Here's something you might be interested in.
Although this is very short notice, I urge everyone interested in the state-of-the-art in jazz and improvised music to head out to UCSD tomorrow night, May 16, for the extremely rare opportunity to experience one the finest exponents of the flute currently residing on Planet Earth.
Nicole Mitchell actually got started in music while attending UCSD, but really branched out as an artist upon moving to Chicago, where she quickly took up with the world-famous community-organization, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (A.A.C.M.).
Many of the most influential creative improvisers come from that collective, which was founded in 1965 by Muhal Richard Abrams, Jodie Christian, Steve McCall and Phil Cohran.
Mitchell became heavily involved in the A.A.C.M., and eventually became the first woman president in organization history.
She has played with a veritable "who's-who," of the so-called avant garde, including Abrams, the iconic reed master Anthony Braxton, trombonist George Lewis, and saxophonists Steve Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, and Archie Shepp, to name just a few of her highlight associations.
She is also the leader of the acclaimed Black Earth Ensemble, and was awarded "Top Flutist," for 2010 in the Downbeat Critics Poll.
This year, she received the prestigious Doris Duke award, which comes with a $225,000 dollar grant.
Last year, she moved from Chicago to teach at UC Irvine in a program that also boasts the uber-creative trombonist Michael Dessen.
"We are thrilled to have Nicole join our faculty in Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology," said Dessen, on break from a recording session in NYC. "She is a phenomenal musician, a fantastic improviser and composer. What I love about Nicole's music is that it is innovative, personal and rigorous in craft but it's also very positive and embodies a real spirit of generosity."
Mitchell's concert will begin with a series of duets and improvisations with world renown composer/ pianist and UCSD professor Anthony Davis and will conclude with a 17 piece chamber-orchestra featuring another UCSD professor, saxophonist David Borgo.
"Nicole is a remarkable flutist who can evoke the sounds of an orchestra or an African drumming ensemble from her flute alone," said Borgo. "She has a wonderfully personal style of vocalizing with her flute, and since the range of her voice is much the same as the flute's, it can produce a mesmerizing effect, or allow her to split tones and generate a full range of multiphonics."
The orchestral portion of Mitchell's concert will feature two original compositions Triple Sunset on GJ667Cc and Arc of O, which "Explores the primordial meaning of circles, rotation, beginnings and otherness," says Mitchell.
The concert will be held in the Conrad Prebys concert hall, which is acoustically fantastic. Tickets are $15.50 for the general public. Show time is 7 p.m.
Although this is very short notice, I urge everyone interested in the state-of-the-art in jazz and improvised music to head out to UCSD tomorrow night, May 16, for the extremely rare opportunity to experience one the finest exponents of the flute currently residing on Planet Earth.
Nicole Mitchell actually got started in music while attending UCSD, but really branched out as an artist upon moving to Chicago, where she quickly took up with the world-famous community-organization, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (A.A.C.M.).
Many of the most influential creative improvisers come from that collective, which was founded in 1965 by Muhal Richard Abrams, Jodie Christian, Steve McCall and Phil Cohran.
Mitchell became heavily involved in the A.A.C.M., and eventually became the first woman president in organization history.
She has played with a veritable "who's-who," of the so-called avant garde, including Abrams, the iconic reed master Anthony Braxton, trombonist George Lewis, and saxophonists Steve Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, and Archie Shepp, to name just a few of her highlight associations.
She is also the leader of the acclaimed Black Earth Ensemble, and was awarded "Top Flutist," for 2010 in the Downbeat Critics Poll.
This year, she received the prestigious Doris Duke award, which comes with a $225,000 dollar grant.
Last year, she moved from Chicago to teach at UC Irvine in a program that also boasts the uber-creative trombonist Michael Dessen.
"We are thrilled to have Nicole join our faculty in Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology," said Dessen, on break from a recording session in NYC. "She is a phenomenal musician, a fantastic improviser and composer. What I love about Nicole's music is that it is innovative, personal and rigorous in craft but it's also very positive and embodies a real spirit of generosity."
Mitchell's concert will begin with a series of duets and improvisations with world renown composer/ pianist and UCSD professor Anthony Davis and will conclude with a 17 piece chamber-orchestra featuring another UCSD professor, saxophonist David Borgo.
"Nicole is a remarkable flutist who can evoke the sounds of an orchestra or an African drumming ensemble from her flute alone," said Borgo. "She has a wonderfully personal style of vocalizing with her flute, and since the range of her voice is much the same as the flute's, it can produce a mesmerizing effect, or allow her to split tones and generate a full range of multiphonics."
The orchestral portion of Mitchell's concert will feature two original compositions Triple Sunset on GJ667Cc and Arc of O, which "Explores the primordial meaning of circles, rotation, beginnings and otherness," says Mitchell.
The concert will be held in the Conrad Prebys concert hall, which is acoustically fantastic. Tickets are $15.50 for the general public. Show time is 7 p.m.