Roscoe Mitchell

Infobox musical artist

---

Name = Roscoe Mitchell
Img_size =
Img_capt = Roscoe Mitchell at the Pomigliano Jazz Festival on July 15th, 2005 (photo: Pasquale Ottaiano)
Landscape = yes
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1940|8|31
Died =
Origin = Chicago, Illinois, US
Instrument = reeds
percussion
flute
saxophone
Genre = Jazz
Years_active = 1960s — present
Label =
Associated_acts = Art Ensemble of Chicago
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
Notable_instruments =

Roscoe Mitchell (b. August 3, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois) is an African American composer, jazz instrumentalist and educator, mostly known for being "a technically superb — if idiosyncratic — saxophonist."cite web|url=http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:8qotk6jx9krh~T1|title=Roscoe Mitchell at All Music Guide|author=Chris Kelsey|accessdate=2006-12-29] He has been called "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz who has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past thirty years."The Penguin Guide to Jazz" by Richard Cook, Brian Morton, et al. pg 916 eigthth edition] cite web|url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=1023|title=Roscoe Mitchell: In Search of the Super Musician|author=Jack Gold|date=January 8, 2004|accessdate=2006-12-29] He continues "to be a major figure." He has even been called a "super musician"cite web|url= http://www.jazzinchicago.org/Internal/Articles/tabid/43/ctl/ArticleView/mid/522/articleId/416/AconversationwithRoscoeMitchell.aspx|title= A conversation with Roscoe Mitchell|author= Lazaro Vega|date=August 25, 2005|accessdate=2006-12-29] cite web|url= http://www.jazzweekly.com/interviews/rmitchell.htm|title= A Fireside Chat with Roscoe Mitchell (first)|author=Fred Jung|date=September 2, 2002|accessdate=2006-12-29] and the New York Times has mentioned that he "qualifies as an iconoclast." ["Jazz: Roscoe Mitchell" by Jon Pareles, New York Times, August 25, 1983]

History

Early life

Mitchell grew up in the Chicago, Illinois 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.cite web|url= http://www.jazzweekly.com/interviews/mitchell.htm|title= A Fireside Chat with Roscoe Mitchell (second)|author=Fred Jung|accessdate=2006-12-29] While attending Inglewood High School in Chicago, he furthered his study of the clarinet." Roscoe Mitchell: In Search of the Super Musician" by Jack Gold, Allaboutjazz.com, October 23, 2003] 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 later 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.

AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago

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 Fiedler (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.

The group went through changes again in 1967 and 1969, both in name (changing first to the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, then the Art Ensemble, and finally the Art Ensemble of Chicago) and the players (inclusion of Phillip Wilson on drums for short span before he joined Paul Butterfield's band). This group and its incarnations would be regarded as becoming "possibly the most highly acclaimed jazz band" in the 1970s and 1980s. 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. [cite web|url= http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/review_print.php?id=2110|title= Roscoe Mitchell: Opening Doors|author= Celeste Sunderland|accessdate=2006-12-29]

Creative Arts Collective and beyond

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 used the facilities 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 popular 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 currently lives in the area of Madison, Wisconsin and has been performing 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 weren't 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. [cite web|url=http://www.mills.edu/news/2007/newsarticle07032007roscoe_mitchell_milhaud_chair.php|title=Roscoe Mitchell Named Darius Milhaud Chair In Composition At Mills College|accessdate=2008-03-31]

Recognition

The following are referenced from Mitchell's biography at the official AACM website.

Awards

*The International Jazz Critics Poll
*Down Beat Magazine
**"Talent Deserving Wider Recognition"
**Best Jazz Group (Established) - Art Ensemble of Chicago
**Record of the Year – "Nonaah"
*Jazz Personality of the Year, City of Madison, Wisconsin
*"Madison Music Legend" ("Madison" magazine)
*Certificate of Appreciation (St. Louis Public Schools Role Model Experiences Program)
*Honorary Citizen of Atlanta, Georgia
*Outstanding Service to Jazz Education Award (National Association of Jazz Educators)
*Certificate of Appreciation, Art Ensemble of Chicago (Smithsonian Institution)
*National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Image Award

Grants

*National Endowment for the Arts
*Arts Midwest Jazz Masters
*John Cage Award for Music-Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, Inc.
*Michigan State University matching grant
*Minnesota Composer's Forum
*Meet the Composer, Cultural Series Grant, Center for International Performance and Exhibition, Chicago IL
*Comnicut Foundation
*Wisconsin Arts Board
*Institut de Recherche at Coordination Acoustique Musique, Paris, France
*Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission Project Grant, Madison Committee for the Arts
*Madison Festival of the Lakes Grant.

Teaching

Mitchell has taught at various institutions throughout the United States, including the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the California Institute of the Arts.cite web|url= http://aacm-newyork.com/Biographies/Roscoe%20Mitchell%20Bio.html|title= Roscoe Mitchell..... Composer, Multi-Instrumentalist, Educator|accessdate=2006-12-29]

Discography

*1966 "Sound" — Delmark Records
*1967 "Old/Quartet" — Nessa Records
*1968 "Congliptious" — Nessa
*1973 "Solo Saxophone Concerts" — Sackville
*1975 "Quartet" — Sackville
*1976 "Nonaah" — Nessa
*1977 "Duets" — Sackville
*1979 "Sketches From Bamboo" — Moers
*1980 "Snurdy McGurdy and Her Dancin' Shoes" — Nessa
*1981 "3x4 Eye" — Black Saint
*1983 "Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound & Space Ensembles" — Black Saint
*1984 "An Interesting Breakfast Conversation" — 1750 Arch
*1986 "The Flow of Things" — Black Saint
*1986 "Live at the Muhle Hunziken" — Cecma Records
*1987 "Live at the Knitting Factory" — Black Saint
*1988 "Live in Detroit" — Cecma
*1989 "After Fallen Leaves" — Silkheart Records
*1990 "Duets & Solos" — Black Saint
*1990 "Songs in the Wind" — Victo Records
*1992 "This Dance Is for Steve McCall" — Black Saint
*1992 "Four Compositions" — Lovely Music
*1994 "Hey Donald" — Delmark
*1994 "Sound Songs" — Delmark
*1994 "First Meeting" — Knitting Factory
*1994 "Pilgrimage" — Lovely Music
*1996 "Day and the Night" — Dizim
*1998 "More Cutouts" — Cecma
*1999 "Nine to Get Ready" — ECM
*1999 "In Walked Buckner" — Delmark
*2001 "8 O'Clock: Two Improvisations" — Mutable Music
*2002 "Song for My Sister" — Pi Recordings
*2004 "Solo 3" — Mutable
*2005 "Chicago Duos" — First Look/Southport
*2005 "Turn" — Rogue Art
*2006 "No Side Effects" — Rogue Art
*2006 "The Bad Guys" — Around Jazz
*2007 "Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3" - ECM/Universal

References

External links

* [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=1023 All About Jazz: Roscoe Mitchell: In Search of the Super Musician] Posted: 2004-01-08
* [http://www.furious.com/perfect/roscoemitchell.html Roscoe Mitchell interview] by Jason Gross (May 1998)
* [http://www.lovely.com/artists/a-mitchell.html Lovely Music Artist: Roscoe Mitchell]
* [http://aacmchicago.org/members/ROSCOE.html AACM: Roscoe Mitchell]