Roscoe Mitchell, BELLS FOR THE SOUTH SIDE

[Guy Berger]

Roscoe has a new ECM album coming out June 30th, a 2 CD live set with music from 4 ensembles (including the AEOC).  Did anybody see the concert in question - I assume this is a must-by?

 

From Amazon:

"Roscoe Mitchell contrasts and for the first time - combines the sounds and distinctive characters of his four trios in an exhilarating double album recorded at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art. Multi-instrumentalist and composer Mitchell had been invited to premiere new music at the museum, in the context of the exhibition The Freedom Principle, which celebrated the directions in music and art set in motion by the AACM on Chicago's South Side. He offers what amounts to a composer self-portrait in continually changing colors and textures, reflecting on his own history while looking toward the future. Two pieces including the title composition draw upon the full percussion instrumentarium of the Art Ensemble of Chicago a panorama of gongs, bells, rattles, sirens, hand drums and more. Along the way there are remarkable contributions by all participants, among them a lyrical bass guitar feature for Jaribu Shahid on EP 7849, a heart-dilating solo by Tani Tabbal on Cards for Drums, an extended trumpet feature for Hugh Ragin on the title track, evocative and atmospheric electronics from Craig Taborn and James Fei on Red Moon in the Sky, and plenty of Mitchell's powerhouse saxophones throughout, from the piercing sopranino down to the mighty bass sax. The performance is concluded with Odwalla, the Mitchell-composed theme song of the Art Ensemble."

[JSngry]

I have definitely preordered, thanks for this tip as well!

[Chuck Nessa]

I was there as were a couple other members here. Missing from the personnel list are Tyshawn Sorey, William Wynant and Kikanju Baku. 

[Chuck Nessa]

Here are a couple of shots from our seats in the front row.

 

[GA Russell]

ECM

Roscoe Mitchell - Bells for the South Side

 Release date: June 30, 2017

 

Roscoe Mitchell: sopranino, soprano, alto and bass saxophones, flute, piccolo, bass recorder, percussion

James Fei: sopranino and alto saxophones, contra-alto clarinet, electronicsHugh Ragin: trumpet, piccolo trumpet

Tyshawn Sorey: trombone, piano, drums, percussion

Craig Taborn: piano, organ, electronics

Jaribu Shahid: double bass, bass guitar, percussion

Tani Tabbal: drums, percussion

Kikanju Baku: drums, percussion

William Winant: percussion, tubular bells, glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, roto toms, cymbals, bass drum, woodblocks, timpani

[GA Russell]

Roscoe Mitchell sopranino, soprano, alto and bass saxophones, flute, piccolo, bass recorder, percussion | James Fei sopranino and alto saxophones, contra-alto clarinet, electronics | Hugh Ragin trumpet, piccolo trumpet | Tyshawn Sorey trombone, piano, drums, percussion | Craig Taborn piano, organ, electronics | Jaribu Shahid double bass, bass guitar, percussion | Tani Tabbal drums, percussion | Kikanju Baku drums, percussion | William Winant percussion, tubular bells, glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, roto toms, cymbals, bass drum, woodblocks, timpani Roscoe Mitchell contrasts and – for the first time - combines the sounds and distinctive characters of his four trios in an exhilarating double set. The album was recorded at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art where multi-instrumentalist and composer Mitchell had been invited to premiere new music. This project offers what amounts to a composer self-portrait in continually changing colors and textures, reflecting on his own history while looking toward the future. © 2017 ECM | ECM Records USA | 1755 Broadway, 3rd floor | New York NY 10011

Edited June 3, 2017 by GA Russell

[GA Russell]

ECM

 

 

 

Roscoe Mitchell

Bells for the South Side

 

Roscoe Mitchell: sopranino, soprano, alto and bass saxophones, flute, piccolo, bass recorder, percussion

