Bells For The South Side

Roscoe Mitchell

EN / DE
Roscoe Mitchell contrasts and – for the first time – combines the sounds and distinctive characters of his four trios in an exhilarating double album recorded at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Multi-instrumentalist and composer Mitchell had been invited to premiere new music at the museum, in the context of the exhibition The Freedom Principle, which celebrated the directions in music and art set in motion by the AACM on Chicago’s South Side. He offers what amounts to a composer self-portrait in continually changing colours and textures, reflecting on his own history while looking toward the future. Two pieces – including the title composition – draw upon the full percussion instrumentarium of the Art Ensemble of Chicago – a panorama of gongs, bells, rattles, sirens, hand drums and more. Along the way there are remarkable contributions by all participants, among them a lyrical bass guitar feature for Jaribu Shahid on “EP 7849”, a heart-dilating solo by Tani Tabbal on “Cards for Drums”, an extended trumpet feature for Hugh Ragin on the title track, evocative and atmospheric electronics from Craig Taborn and James Fei on “Red Moon in the Sky”, and plenty of Mitchell’s powerhouse saxophones throughout, from the piercing sopranino down to the mighty bass sax. The performance is concluded with “Odwalla”, the Mitchell-composed theme song of the Art Ensemble.
Roscoe Mitchell stellt auf diesem in Chicagos Museum of Contemporary Art aufgenommenen Doppelalbum die Klänge und unterschiedlichen Charaktere seiner vier Trios einander gegenüber – und kombiniert sie erstmals auch. Der Multiinstrumentalist und Komponist Mitchell war eingeladen worden, dort neue musik vorzustellen – im  Kontext der Ausstellung The Freedom Principle, die durch den AACM in der Southside von Chicago ausgelöste Entwicklungen in Musik und Kunst  würdigte. Was er hier präsentiert, summiert sich zu einem Komponisten-Selbstporträt in sich ständig ändernden Farben und Texturen, mit dem er sowohl seine persönliche  Geschichte reflektiert als auch in die Zukunft blickt.
Zwei  Stücke – darunter die Titel-Komposition – nutzen das gesamte Perkussionsinstrumentarium des Art Ensemble of Chicago – ein Panorama aus Gongs, Glocken, Rasseln, Sirenen, Handtrommeln und dergleichen mehr. .
Im Verlauf des Albums gibt es bemerkenswerte Beiträge aller Beteiligten, darunter eine lyrische Bassgitarren-Passage von Jaribu Shahid in „EP 7849“, ein herzzerreißendes Solo von Tani Tabbai in „Cards for Drums“, ein ausgedehntes Trompeten-Feature für Hugh Ragin im Titelstück, atmosphärische Elektronik von Craig Taborn und  James Fei in „Red Moon in the Sky“, und durchgängig kraftvolles Saxophonspiel von Mitchell, vom Sopranino bis zum mächtigen Bass-Saxophon. Das Programm schließt mit „Odwalla“, der von Mitchell komponierten  Erkennnungsmelodie des Art Ensemble.
Featured Artists Recorded

September 2015, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Original Release Date

16.06.2017

  • CD 1
  • 1Spatial Aspects of the Sound
    (Roscoe Mitchell)
    12:14
  • 2Panoply
    (Roscoe Mitchell)
    07:36
  • 3Prelude to a Rose
    (Roscoe Mitchell)
    12:44
  • 4Dancing in the Canyon
    (Craig Taborn, Kikanju Baku, Roscoe Mitchell)
    10:23
  • 5EP 7849
    (Roscoe Mitchell)
    08:13
  • 6Bells for the South Side
    (Roscoe Mitchell)
    12:35
  • CD 2
  • 1Prelude to the Card Game, Cards for Drums, and The Final Hand
    (Roscoe Mitchell)
    16:03
  • 2The Last Chord
    (Roscoe Mitchell)
    12:26
  • 3Six Gongs and Two Woodblocks
    (Roscoe Mitchell)
    07:50
  • 4R509A Twenty B
    (Roscoe Mitchell)
    01:34
  • 5Red Moon In The Sky / Odwalla
    (Roscoe Mitchell)
    25:49
In vier hochkarätig besetzten Trios ereignet sich auf ‘Bells for the South Side’ eine Musik, die wie das Betreten eines riesigen vibrierenden Raumes anmutet.
Karl Lippegaus, Stereo
 
There have been few so-called ‘avant-garde’ pioneers so prolific as multi-saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell. His first album, the innovative ‘Sound’ was released in 1966, and he’s actively navigated a kaleidoscopic solo career and served as co-leader of the respected Art Ensemble Of Chicago in the years since. Mitchell’s latest, ‘Bells For The South Side’, is a terrific live summary of the man’s numerous sonic investigations. His multiple collaborators, including longtime Denver-based trumpet wizard Hugh Ragin, join in on an immersive trek through 2 hours of music that’s impossible to classify, but absolutely loaded with invigorating elements of jazz as well as classical composition. If you’ve ever wanted to approach Mitchell’s dense sound-worlds, this is as accessible a place as any to begin. Then begin sifting through a half century of surprises.
Brett Saunders, Denver Post
 
