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Roscoe Mitchell (b. August 3, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois) is an African American
African American

African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the Black people populations of Africa....
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
, jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 instrumentalist
Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
 and educator, mostly known for being "a technically superb — if idiosyncratic
Idiosyncrasy

Idiosyncrasy, from Greek language ?d??s????as?a, idiosunkrasia, "a peculiar temperament", "habit of body" is defined as an individualizing quality or characteristic of a person or group, and is often used to express Eccentricity or peculiarity....
 — saxophonist
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
." He has been called "one of the key figures" in avant-garde
Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English, to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
 jazz who has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past thirty years. He continues "to be a major figure." He has even been called a "super musician" and the New York Times has mentioned that he "qualifies as an iconoclast
Iconoclast

An iconoclast is someone who performs iconoclasm ? destruction of religious symbols, or, by extension, established dogma or conventions.Iconoclast may also refer to:...
."

hell grew up in the Chicago, Illinois area where he played saxophone and clarinet
Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
 at around age twelve.






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Encyclopedia


Roscoe Mitchell (b. August 3, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois) is an African American
African American

African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the Black people populations of Africa....
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
, jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 instrumentalist
Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
 and educator, mostly known for being "a technically superb — if idiosyncratic
Idiosyncrasy

Idiosyncrasy, from Greek language ?d??s????as?a, idiosunkrasia, "a peculiar temperament", "habit of body" is defined as an individualizing quality or characteristic of a person or group, and is often used to express Eccentricity or peculiarity....
 — saxophonist
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
." He has been called "one of the key figures" in avant-garde
Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English, to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
 jazz who has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past thirty years. He continues "to be a major figure." He has even been called a "super musician" and the New York Times has mentioned that he "qualifies as an iconoclast
Iconoclast

An iconoclast is someone who performs iconoclasm ? destruction of religious symbols, or, by extension, established dogma or conventions.Iconoclast may also refer to:...
."

History


Early life

Mitchell grew up in the Chicago, Illinois area where he played saxophone and clarinet
Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
 at around age twelve. His family was always involved in music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 with many different styles playing in the house when he was a child as well as having a secular music
Secular music

Secular music is non-sacred music that developed in the Middle Ages and was used in the renaissance .renaissance musicians wrote a lot of secular music....
 background. His brother, Norman, in particular was the one who introduced Mitchell to jazz. While attending Inglewood High School in Chicago, he furthered his study of the clarinet. In the 1950s, he joined the United States Army
United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
, during which time he was stationed in Heidelberg
Heidelberg

Heidelberg is a city in Baden-W?rttemberg, Germany. As of 2006, over 140,000 people live within the city's area. The town of Heidelberg is an administrative district of its own....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 and played in a band with fellow saxophonists Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler

Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz Saxophone, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved by using the stiff plastic Fibrecane...
 and Rubin Cooper, the latter 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
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 in the early 1960s, relocated to the Chicago area, and performed in a band with Wilson Junior College undergraduates Malachi Favors
Malachi Favors

Malachi Favors was a noted American jazz bassist best known for his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago.He primarily played the double bass, but also played the bass guitar, banjo, zither, gong, and other instruments....
 (bass
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
), Joseph Jarman
Joseph Jarman

Joseph Jarman , is a jazz musician, composer and Jodo Shinshu priest. He is perhaps best known as one of the first members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and the Art Ensemble of Chicago....
, Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill

Henry Threadgill is an United States composer, saxophonist and flautist....
, and Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton

Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophone, clarinettist, flute, piano, and philosopher. He has created a large body of highly complex work....
 (all saxophonists). Mitchell also studied with Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams

Muhal Richard Abrams is an United States educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and Jazz piano in the Modern Creative and Free jazz mediums....
 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
Organization

An organization is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment....
 Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians

The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians is a non-profit organization, founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States, by pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall , and composer Phil Cohran....
 (AACM) along with Jodie Christian
Jodie Christian

Jodie Christian is an American jazz pianist noted for Bebop and free jazz. He is one of the co-founders of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians along with pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams, drummer Steve McCall , and composer Phil Cohran....
 (piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
), Steve McCall (drum
Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion instrument group, technically classified as a membranophone.. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound....
s), and Phil Cohran
Phil Cohran