James Fei: sopranino and alto saxophones, contra-alto clarinet, electronics

Hugh Ragin: trumpet, piccolo trumpet

Tyshawn Sorey: trombone, piano, drums, percussion

Craig Taborn: piano, organ, electronics

Jaribu Shahid: double bass, bass guitar, percussion

William Winant: percussion, tubular bells, glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, roto toms, cymbals, bass drum, woodblocks, timpani

Kikanju Baku: drums, percussion

Tani Tabbal: drums, percussion

 

U.S. Release date:  June 30, 2017

 

ECM 2494/95 2-CD Set

B0026784-02

UPC: 6025 571 1952 7 

 

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser Roscoe Mitchell contrasts and – for the first time - combines the sounds and distinctive characters of his four trios in a very special recording made at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Mitchell had been invited to premiere new music at the museum, in the context of the exhibition The Freedom Principle, which celebrated the directions in music and art set in motion by the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians on Chicago’s South Side.

 

In this recording, Roscoe Mitchell offers what amounts to a composer self-portrait in continually changing colors and textures, reflecting on his own history while looking toward the future. Two pieces – including the title composition – draw upon the full percussion instrumentarium of the Art Ensemble of Chicago – a panorama of gongs, bells, rattles, sirens, hand drums and more.  Recorded in 2015 on the occasion of the AACM’s 50^th anniversary, Bells for the South Side is released half a century after the founding of the Art Ensemble - the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, as it was originally called.

 

The double album opens with “Spatial Aspects of the Sound”, the inventiveness of Mitchell’s writing immediately striking.  Craig Taborn and Tyshawn Sorey are both on pianos here and William Winant on tubular bells, the austere character of the music counterbalanced by Kikanju Baku’s sprite-like entry with ankle bells and sleigh bells. The piece is capped by Mitchell’s melody for piccolo.  After this anything can happen - and there are many highlights along the way to “Odwalla”, the famous Mitchell-composed theme song of the Art Ensemble, played here by all nine musicians, which concludes the program.  These highlights include Roscoe’s own performances on his many woodwinds, from sopranino to bass saxophone.

 

In the trio music Mitchell is heard with Hugh Ragin and Tyshawn Sorey on “Prelude to a Rose”, with Craig Taborn and Kikanju Baku on the freely improvised “Dancing in the Canyon”, with Jaribu Shahid and Tani Tabbal on “Prelude to the Card Game”, “Cards for Drums” (with an outstanding performance by Tabbal), and “The Final Hand”, and with James Fei and William Winant on “Six Gongs and Two Woodblocks” and “R509A Twenty B”.  It’s a highly gifted cast of players.  Craig Taborn, Jaribu Shahid and Tani Tabbal have appeared on previous Mitchell recordings including Nine to Get Ready, Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 and 3, and Far Side, while Tyshawn Sorey, Hugh Ragin, William Winant, James Fei and Kikanju Baku, all significant voices in creative music, make ECM debuts here. Fei and Winant are fellow professors, with Mitchell, at Mills College in Oakland, California. Winant has collaborated with composers including Cage, Xenakis, Boulez and Terry Riley as well as improvisers across the genres. Fei, also active as a composer and known for his association with Anthony Braxton, explores extreme regions of sound on woodwinds and electronics; his electronics playing, together with Taborn, on “Red Moon In The Sky” provides some exhilarating moments.  Kikanju Baku, youngest of the musicians here, was invited by Mitchell to join him for a set at London’s Café Oto: this has led to spirited work in an ongoing trio with Roscoe and Craig Taborn.  Tyshawn Sorey’s remarkable threefold accomplishment as drummer, pianist and trombonist is well displayed throughout the project, and on the title track he plays inside the ‘percussion cage’ originally created by Roscoe Mitchell for Art Ensemble performances. 

