Matt Mitchell

Jan 29 2020

Best of 2019 #26: Quinsin Nachoff’s Flux – “Path of Totality”

 

“It won’t take much convincing to believe that Quinsin Nachoff’s newest is inspired by a total solar eclipse,” is how I led off my write-up of the saxophonist’s outstanding 2019 release.  “Every bit of this sprawling epic radiates the kind of wonderment associated with the witnessing of celestial events.”  This is music on a grand scale.  There are many elements present on Paths of Totality that made it into past recordings, but there is a sense of interlocking pieces of familiar materials taking a shape far different than what they might have previously, under different conditions and a different time.  But key to this album’s success is how Quinsin Nachoff still makes the music accessible.  Every year there are a handful of projects that attempt to capture a majestic object or focus, and reflect that majesty with music of an equally imposing presence.  More often than not, the resulting music is something to marvel at as if from a distance, and never truly connect with.  But if Paths of Totality is the moon, his music brings the listener close enough to reach out an touch it.  That’s no small thing.  In fact, it might be everything.

Your album personnel:  Quinsin Nachoff (tenor & soprano saxophones), David Binney (alto sax, C melody sax), Matt Mitchell (piano, Prophet 6, modular synthesizer, Novachord, harpsichord, Estey pump harmonium), and guests: Kenny Wollesen (drums, Wollesonic percussion), Nate Wood (drums), Jason Barnsley (1924 Kimball theatre organ), Mark Duggan (marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, crotales, Tibetan singing bowls), Carl Maraghi (baritone saxophone, bass clarinet), Dan Urness, Matt Holman (trumpets), Ryan Keberle (trombones), Alan Ferber (trombone, bass trombone), Orlando Hernández (tap dance), and David Travers-Smith (Buchla 200E analog modular system, EMS Synthi 100 analog/digital hybrid synthesizer, Arp Chroma (Rhodes) analog synthesizer, clavioline, Oberheim SEM, modular Moog).

Released on Whirlwind Recordings.

Music from New York City.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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Jan 28 2020

Best of 2019 #27: Caroline Davis – “Alula”

 

It’s not like Caroline Davis sits still very long.  The saxophonist has an eclectic array of projects, and spread out across the vast modern landscape of jazz expressionism.  There’s the post-bop brilliance (and Chicago-hip name) of her Pedway ensemble, her contributions to the post-rock jazz of Whirlpool, her sonic documentary Doors: Chicago Storylines, and her ballad-as-ignition-switch 2018 release Heart Tonic.  Her latest, however, treats all previous projects like they were standard straight-ahead sessions, and now this is when she really stretches out.  By way of comparison, it’s how things shake out.  This excellent electro-acoustic trio set with drummer Greg Saunier and keyboardist Matt Mitchell is a massive upheaval of melodies, of harmonies shattered like glass, and rhythms that dance on the shards while laughing.  This album surprises with loving melodies that break through the clearing, or when it unexpectedly settles into a cadence with the rhythmic quality of crickets chirping loudly at the moon on a clear night.  It is crazily tuneful, even when at its most chaotic.  It’s serious business, but its only business is having fun.  It is the end of ever thinking you know what to expect from a Caroline Davis recording.  Alula is one of the very best recordings of 2019.

Your album personnel:  Caroline Davis (alto saxophone, voice), Matt Mitchell (Prophet 6 synthesizer, modular synth, ARP synthesizer), and Gregory Saunier (drums, percussion, voice).

Released on New Amsterdam Records.

Music from Brooklyn, NY.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Cool album cover art by Robert Pollard.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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Jan 25 2020

Best of 2019 #40: Kris Davis, Matt Mitchell, Aruán Ortiz, Matthew Shipp – “New American Songbooks, Volume 2”

 

The New American Songbooks series seeks to dissect the concept of the Great American Songbook, and translate it to the music of today.  It is as much conceptual exercise as pragmatic creativity.  Jazz musicians, by and large, endlessly practice their craft, and immerse themselves in the music as it was, as it is, and as they want it to be.  They study the jazz masters that came before them, the theory and works that are now part of the lore, and take that knowledge for themselves and make part of their own, personal lore.  It is why the past is often an essential component of new music that might sound alien and unfamiliar and strange.