Kelan Phil Cohran is a jazz musician. He is known most for his trumpet contributions in the Sun Ra Arkestra in Chicago during 1959-1961 and for his involvement in the foundation of the AACM....
 (composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
). The following year Mitchell, Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie

Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago....
 (trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
), Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre
Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre

Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre is an American free jazz tenor saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist.McIntyre was born in Clarksville, Arkansas but his family moved to Chicago when he was a child....
 (tenor
Tenor

The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
 saxophone), Favors, Lester Lashley (trombone
Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass instrument family. Like all brass instruments, it is a lip-reed aerophone: sound is produced when the player?s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate....
), and Alvin Fielder
Alvin Fielder

Alvin Fielder is an American jazz drummer. He was a founding member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.Fielder began playing drums at age 12, heavily influenced by recordings of Max Roach....
 (drums), recorded their first studio album
Studio album

A studio album is an original collection of new tracks by a recording artist.It usually does not contain live recordings and/or remixes, and if it does, those tracks do not make up majority of the album and are often "bonus tracks"....
, Sound
Sound (Roscoe Mitchell album)

Sound is the debut album by free jazz saxophone Roscoe Mitchell recorded in 1966 and released on the Delmark Records label. It features performances by Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, Maurice McIntyre, Lester Lashley and Alvin Fielder....
. 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 toy
Toy

A toy is an object used in Play . Toys are usually associated with children and pets, but it is not unusual for adult humans and some non-Domesticationated animals to play with toys....
s and bicycle
Bicycle

The bicycle, bike, or cycle is a pedal-driven, human-powered transport with two bicycle wheel attached to a bicycle frame, one behind the other....
 horn
Horn (acoustic)

A horn is a tapered sound guide designed to provide an acoustics impedance matching between a sound source and free air. This has the effect of maximising the efficiency with which sound waves from the particular source are transferred to the air....
s.

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
Art Ensemble of Chicago

The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz ensemble that grew out of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in the late 1960s....
) and the players (inclusion of Phillip Wilson on drums for short span before he joined Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield

Paul Butterfield was an United States blues vocalist, harmonica player who gained international recognition in part, as one of the early acts performing during the Summer of Love, in Woodstock, New York....
'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
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 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
Don Moye

Don Moye, sometimes referred to as Famoudou Don Moye, is an United States jazz percussionist/drummer. He is most known for his involvement with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and is noted for his mastery of African and Caribbean percussion instruments and rhythmic techniques....
, 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.

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
East Lansing, Michigan

East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located directly east of Lansing, Michigan, the state's capital. Most of the city is within Ingham County, Michigan, though a small portion lies in Clinton County, 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
Hugh Ragin

Hugh Ragin is an American jazz trumpeter.Ragin was raised in Houston and began on trumpet when he was in eighth grade. After playing in the Houston All-City High School Orchestra, which toured the UK, he took his bachelor's in music education at the University of Houston and his master's in trumpet performance at Colorado State University....
, Jaribu Shahid, Tani Tabbal
Tani Tabbal

Tani Tabbal is a jazz drummer....
, and Spencer Barefield.

In the 1990s, Mitchell started to experiment in classical music
Classical music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western art history Religious music and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times....
 with such composers/artists such as Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros is an accordionist and composer who currently resides in Kingston, New York. Her instrument is tuned in just intonation and she often includes it in her meditation music improvisational music....
, Thomas Buckner
Thomas Buckner

Thomas Buckner is an United States baritone vocalist specializing in the performance of contemporary classical music and Free improvisation. In his work, he utilizes a wide range of extended vocal techniques....
, and Borah Bergman
Borah Bergman

Borah Bergman is an American free jazz pianist.Bergman learned clarinet as a child, and did not commence studies on piano until adulthood. He developed his left hand playing to the point where he became essentially ambidextrous as a pianist, and can play equally fast in both hands....
, 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
Gerald Oshita

Gerald Oshita was an United States of America musician, composer, and sound recordist.Oshita, who was of Japanese ancestry, lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and specialized in unusual wind instruments, particularly those of especially low register....
 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
Madison, Wisconsin

Madison is the List of U.S. state capitals of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County, Wisconsin. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
 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
Karl E. H. Seigfried

Karl E. H. Seigfried is a German-American jazz, Rock music, and classical music bassist, guitarist, composer, bandleader, and educator based in Chicago....
, and drummer Isaiah Spencer.

