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Roscoe Mitchell with Ostravska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission

By Mark Corroto
June 10, 2020
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Roscoe Mitchell with Ostravska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission

Sometimes music makes you want to become a better dancer, or maybe even a better lover. With

Roscoe Mitchell

saxophone
b.1940

" data-original-title="" title="">Roscoe Mitchell's music, you can't help but aspire to be a better listener. The co-founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians creates sounds that transcend jazz, new classical, and avant-garde musics. With Distant Radio Transmission he presents music that he previously recorded (solo or in small improvising groups) and reworked for a 33-piece orchestra, chamber trio, a woodwind quintet, and the Yamaha Disklavier, a programable piano. If you're thinking this is equivalent to the 'Big Bang' theory of the creation of universe, you are correct.

The centerpiece of this diverse recording is the 20-minute "Distant Radio Transmission," taken from an improvisation recorded in trio with Kikanju Baku and

Craig Taborn

piano
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Craig Taborn on Conversations 1 (Wide Hive Records, 2013). The trio improvisation was transcribed by Stephen P. Harvey, then orchestrated by Mitchell for the 33-piece Ostravska Banda. With Mitchell on sopranino saxophone and the wordless vocals of Thomas Buckner, the music, which begins spontaneously, becomes a designed mountainous pilgrimage of sounds and a cinematic motion. "Nonaah Trio" draws from a brief saxophone solo from 1974 which was later repurposed by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and here is interpreted by a piano/flute/oboe trio. This chamber adaptation works through a thoroughly noted score, daring you to dig for the music's provenance. "Cutouts for Woodwind Quintet" is a commissioned composition with notations for extended technique and "8.8.88" is a three movement suite performed on a programmed Yamaha Disklavier. The dizzying speed and complexity which Mitchell's score is performed boggles and overwhelms the mind.

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Track Listing

Distant Radio Transmission; Nonaah Trio; Cutouts for Woodwind Quintet; 8.8.88 Pt 1; 8.8.88 Pt 2; 8.8.88 Pt 3.

Personnel

Roscoe Mitchell

saxophone

Petr Kotik

composer / conductor

Thomas Buckner

vocals

James Fei

saxophone

John C. Savage

flute

Catherine Lee

oboe

Dana Reason

piano

Roberta Michel

flute

Christa Robinson

oboe

Carlos Corddeio

clarinet

Sara Schoenbeck

bassoon

John Gattis

french horn

Seth Horvitz

programming

Additional Instrumentation

Daniel Havel: flute; Malgorzata Hlawsa: flute; Kamila Motkov��: oboe; Denisa B��l��: oboe; Luk��? Danhel: clarinet; Carlos Cordeiro: clarinet; Stefanie Liedtke: bassoon; Jan Soukup: bassoon; Monika Cerovsk��: horn; Jan Garl��thy: horn; Andy Kozar: trumpet; William Lang: trombone; Gergely Luk��cs: tuba; Adam Maros: percussion; Miklos Holl��: percussion; Chris Nappi: percussion; Keiko Shichijo: piano; Ivana Dohnalov��: harp; Conrad Harris: violin; Pauline Kim Harris: violin; Eszter Krulik: violin; Marco Cano: violin; David Danel: violin; Nikolaus Schlierf: viola; Juraj Madari: viola; Liuh Wen Ting: viola; Andrej G��l: violoncello; Matthias Lorenz: violoncello; Juho Laitinen: violoncello; Franti?ek V?rostko: contrabass; Juraj Baj��s: contrabass.

Album information

Title: Distant Radio Transmission | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Wide Hive Records

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