [VINYL]
(Wide Hive)
Using his own percussion array, particularly bells and ringing objects, and a variety of woodwinds focused around the saxophone family, AACM legend Roscoe Mitchell recorded these 19 compositions at his home studio during the pandemic lockdowns, creating fascinatingly introspective, atmospheric and resonant environments over which he distinctively overdubs his saxophone.
Prettschnoder, Tibor / Neues Leipziger Streichquartett
The Largo And The Lame
(Euphorium)
Ominous and dense with layers of strata intended for nighttime listening, the German quartet of Axel Dorner on trumpet & electronics, Matthias Lorenz on cello, and both Robert Landfermann and John Edwards on double bass recorded these four tremendous electroacoustic improvisations at their live performance at naTo in Leipzig, Germany in 2013.
Lee, Yoon-Ji
Padong
(zOaR Records)
Five compositions from Yoon-Ji Lee, whose work employs unconventional and nonlinear structures that focus on quick transformations of language, noise, texture, and tonal color, here with five works, one performed by JACK Quartet & Mivos Quaret, a work for solo Saenghwang, a solo piano work, a string quartet, and a mixed chamber ensemble.
Piet, Matt
(pentimento)
(Amalgam)
Three layers of Chicago pianist & composer Matt Piet (Four Letter Words, Matt Piet Trio) in a virtual trio improvised sequentially in the studio in 2020, the title referring to a visible trace of earlier painting beneath a layer of paint on a canvas, an apt analogy for the keen interactions and wonderful labyrinths Piet performs with himself.
je'raf
Throw Neck
(Amalgam)
Reminding of Downtown NY bands in the vein of No Safety or Curlew, this Chicago/NY 7-piece blurs rock, jazz and funk forms with intelligent and often satirical lyrics, upbeat and joyful music that defies categorization through groove-based songs that playfully critique while keeping it all danceable and fun, in a wonderfully talented and enjoyable album.
Mitchell, Roscoe / Sandy Ewen / Damon Smith / Weasel Walter
A Railroad Spike Forms The Voice
(ugEXPLODE)
The first meeting between Art Ensemble of Chicago saxophone legend Roscoe Mitchell and the long running improvisational trio of Sandy Ewen (guitar), Damon Smith (double bass) and Weasel Walter (drums), in an epic 72-minute recording captured live at Duende in Oakland, CA in 2014, an amazing display contrasting control & chaos, form and deconstruction; exemplary!
Hatcher, Gerrit
Knowledge About The Future
(Kettle Hole Records)
Chicago-based tenor saxophonist, improviser, and composer Gerrit Hatcher (Devouring the Guilt, duos with Anton Hatwich, duos with Julian Kirshner) in a solo album of seven succinct statements, diverse expressions from scrabbling determination to pensive reflection, all informed by masterful skills that add nuance and intrigue to each track.
Fluke-Mogul, Gabby
Threshold
(Relative Pitch)
Applying extended techniques from rubbing & scraping to sawing and striking, New York violinist Gabby Fluke-Mogul presents a bold solo violin album of 6 pieces with titles like "Bruise" or "Teeth", drawing an incredible gamut of unusual sounds from the violin and its body, occasionally adding vocal utterance, all laid out with a wonderfully quirky sense of timing.
Futterman, Joel
Silhouettes
(Progressive Records)
This '93 solo concert at Norfolk Academy in Virginia finds free jazz pianist Joel Futterman reflecting on standards and jazz repertoire by inference & reference, improvising over 7 original compositions and Coltrane's "Naima", with moments of lyrical delicacy, savvy swinging sections, and reflective Monk moods, all filtered through his Futteran's powerful creative drive.



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Taylor, Cecil / Tony Oxley
Being Astral And All Registers - Power Of Two
(Discus)
Taken from the personal archives of UK drummer/percussionist Tony Oxley, this extremely well recorded duo session with frequent collaborator, iconoclastic NY pianist Cecil Taylor, are heard in a live performance at the Ulrichsberg Festival, Austria in 2002 for a brilliantly frenetic and masterfully controlled, creative set of two jaw-dropping extended dialogs.
Oxley, Tony
February Papers
(Discus)
Reissuing percussionist and electronic innovator Tony Oxley's 1977 Incus album, collecting works from Oxley's evolving approaches, including a quartet with bassist Barry Guy and violinists David Bourne & Philipp Wachsmann; a trio with Barry Guy and Ian Brighton on electric guitar; and solo pieces including a piece for Evan Parker emulating his sound through electronics.
Cleaver, Gerald
Signs
(577 Records)
Taking his cues from the electronic music of his Detroit roots, free jazz drummer Gerald Cleaver presents an album of synthetic rhythms and sonic landscape, each piece composed in detailed arrangements of compelling and adventurous structures, from propulsive grooves to sinuous soundscapes, a surprising and exciting twist showing Cleaver's strong compositional skills.
MacroQuarktet, The
The Complete Night: Live At The Stone NYC [2 CDs]
(Out Of Your Head Records)
NYC Downtown mainstays, trumpeters Dave Ballou and Herb Robertson, are heard in a full concert at The Stone in NYC in 2007 with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tom Rainey, concentrating their work in the Satoko Fuji Orchestra and Orange Then Blue into their own quartet, this their first performance together their energy, inventivenss and enthusiasm is on full display.
Coltrane, John Quartet
My Favorite Things Graz 1962
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
The 2nd volume from tenor & soprano saxophonist John Coltrane 1962 tour of Europe and Scandinavia, heard here in late November at Stefaniensaal, Graz with his quartet of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones, the band playing classic numbers under the influence of Coltrane's expanding drive to transform his music toward greater freedom.
Rivers, Sam Trio feat Dave Holland / Barry Altschul
Ricochet
(NoBusiness)
Captured live in San Francisco in 1978, the lastest in the NoBusiness Sam Rivers Archive series finds the masterful wind player in peak form with the trio of Dave Holland on bass & cello, and Barry Altschul on drums, Rivers on tenor & soprano sax, flute & piano, in the 52 minute free jazz epic "Ricochet", a high-energy work of diverse mood and character; superb!
Evangelista, Karl (w/ Alexander Hawkins / Louis Moholo-Moholo / Trevor Watts)
Apura! [2 CDs]
(Astral Spirits)
Filipino guitarist Karl Evangelista translates the name of the seminal South African sextet Chris McGregor Group's album "Very Urgent" to the tagalog equivalent--"Apura!"-- recording in London with McGregor group drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo and kindred soul Trevor Watts on saxophones, plus luminary pianist Alexander Hawkins, for a sophisticated album of exemplary collective improv.
New York Contemporary Five
Consequences Revisited
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Though short-lived, the New York Contemporary Five brought together NY free players Don Moore on bass, J.C. Moses on drums, Archie Shepp on tenor saxophone, and Don Cherry on trumpet with Danish alto saxophonist John Tchicai, in a remastered edition of their 1966 album "Consequences", expanded with Shepp's revisiting of the material in a sextet with Sunny Murray and Ted Curson.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

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