WOOLEY, Nate (ed.)
Sound American #29 – The Roscoe Mitchell Issue

Sound American #29 celebrates Art Ensemble of Chicago founder and American iconoclast, Roscoe Mitchell. This special issue is an appreciation of Mitchell’s career as an improvisor, instrumentalist, composer, painter, and educator as told by the musicians whom he has affected and through his own words.

The issue starts with a rigorously researched and beautifully written overview of the saxophonist’s career by Brooklyn-based saxophonist Sam Weinberg. As the reader continues, they will then find insights into Mitchell’s work and working methods from a group of future iconoclasts, such as Tyshawn Sorey, Darius Jones, Ken Vandermark, James Fei. Throughout the issue, composer and improvising harpist Zeena Parkins explores Mitchell’s work as an educator through a series of interviews with former Mills College students, all of were collaborators in orchestrating and arranging Mitchell’s recent works for large ensembles.

But the real glory of this issue is the sheer weight of the artist in his own words – as it features four interviews with Mitchell: a conversation on music and saxophone with Bay-Area stalwart, Phillip Greenlief; a talk about living the musician’s life with cellist Tomeka Reid and architecture scholar David Brown; a friendly talk on all things saxophone with the radical contrabass clarinetist John McCowen; and a revelatory talk about Mitchell’s visual art practice with Chicago writer and gallery owner John Corbett. [publishers’ note]

Published by Sound American, 2022
Design by Remake, New York
Periodicals / Music & Sound / Scenes