Ein dreidimensionales, fast symphonisches Hörerlebnis.
Reinhard Köchl, Jazzthing
 
Saxofonist und Komponist Roscoe Mitchell hat in dieser musealen Umgebung vier Trios versammelt, die jedes für sich, aber auch zusammen seine Kompositionen zur Aufführung brachten. Eine Auswahl der dabei entstandenen Aufnahmen ist nun als ‚Bells From The South Side‘ erschienen. Der Jazz, den es hier zu hören gibt, trägt alles, was Jazzmusiker seit Menschengedenken so anhaben, Kapuzenpullis, Schlabberhosen, karierte Hemden oder Sandalen. Die Kraft, die ihm innewohnt, kommt nicht aus einem Modemagazin und nicht aus der Muckibude, sondern aus einem lang gelebten Künstlerleben. Mitchell musiziert mit manchen der Kollegen seit den Siebzigern, einen hat er jüngst kennen und schätzen gelernt. Was sich saturiert anhört, der musealen Situation entsprechend, entpuppt sich als eine Doppel-CD von lange nicht mehr gehörter Subtilität und Konzentration. Dem Produzenten Steve Lake ist es gelungen, in stellenweise verstörender Transparenz eine Musik einzufangen, die man nur aus ihrer Vergangenheit heraus verstehen kann, die aber so offenkundig lebt, atmet, nach vorne strebt – dass man einfach nur mit will. […] hier hören wir einfach nurmehr ‚Great Music‘; ein Vermächtnis, ein Versprechen. Eine Sensation. Genau.
Karl Bruckmaier, Süddeutsche Zeitung
 
The set premieres all new music, a collection of variegated pieces written for the combined personnel of four working trios: there’s a showcase for each trio, plus six other pieces that draw on new configurations. […] Most of these pieces were recorded during performances in the Museum’s theatre, but the two tracks that close CD 1, were both recorded in the Museum’s exhibition space, where the Art Ensemble’s instruments were on display. […] There’s a lot here, and it takes some digesting, but ‘Bells for the South Side’ is a superb album.
Tim Owen, Dalston Sound
Multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser Roscoe Mitchell contrasts and – for the first time – combines the sounds and distinctive characters of his four trios in a very special recording made at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Mitchell had been invited to premiere new music at the museum, in the context of the exhibition The Freedom Principle, which celebrated the directions in music and art set in motion by the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians on Chicago’s South Side.
 
In this recording, Roscoe Mitchell offers what amounts to a composer self-portrait in continually changing colours and textures, reflecting on his own history while looking toward the future. Two pieces – including the title composition – draw upon the full percussion instrumentarium of the Art Ensemble of Chicago – a panorama of gongs, bells, rattles, sirens, hand drums and more. Recorded in 2015 on the occasion of the AACM’s 50th anniversary, Bells for the South Side is released half a century after the founding of the Art Ensemble - the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, as it was originally called.
 
The double album opens with “Spatial Aspects of the Sound”, the inventiveness of Mitchell’s writing immediately striking. Craig Taborn and Tyshawn Sorey are both on pianos here and William Winant on tubular bells, the austere character of the music counterbalanced by Kikanju Baku’s sprite-like entry with ankle bells and sleigh bells. The piece is capped by Mitchell’s melody for piccolo. After this anything can happen – and there are many highlights along the way to “Odwalla”, the famous Mitchell-composed theme song of the Art Ensemble, played here by all nine musicians, which concludes the programme. These highlights include Roscoe’s own performances on his many woodwinds, from sopranino to bass saxophone.
 
In the trio music Mitchell is heard with Hugh Ragin and Tyshawn Sorey on “Prelude to a Rose”, with Craig Taborn and Kikanju Baku on the freely improvised “Dancing in the Canyon”, with Jaribu Shahid and Tani Tabbal on “Prelude to the Card Game”, “Cards for Drums” (with an outstanding performance by Tabbal), and “The Final Hand”, and with James Fei and William Winant on “Six Gongs and Two Woodblocks” and “R509A Twenty B”. It’s a highly gifted cast of players. Craig Taborn, Jaribu Shahid and Tani Tabbal have appeared on previous Mitchell recordings including Nine to Get Ready, Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 and 3, and Far Side, while Tyshawn Sorey, Hugh Ragin, William Winant, James Fei and Kikanju Baku, all significant voices in creative music, make ECM debuts here. Fei and Winant are fellow professors, with Mitchell, at Mills College in Oakland, California. Winant has collaborated with composers including Cage, Xenakis, Boulez and Terry Riley as well as improvisers across the genres. Fei, also active as a composer and known for his association with Anthony Braxton, explores extreme regions of sound on woodwinds and electronics; his electronics playing, together with Taborn, on “Red Moon In The Sky” provides some exhilarating moments. Kikanju Baku, youngest of the musicians here, was invited by Mitchell to join him for a set at London’s Café Oto: this has led to spirited work in an ongoing trio with Roscoe and Craig Taborn. Tyshawn Sorey’s remarkable threefold accomplishment as drummer, pianist and trombonist is well displayed throughout the project, and on the title track he plays inside the ‘percussion cage’ originally created by Roscoe Mitchell for Art Ensemble performances.
 
The music was recorded both in the Museum of Contemporary Art’s theatre and in the exhibition space itself, where the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s percussion instruments were on display and artworks by AACM members hung on the walls – including Roscoe Mitchell’s painting Panoply (reproduced in the CD booklet). The compositions “EP7849” and “Bells for the South Side” were recorded in the exhibition space. The dramaturgy of “EP7849” includes features for Taborn’s electronics and Jaribu Shahid’s bass guitar. On “Bells for the South Side”, James Fei offers subterranean tones on contra-alto clarinet, and Hugh Ragin – a Mitchell collaborator since the 1970s (and currently a member of the revamped Art Ensemble of Chicago) – builds a vaulting piccolo trumpet solo from pitches suggested by the pealing of multiple bells.