 

The music was recorded both in the Museum of Contemporary Art’s theatre and in the exhibition space itself, where the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s percussion instruments were on display and artworks by AACM members hung on the walls – including Roscoe Mitchell’s painting Panoply (reproduced in the CD booklet). The compositions “EP 7849” and “Bells for the South Side” were recorded in the exhibition space. The dramaturgy of “EP 7849” includes features for Taborn’s electronics and Jaribu Shahid’s bass guitar. On “Bells for the South Side”, James Fei offers subterranean tones on contra-alto clarinet, and Hugh Ragin – a Mitchell collaborator since the 1970s (and currently a member of the revamped Art Ensemble of Chicago) -  builds a vaulting piccolo trumpet solo from pitches suggested by the pealing of multiple bells.

 

***

Roscoe Mitchell, born 1940 in Chicago, has been a restless explorer of forms, ideas and concepts for more than 50 years and, as player, composer and thinker, has been an inspiration for successive generations of musicians. In 1966 his album Sound brought a new dynamic into improvised music with emphases on texture and silences and group creativity and set some directions for the shape of new jazz to come - directions further crystallized in the pioneering work of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, whose ECM albums include Nice Guys, Full Force, Urban Bushmen, and Tribute to Lester. In 2004, Roscoe Mitchell co-led the Transatlantic Art Ensemble with Evan Parker (albums: Composition/ Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 and 3 and Boustrophedon). Recordings with Mitchell’s Note Factory band on ECM are Nine To Get Ready and Far Side.

 

2017 has seen Roscoe Mitchell working across a characteristically broad range of idioms, beginning the year with a series of tributes to John Coltrane, followed by a London residency with the Art Ensemble, and premieres of new orchestral music with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Del Teatro Comunale Di Bologna. Activities in the coming months include solo performances and trio work.

[Clunky]

Arrived yesterday. This'll take time to digest. Only annoyance so far is that it's hard to work out who is playing on each track. Understatement to say that the liner notes do not make it easy to figure this out for half the tracks !

 

[JSngry]

Pre-ordered through Amazon on May 9, not yet shipping here, Scotland is better then, yes?

[Clunky]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Pre-ordered through Amazon on May 9, not yet shipping here, Scotland is better then, yes?

Not better, best ?

[JSngry]

If this is Scotland, and if cute girls like this just come popping around the corner and start dancing like this, then I will not even resist the impulse of your statement!

 

[Clunky]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

If this is Scotland, and if cute girls like this just come popping around the corner and start dancing like this, then I will not even resist the impulse of your statement!

 

That's Bristol., Ingerland etc That could have been Scotland only Scotland is cooler (and wetter) . 

[Clunky]

Listened to disc one on repeat last night. Once again I'm simply blown away by Roscoe's extraordinary musical vision. I found the comments above plus a you tube video helpful in working out who it's playing what. It always helps me to visualise the musicians with music of this nature. I'll move onto disc two today. This is a major piece of work. Congratulations to all.

 

[David Ayers]

 

[OliverM]

Ordered and waiting for this one! Sound excerpts are excellent.

[uli]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/23/arts/music/a-pioneering-black-composer-roscoe-mitchell-keeps-pushing.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/23/arts/music/a-pioneering-black-composer-roscoe-mitchell-keeps-pushing.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/23/arts/music/a-pioneering-black-composer-roscoe-mitchell-keeps-pushing.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

[JSngry]

Amazon told me today that my CD is about to ship, but I can stream it beginning now.

[David Ayers]

 

[CJ Shearn]

I'll be reviewing this very soon.................  very very nice album, I love "Spatial Aspects of The  Sound"  "Dancing In the Canyon" and "EP 7849", that blurred line between new music and free improv is pretty great.

[JSngry]

Listened to it 2X yesterday, after some Janacek & some UCLA Mingus. It was the highlight of the day, actually. That was a damn good day.

If I was younger, I'd listen to it non-stop for the next month or so, It's that strong, that substantial.

[OliverM]

Absolutely! Also good story about the English drummer on disc 2 in the liner notes.

[CJ Shearn]

My review here http://bit.ly/2uNJN5x