In 2007, Mitchell was named Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six - also known as the Groupe des Six - and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century....
 Chair of Composition at Mills College
Mills College

Mills College is an independent Liberal arts colleges in the United States Women's colleges in the United States founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men....
 in Oakland, California
Oakland, California

Oakland , founded in 1852, is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Alameda County, California. Oakland is approximately 8 miles east of San Francisco and the cities are separated by San Francisco Bay....
.

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
      Nonaah

      Nonaah is a double album recorded in 1976-77 by Roscoe Mitchell. It was originally released on the Nessa Records label in 1977 and features solo, duo, trio and quartet performances by Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Malachi Favors Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis , Henry Threadgill, Joseph Jarman, and Wallace McMillan....
  • 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
    Atlanta, Georgia

    Atlanta is the Capital and most populous city in Georgia , as well as the 33rd largest city in the United States of America with a population of 519,145....
  • Outstanding Service to Jazz Education Award (National Association of Jazz Educators)
  • Certificate of Appreciation, Art Ensemble of Chicago (Smithsonian Institution
    Smithsonian Institution

    The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its Financial endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazine....
    )
  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Image Award

Grants

  • National Endowment for the Arts
    National Endowment for the Arts

    The National Endowment for the Arts is a United States federally funded and donation assisted program that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence....
  • Arts Midwest Jazz Masters
  • John Cage Award for Music-Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, Inc.
  • Michigan State University
    Michigan State University

    Michigan State University is a public university research university in East Lansing, Michigan, Michigan United States. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act....
     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
    IRCAM

    IRCAM is a European institute for science about music and sound and avant garde Electroacoustical art music. It is situated next to, and is organizationally linked with, the Centre Pompidou in Paris....
    , 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
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a public university research university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Illinois system....
, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts

The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, California, in Los Angeles County, California....
. He currently teaches at Mills College in Oakland, California.

Discography


with Art Ensemble of Chicago
Art Ensemble of Chicago

The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz ensemble that grew out of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in the late 1960s....

Title Year Label
Sound
Sound (Roscoe Mitchell album)

Sound is the debut album by free jazz saxophone Roscoe Mitchell recorded in 1966 and released on the Delmark Records label. It features performances by Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, Maurice McIntyre, Lester Lashley and Alvin Fielder....
 - Roscoe Mitchell Sextet		  1966  Delmark
Delmark Records

Delmark Records is one of the oldest independent record label in the United States. It records jazz and blues and is one of jazz's best-known imprints....
Old/Quartet
Old/Quartet

Old/Quartet is an album recorded in 1967 by Roscoe Mitchell's Art Ensemble which later became known as the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It was released on the Nessa Records label in 1975 and features performances by Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors Maghostut and Phillip Wilson ....
 - Roscoe Mitchell		  1967  Nessa
Numbers 1 & 2
Numbers 1 & 2

Numbers 1 & 2 is a 1967 album by Lester Bowie featuring a line-up which later became the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It was released on the Nessa Records label and features performances by Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors, and Joseph Jarman....
 - Lester Bowie		  1967  Nessa
Congliptious
Congliptious

Congliptious is a 1968 album by Roscoe Mitchell's Art Ensemble which later became the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It was released on the Nessa Records label and features performances by Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, and Robert Crowder....
 - Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble		  1968  Nessa
A Jackson in Your House
A Jackson in Your House

A Jackson in Your House is a 1969 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded for the French BYG Actuel label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors Maghostut....
  1969  Actuel
BYG Actuel

BYG Actuel was a France record label specialising in free jazz. It was founded in March 1967 by Jean Georgakarakos , Jean-Luc Young and, initially, Fernand Boruso, the name of the label coming from the initial letters of the three founders' surnames....
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (album)

Tutankhamun is a 1969 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded for the Freedom Records label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors Maghostut....
  1969  Freedom
Freedom Records

