Record of the Day: Roscoe Mitchell, “Composition/Improvisation”

Roscoe Mitchell, “Composition/Improvisation” (Cd ECM 1872)

This album requires decidedly demanding listening and may perhaps seem unsuitable for a party climate like that of these days, yet I am convinced that a journey along its intense expressive paths can be useful not only as a moment of reflection, but to prepare the soul to a more intimate dimension, less invaded by the noise of the streets crowded with Christmas shopping and incessant advertising.

Roscoe Mitchell is well known to jazz enthusiasts as one of the members of the historic Art Ensemble of Chicago, whose burning musical-theatrical improvisations brought a strong wind of innovation to contemporary music; but Mitchell also possesses remarkable writing ability and a marked sensitivity to timbre; many of his pieces include sections notated in the score, to which musicians can often add freely improvised interventions always coordinated by the leader’s strong sense of form. This album includes three large compositions created together with the Transatlantic Art Ensemble, a large group of instrumentalists which includes, among others, famous names in their own right such as Evan Parker (sax), Paul Lytton (percussion), Philipp Wachsmann (violin), Barry Guy ( double bass) to which is added a chamber music formation including strings, piano, percussion, trumpet, sax, flute, clarinet.

This abundance of colors is managed by Mitchell’s pen with extreme sobriety, in particular in the first movement with a very lyrical character, based on a very long melody which continuously changes shades of color passing through the different families of instruments each time charging itself with new energy until to take on a decidedly dramatic character.

The violent exchanges of percussion of the Second movement take us back to the fiery avant-garde atmospheres of the Art Ensemble of Chicago; but there is no need to analyze each section, the work must be listened to as a whole of great beauty both for the control that Mitchell demonstrates towards the instrumental Ensemble (which he himself directed) and for the strength of the solo improvisations, very far from the more traditional jazz tradition and full of suggestions from different worlds ranging from Africa to European concert music of the last fifty years.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.