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Jazz in the New Millennium: Live and Well by Rick Mitchell

By C. Michael Bailey
January 26, 2015
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Jazz in the New Millennium: Live and Well
Rick Mitchell
339 Pages
ASIN: #B00N2331GC
Dharma Moon
2014

Much of jazz analysis and reportage is history; the exposition and re-exposition of old forms and older artists. Precious few books written about jazz today have contemporary artists or movements as their subject. Rick Mitchell's Jazz in the New Millennium: Live and Well happily flies in the face of the old with an eye on the present and new. His book is expansive, addressing among the "Living Masters," one Roy Haynes (b. 1925) to a "Rising Star" in

Esperanza Spalding

bass
b.1984

" data-original-title="" title="">Esperanza Spalding and

Gerald Clayton

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Gerald Clayton (b. 1984). While that expanse includes bebop to the present, there are no exposes on

Charlie Parker

saxophone, alto
1920 - 1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Parker,

Dizzy Gillespie

trumpet
1917 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Dizzy Gillespie or

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis. Mitchell's book is devoted to those musicians living while it was compiled.

In 2000, Mitchell left his post as jazz and popular music critic at the Houston Chronicle to become a teacher and programming consultant for the Houston International Music Festival, Da Camera of Houston. The Da Camera coupled jazz and classical performance and survived only a couple of seasons as such while the jazz portion continued on its own. Mitchell wrote the program notes for the series and out of those Jazz in the New Millennium: Live and Well arose.

Mitchell organized his book around three groups of musicians: the aforementioned "Living Masters" and "Rising Stars" sandwiching the largest group under consideration "Prime Time Players." As such, Mitchell could not have made a completest list of any category as his subject matter was dependent on who was performing. That said, his lists are impressive. Included as "Living Masters" are Haynes,

Randy Weston

piano
1926 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Randy Weston,

Dave Holland

bass
b.1946

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Holland,

Kenny Barron

piano
b.1943

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Barron and

Wayne Shorter

saxophone
1933 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Wayne Shorter. Shorter's section, "Without a Net" details the saxophonist's 21st Century acoustic quartet including pianist

Danilo Pérez

piano
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Danilo P��rez (who is also a "Prime Time Player"), bassist

John Patitucci

bass
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">John Patitucci, and drummer

Brian Blade

drums
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Brian Blade. At 81 at this writing, Shorter comes full circle with his most provocative music.

Among the "Prime Time Players" are saxophonist

Joshua Redman

saxophone
b.1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Joshua Redman, trumpeter

Dave Douglas

trumpet
b.1963

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Douglas, violinist

Regina Carter

violin
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Regina Carter, and vocalist

Cassandra Wilson

vocals
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Cassandra Wilson. Wilson's importance to jazz vocals since the 1990s cannot be over-estimated. She redefined jazz vocals with Blue Light 'til Dawn (Blue Note, 1993) and New Moon Daughter (Blue Note, 1995). She covered

Robert Johnson

vocals
1911 - 1938

" data-original-title="" title="">Robert Johnson,

Van Morrison

vocals
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Van Morrison, and

Joni Mitchell

vocals
b.1943

" data-original-title="" title="">Joni Mitchell with equal aplomb while establishing a new band format including instruments better associated with folk and blues. Taking her cue from

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis wide-open performance of "My Man's Gone Now" on We Want Miles (Columbia, 1982), Wilson put her stamp on all of the jazz vocals coming after.

In the "Rising Stars" section, Mitchell presents the widest variety of influences in pianists

Jason Moran

piano
b.1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Jason Moran,

Hiromi

piano
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Hiromi, and,

Robert Glasper

piano
b.1978

" data-original-title="" title="">Robert Glasper, bassists

Pablo Aslan

bass
b.1962

" data-original-title="" title="">Pablo Aslan and Esperanza Spalding, clarinetist

Anat Cohen

clarinet
b.1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Anat Cohen, trumpeter

Ambrose Akinmusire

trumpet
b.1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Ambrose Akinmusire and Latin Jazz phenom

Manuel Valera

piano
b.1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Manuel Valera, whose In Motion (Criss Cross, 2014) with the New Cuban Express has produced progressive music that plows new fields yet retains that element of authenticity that makes what

Dizzy Gillespie

trumpet
1917 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Dizzy Gillespie called "Afro-Cubano" sting with pleasure.

Mitchell displays his acute grasp of the music and its meanings and how each of the artists he spotlights fits into that modern picture of jazz and beyond. An easy and informative read for those wanting to know who performing today in jazz are the first to go to once the classic performers are assimilated into collections and playlists.

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