Freedom Records was a jazz music record label linked with the producer Alan Bates, as with his Black Lion Records.Individual recordings were distributed via Polydor Records and Transatlantic Records during the early 1970s before the company was bought by Arista Records....
The Spiritual  1969  Freedom
People in Sorrow
People in Sorrow

People in Sorrow is a 1969 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Boulogne-Billancourt for the French Pathe Records label. It features an extended improvised performance by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors Maghostut....
  1969  Pathι-Marconi
Pathι Records

Path? Records was a France based international record label active from the 1890s through the 1930s.Path? was founded by brothers Charles Path? & ?mile Path?, who were owners of a successful bistro in Paris....
Message to Our Folks
Message to Our Folks

Message to Our Folks is a 1969 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris for the French BYG Actuel label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors Maghostut....
  1969  Actuel
Reese and the Smooth Ones
Reese and the Smooth Ones

Reese and the Smooth Ones is a 1969 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris for the French BYG Actuel label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors Maghostut....
  1969  Actuel
Eda Wobu  1969  JMY
Certain Blacks  1970  America
Go Home  1970  Galloway
Chi-Congo
Chi-Congo

Chi-Congo is a 1970 album recorded in Paris by the Art Ensemble of Chicago first released on the Paula Records label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye....
  1970  Paula
Les Stances a Sophie
Les Stances a Sophie

Les Stances a Sophie is a 1970 soundtrack album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris for a French film directed by Moshe Misrahi and first released on the Path? Records label....
  1970  Pathι-Marconi
Live in Paris
Live in Paris (AECO album)

Live in Paris is a 1969 live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded at the Chateau Vallon and first released on the Freedom Records label in 1974....
  1970  Freedom
Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass
Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass

Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass is a 1970 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris and first released on the America Records label....
  1970  America
Phase One
Phase One (album)

Phase One is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Paris in February 1971. It features Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut and Don Moye performing two side-long pieces dedicated to John Coltrane and Albert Ayler respectively....
  1971  America
Live at Mandell Hall  1972  Delmark
Delmark Records

Delmark Records is one of the oldest independent record label in the United States. It records jazz and blues and is one of jazz's best-known imprints....
Bap-Tizum
Bap-Tizum

Bap-Tizum is a 1972 live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival and first released on the Atlantic Records label in 1972....
  1972  Atlantic
Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an United States record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm & blues, rock and roll, and jazz. Long one of the most important American independent labels, Atlantic now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Music Group, which consolidated Atlantic Records and the Elektra Entertainment Group into one...
Fanfare for the Warriors
Fanfare for the Warriors

Fanfare for the Warriors is a 1973 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago first released on the Atlantic Records label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye....
  1973  Atlantic
Kabalaba  1974  AECO
Nice Guys
Nice Guys

Nice Guys is a 1978 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, their first to appear on the ECM Records label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye....
  1978  ECM
Live in Berlin  1979  West Wind
Full Force
Full Force (album)

Full Force is a 1980 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, their second to appear on the ECM Records label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye....
  1980  ECM
Urban Bushmen
Urban Bushmen

Urban Bushmen is a 1980 live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in Munich and released on the ECM Records label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye....
  1980  ECM
Among the People  1980  Praxis
The Complete Live in Japan
The Complete Live in Japan

The Complete Live in Japan is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago released in 1988 on the Japanese DIW Records label. It features a live performance by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye recorded in Gotanda, Japan in 1984....
  1984  DIW
DIW Records

DIW Records is a Japanese record label. It is a subsidiary label of Disc Union and specializes in jazz and avant garde music. Kazunori Sugiyama was an executive producer for the label before starting Tzadik Records with John Zorn....
The Third Decade
The Third Decade

The Third Decade is a 1984 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago released on the ECM Records label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye....
  1984  ECM
Naked
Naked (AECO album)

Naked is a 1984 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago released on the Japanese DIW Records label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye....
  1986  DIW
Ancient to the Future
Ancient to the Future

Ancient to the Future: Dreaming of the Masters Series Vol. 1 is a 1987 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago released on the Japanese DIW Records label....
  1987  DIW
The Alternate Express
The Alternate Express