For the second installment of the New American Songbooks series, pianists Kris Davis, Matt Mitchell, Aruán Ortiz and Matthew Shipp bring together past and present.  As I wrote for The Bandcamp Daily, “[These musicians] are responsible for some of the most challenging, unconventional music on the modern scene- and yet, the way in which they pour their hearts into renditions of traditional hymns, pop music, and avant-garde compositions reveals that, at the core of their music, are thoughtful, contemplative inspirations that are not so different from those felt by anyone else. The performance of each musician on this recording embodies the spirit of the Songbook, and the idea of music possessing a timeless sound that speaks to something universal. I cannot possibly recommend this album strongly enough.”  That recommendation goes for both installments in the series, and, I imagine, those yet to come.

Your album personnel:  Kris Davis (piano), Matt Mitchell (piano), Aruán Ortiz (piano), and Matthew Shipp (piano).

Released on Sound American Records.

Music from Brooklyn, NY.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at: Bandcamp

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Jan 20 2020

Best of 2019 #61: Matt Mitchell – “Phalanx Ambassadors”

 

A strong gust of wind blows through and sweeps up everything in its path.  It whips about in all directions, seeming without purpose or causation, and a random assortment of objects caught in its grasp.  But eventually the motion transmits information, revealing something similar to coordination, a choreography of chaos.  And, suddenly, the random objects are viewed with the perspective of a singular entity, moving with a purposeful motion, and toward some unseen end.  The Matt Mitchell 2019 release Phalanx Ambassadors is the embodiment of this phenomenon.  The change in perspective occurs slowly, but powerfully, as many moving parts gradually coalesce into a unified entity.  And, with repeat listening, it becomes increasingly apparent that the unison was there from the very first note.  This music has jagged edges and whiplash movements and isn’t shy about annihilating a melody if that’s what the moment calls for.  But, ultimately, the signifying characteristic of this compelling album isn’t fury or destruction or entropy, but grace.  The motion of this music is that of walking through life, and all of the chaos that experience brings.

Your album personnel:  Matt Mitchell (piano, Mellotron, Prophet-6), Miles Okazaki (electric & acoustic guitars), Patricia Brennan (vibraphone, marimba), Kim Cass (double bass, electric bass) and Kate Gentile (drums, percussion).

Released on Pi Recordings.

Music from New York City.

Cool album art by Kate Gentile.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Amazon – Bandcamp

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Feb 7 2019

Album of the Day: Jonathan Finlayson – “3 Times Round”

 

Artist:  Jonathan Finlayson

Album:  3 Times Round

Label:  Pi Recordings

Style:  Post-bop, New directions

Favorite Track:  “A Stone, A Pond, A Thought”

Music from:  New York City

What I like about it:  It won’t be breaking news for me to report that the magic is in the motion on Jonathan Finlayson’s newest release.  It’s a subject broached previously on his 2016 release Moving Still.  And deservedly so.  The action unleashed by each piece triggered individual narratives like a conjuring trick becoming a new reality.  I like that the trumpeter’s 2018 release begins much the same way, opening with the aptly titled “Feints” and how patterns hinted at in the framework of a piece are revealed as quickly as they’re replaced by a new emergent pattern.  I like how that motion can be particularly thrilling at times, but that is also comes off as methodical in its way, as if a high-speed stratagem devised on the fly.  But what I really like about 3 Times Round are those dramatic moments when the motivation becomes one of melody, rising up over a piece like the sun enveloping a dark landscape in bright, warm light.

Your album personnel:  Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Steve Lehman (alto sax), Brian Settles (tenor sax, flute), Matthew Mitchell (piano), John Hebert (bass) and Craig Weinrib (drums).

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Be sure to check out the artist’s site.

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