AprilCadence2013

NICOLE MITCHELL,
ARC OF O,
ROGUE ART 41
ARCO OF O PARTS I - VI /
AFRIKA RISING. 58:28.
Nichole Mitchell (flt, vcl, elec),
Renee Baker (vln), Mwata
Bowden (bari s, bcl, cl),
David Boykin (ts), an_ARCHE
NewMusic Ensemble: Rafal
Zapala (elec), Krzysztof
Dys (p), Kuba Jankowiak
(tpt), Agnieszka Kowalczyk
(clo), Remiguisz Strzelczyk
(vla), Pawel Szpura (d),
Rafal Gubanski (cl), Kuba
Klepczynski (tbn), Lukasz
Krzeminski (ob), Maciej
Strzelecki (vln), Ksawery
Wojcinski (b). December 2,
2010, Poznan, Poland.
New Issues
138 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013
the session, having played and recorded with countless
big names (he also teaches percussion at Berklee).
He swings the band smartly without ever appearing
overbearing. The other members of the ensemble
exhibit consummate professionalism as well.
Lance Bryant’s radiant tenor improvisation on “Sunshine”
is especially impressive, as is Gardony’s fascinating
keyboard excursion on the multi-faceted “Contusion.”
David Franklin
In late 2010, the Made in Chicago Festival took place
in Poznan, Poland. Flautist Nicole Mitchell brought
with her a vastly imaginative concept for four improvisers,
electronics, and chamber ensemble. It’s a dazzling
realization of the synthetic spirit of improvised music
(which, at least since the AACM’s inception, has had
half a foot in chamber music anyways) and a vibrant,
colorful hour of music in its own right. The bulk of the
disc is comprised of the six-part title suite. For a music
that explores all things cyclical, it’s remarkably organic
in its flow into the ever-new that springs from Mitchell’s
pen and from the improvisers. But as you hear Bowden
burble and essay at length along with low toms, or hear
Mitchell flit along with oboe, or hear the deft integration
of thematic material, of course you realize that circularity
here is not so much about the eternal return as
it is a context, an envelopment, or - as she is quoted as
saying in the liners - about null, zero, the emptiness that
all improvisers face.
This music doesn’t merely fill that space arbitrarily, but
rather crafts meaningful textures and statements that
add up to a significant large ensemble statement. Its
purpose and artistry are present right from the start,
as Mitchell’s lithe, graceful flute lyricism emerges
alongside clarinets from a bed of strings, percussion,
and pure sound (she conducts with a precision feel for
dynamics and movement too). Things swirl and grow
through the first and second parts, until the music is
riotously alive. But it’s never merely busy. Instead, it’s a
capacious, detail whole crafted from the vast range of
the ensemble: nice double- and single-reeds, texturally
oriented strings, and all-sorts percussion (including
timpani). After these breathless opening phases,