The Alternate Express is a 1989 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago released on the Japanese DIW Records label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and Don Moye....
  1989  DIW
Art Ensemble of Soweto
Art Ensemble of Soweto

Art Ensemble of Soweto is a 1990 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Amabutho Male Chorus released on the Japanese DIW Records label....
  1990  DIW
America - South Africa
America - South Africa

America - South Africa is a 1991 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Amabutho Male Chorus released on the Japanese DIW Records label in association with Columbia Records....
  1990  DIW
Thelonious Sphere Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk (album)

Thelonious Sphere Monk: Dreaming of the Masters Series Vol. 2 is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Cecil Taylor released on the Japanese DIW Records label....
 with Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor

Cecil Percival Taylor is an United States pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the inventors of free jazz....
  1990  DIW
Dreaming of the Masters Suite
Dreaming of the Masters Suite

Dreaming of the Masters Suite: Music Inspired by and Dedicated to John Coltrane is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago released on the Japanese DIW Records label....
  1990  DIW
Live at the 6th Tokyo Music Joy
Live at the 6th Tokyo Music Joy

Live at the 6th Tokyo Music Joy is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Lester Bowie recorded in February 1990 for the Japanese DIW Records label....
 with Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy		  1991  DIW
Fundamental Destiny
Fundamental Destiny

Fundamental Destiny is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Don Pullen recorded in June 1991 in Frankfurt, Germany and released in 2007 on the groups AECO Records label....
 with Don Pullen
Don Pullen

Don Pullen was an American jazz pianist and organist.Don Pullen developed a strikingly individual style. He composed masterworks ranging from blues to bebop and modern jazz....
  1991  AECO
Salutes to the Chicago Blues Tradition  1993  AECO
Coming Home Jamaica
Coming Home Jamaica

Coming Home Jamaica is a 1998 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago originally released on the Atlantic Records label and reissued in 2002 on the Drefus Records label....
  1996  Atlantic
Urban Magic  1997  AECO
Tribute to Lester
Tribute to Lester

Tribute to Lester is an album recorded in 2001 by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and released on ECM Records in 2003, their first release on the label since The Third Decade ....
  2001  ECM
Reunion  2003  Around Jazz
The Meeting
The Meeting (Art Ensemble of Chicago album)

The Meeting is a reunion studio album released by the jazz group the Art Ensemble of Chicago . It was recorded during the Spring of 2003 in Madison, Wisconsin and released on August 19, 2003 on the international label Pi Recordings....
  2003  Pi
Sirius Calling
Sirius Calling

Sirius Calling is an album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in April, 2003 in Madison, Wisconsin and released in 2004 on the Pi Recordings label....
  2004  Pi
Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City
Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City

Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City: Live at the Iridium is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in April, 2004 at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City and released in 2006 on the Pi Recordings label....
  2006  Pi

Solo works and other ensembles

  • 1973 Solo Saxophone Concerts — Sackville
  • 1975 Quartet — Sackville
  • 1976 Nonaah
    Nonaah

    Nonaah is a double album recorded in 1976-77 by Roscoe Mitchell. It was originally released on the Nessa Records label in 1977 and features solo, duo, trio and quartet performances by Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Malachi Favors Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis , Henry Threadgill, Joseph Jarman, and Wallace McMillan....
     — Nessa
  • 1977 Duets — Sackville
  • 1979 Sketches From Bamboo — Moers
  • 1980 Snurdy McGurdy and Her Dancin' Shoes — Nessa
  • 1981 3x4 Eye — Black Saint
    Black Saint/Soul Note

    Black Saint/Soul Note is a pair of Italy jazz independent record labels. Black Saint was established in 1975 in music by Giacomo Pelliciotti and devoted to recording avant-garde musicians who might not have an opportunity elsewhere....
  • 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
    Silkheart Records

    Silkheart Records is a Sweden record label dedicated to recording improvised music and free jazz. Lars-Olof Gustavsson and Keith Knox founded Silkheart in 1985 in music....
  • 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
    ECM (record label)

    ECM is a record label founded in Munich, Germany in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. ECM is best known for jazz music, but has released a wide variety of recordings, the artists associated with it often refusing to acknowledge boundaries between genres....
  • 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


External links

  • Posted: 2004-01-08
  • by Jason Gross (May 1998)