Everybody digs Nicole Mitchell. They love her in sweet hometown Chicago and all the critics in New York love her, too. Heck, even we discerning types at SER have taken a shining to her. She's the consensus top flautist in the jazz world, she's got a new record out, Awakening, and there's no way I'm going to ignore it.
On her last record Renegades (2009), Mitchell was backed up by the delightfully idiosyncratic Black Earth Strings, which put the violin or viola and cello together with her flute to create an exotic meshing of traditional sounds that's something altogether new. The new album trades in some of the exoticism for a meeting with Chicago's very best musicians of her generation: Jeff Parker on guitar, Avreeayl Ra on drums/percussion and my new main man on bass, Harrison Bankhead.
Rest assured, though, with this assemblage of musicians playing her compositions (and one by Parker), this might be a less exotic session but it's no less adventurous. As Mitchell divulges, “with this quartet I tried to put the flute more out front than usual, which is why I decided to just name the project 'Nicole Mitchell.' I wanted to dig back into the old-school jazz a bit and yet still make room to branch out into never-never land."
Sure enough, the album begins with old school, a more mainstream post bop number “Curly Top" and also as promised, Mitchell is out front with one of her signature commanding leads. At times it's impossible to tell if the sound she's making is from her flute or her voice. Parker tags along with some soft and soulful single line notes in the solid tradition of Grant Green. Following this congenial, lightly swinging tune come the excursions into never-never land.
“Journey On A Thread" is a trip is the title implies, beginning with a hip-hop strut and soon breaking down into a suspended near-silence, broken up my Mitchell's quiet ruminations and then more thoughtful patterns by Bankhead. Bankhead, it should be noted, is crucial all over, architecting the groove on this song, supplying the key harmonic counterpoint on “There," (another avant funky number Nicole Mitchell style) and dishing out the wicked repeating pattern on “Center Of The Earth" (video below). Mitchell's wild, relentless flute solo on that song, by the way, is for the jazz history books; you'd probably have to go back to Rahsaan Roland Kirk to find flute blowing on record as mind blowing as that one. Parker's prickly plucking afterwards provides an interesting counterpoint.
At nearly twelve minutes long, “Momentum" is broad in scope, traversing through a whole array of moods. Ra's handling of the tempo changes with grace and discerning use of cymbals to add constructively to the sound—even when he's not keeping time—is evidence of a prime drummer. Mitchell's lithe pronunciations here draws a contrast to the power flute on earlier cuts. That approach is carried over in the Coltranian spiritual of “More Than I can Say."
Released last May 24 on Delmark Records, Awakening is a heaping helping of the prowess of Nicole Mitchell. A virtuosic and singular performer, she brings the goods—and a trio of ace backing musicians— on this record, making it one not to be missed. - allaboutjazz
Si bien en Awakening Nicole Mitchell estrena formación, sus tres compañeros en esta nueva aventura son viejos compañeros en mil batallas. Especialmente el contrabajista Harrison Bankhead y el baterista Avreeayl Ra: con el primero y Hamid Drake forman Indigo Trio, mientras que con ambos y el saxofonista Edward Wilkerson formaban Frequency, aparte de la colaboración de ambos en distintos proyectos de la flautista. El cuarto integrante del proyecto es el guitarrista Jeff Parker, que ha participado en alguna de las encarnaciones del Black Earth Ensemble, la formación de tamaño variable de Mitchell, o con quien ha tocado en dúo.
En esta ocasión Nicole Mitchell se encarga de todas las composiciones, salvo “F.O.C.” de Jeff Parker. Estas le sirven, a diferencia de lo que ocurría en otros proyectos que aparecían más centrados en las composiciones y los arreglos o expuestos por grandes formaciones con lo que se limitaba el espacio para los solos, para incidir en su capacidad como instrumentista. Es algo similar a lo que ocurría en Indigo Trio, aunque en esa formación una parte muy importante de las composiciones eran las aportaciones de los tres integrantes del grupo.
El inicio del CD resulta magistral gracias a los aromas clásicos de “Curly Top”, la animada “Journey on a Thread”, la hipnótica “Center of the Earth” y la breve solemnidad de “Snowflakes”. A ello contribuyen la rítmica pétrea formada por Harrison Bankhead y Avreeayl Ra, en la que también contribuye Jeff Parker. Un guitarrista que sabe desarrollar su labor como acompañante, pero que a la vez con sus improvisaciones y aportaciones ayuda a llevar a la música y a sus compañeros un punto más allá de lo previsible. El último ingrediente son las improvisaciones de Nicole Mitchell. Una instrumentista que lleva mucho tiempo demostrando su enorme nivel como flautista, pero a la que se ha tardado demasiado tiempo en reconocérselo. Probablemente discos como Awakening o su posición encabezando la votación de los críticos de la revista Down Beat en 2010 en la categoría de flautistas es más que posible que predispongan a la apertura de algunos oídos. - Pachi Tapiz
When jazz critic Peter Margasak interviewed Nicole Mitchell for the liner notes he wrote for Awakening, she explained: "I wanted to dig back into the old-school jazz a bit and yet still make room to branch out into never-never land." And that is a perfect description of what the Chicago-based flutist/composer does on this 2011 date, which finds her leading a pianoless quartet that employs Jeff Parker on electric guitar, Harris Bankhead on upright bass and Avreeayl Ra on drums and percussion. Presumably, the "old-school jazz" that Mitchell is referring to is post-bop, while "the never-never land" is avant-garde jazz. Of course, avant-garde jazz comes in many different flavors. Avant-garde jazz can be totally outside (whether it is scorching, dense, brutally atonal free jazz or the spaciness of the AACM), or it can be avant-garde jazz with an inside/outside perspective--and Awakening, like previous Mitchell releases, has an inside/outside perspective. The material that Mitchell composed for Awakening is fairly melodic; "There,""Momentum" and the bluesy "F.O.C.," for example, offer appealing post-bop melodies. "Curly Top" even has a somewhat Horace Silver-ish funkiness. So no, this 64-minute CD is not an exercise in atonality; that isn't the scenario at all. But at the same time, Mitchell and her colleagues don't hesitate to venture into outside playing when they feel like it. They don't venture far outside, but they do venture outside--and while Awakening is more inside than outside, the outside element is an attractive part of the equation. Mitchell, it should be noted, has favored different combinations of musicians on different albums; she is quite proficient when it comes to ensemble playing and arranging, but an intimate quartet format serves her equally well on Awakening. And once again, the Chicago resident excels as both a composer and a soloist. - Alex Henderson
Tracks
1. Curly Top
2. Journey On A Thread
3. Center Of The Earth
4. Snowflakes
5. Momentum
6. More Than I Can Say
7. There
8. F.O.C.
9. Awakening
NICOLE MITCHELL flute
HARRISON BANKHEAD bass
AVREEAYL RA drums
JEFF PARKER guitar
All music composed by Nicole Mitchell
Recorded March 2 & 3, 2011 at Riverside Studio, Chicago
Delmark Records - DE 599