Nicole Mitchell: Awakening

Nicole Mitchell (flute)

Awakening (Delmark; 2011)

Avreeayl Ra (drums)

Jeff Parker (guitar)

Harrison Bankhead (bass)

Well, I always get a few friends who ask me about jazz flute. Unfortunately most of them are joking (e.g. Will Farrell as Ron Burgundy in the film AnchorMan), but when it comes to jazz flute there are very few out there. Yes, there are a quite a few who double as sax players. But sax is usually the main instrument and flute comes second. So it was a bit of a surprise to receive the new album Awakening (Delmark) by Nicole Mitchell. I really don't own any of her recordings but I have a number of albums she's played on (including the recent Exploding Stars Orchestra, Mike Reed, and Anthony Braxton). Even more surprising was when I told my friends about her, they already knew about her and were shocked I didn't know. Apparently I'm the one who looks like the arse now.

Over the course of the decade Mitchell has been a stalwart on the Chicago scene (as a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music along with legend Fred Anderson and new trailblazer, Matana Roberts), as well as abroad. Her style is very spiritual, African and richly improvisational. Fans of the work by James Finn or John Esposito should definitely take a spin with Nicole Mitchell. Setting the tone for this project, Mitchell utilized a slightly stripped unit from her more complex larger ensembles. These groups also explored larger themes and motifs as you would expect. Awakening with its small group set up allows the quartet to experiment more with sound and space.

"Center Of The Earth" and "Momentum" both are illustrious and expansive pieces where Mitchell's flute is more like Coltrane on sax and not flute. Parker's playing is fluid and highly expressive. Bankhead and Ra keep a steady hypnotic groove that helps both tunes rotate with a real sensuality. "Momentum" contains a few lovely passages from Parker. This is another instance in which Mitchell allows her bandmates to explore structures on the own terms. At times throughout Awakening I felt as though I was listening to the Phil Ranelin era The Tribe, Doug Carn or poetic verse from 70s under-rated poet Wanda Robinson. I was thinking, it might even be nice to spin this at a party along side material from Soweto Kinch. What a way to throw a crowd straight into a history lesson, eh!?!

The quartet gets funky and humorous on "There", a solid number where Mitchell's calm playing guides the group into a rawer but subtle fusion style motifs. The title track "Awakening" closes the album in a midtempo groove with Parker and Ra having some stellar individual moments. Mitchell's playing rises above here with some strong and intense harmonic passages. When listening to Awakening you realize this group has taken a number of subtle but urgent themes and stretched them with excitement and beauty; this makes listening to Awakening a real pleasure. At the end of it all I became a fan in a matter of hours and then went back to a few of the albums I had where Mitchell performs to listen even closer to her vision. Wow. This Awakening is awesome stuff.

Sangeeta Michael Berardi

Sangeeta Michael Berardi (guitar; b. 1939)

Earthship (Sunjump Records; 2008)

Hilliard Greene (bass)

John Esposito (piano; drums)

Peter O'Brien (drums)

James Finn (sax; flute)

I think we can all name at least ten musicians who have been lost in record rakes of time for one reason or another. It's a shame because a lot of these artists created some stellar and in many cases unbelievable pieces of art. One such musician is Sangeeta Michael Berardi.

Berardi's career has encompassed being a promoter, painter, poet and performing with the likes of Rashied Ali, Archie Sheep, Roswell Rudd, Sonny Simmons among others in the '60s, '70s avant garde. The strange thing is Berardi's playing isn't necessarily avant garde. Berardi also didn't record many albums (two from what I can find) as leader although he did perform allot as sideman. So what we have is one highly sought after debut from the '80s and his most recently released Earthship (Sunjump Records).

Earthship was actually recorded in 1996 but not officially released until 2008. Sangeeta Michael Berardi as you will hear was highly influenced by the latter works Coltrane but crafted his own vision of that Far Eastern spiritual sound into dreamlike soundscapes that are truly phenomenal. Berardi's style might be somewhere between Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin's work on their Coltrane inspired collaboration, Love, Devotion and Surrender and McLaughlin's work on Bitches Brew. But the difference here is his raw quality that runs throughout Earthship.

The opening title track is a real full throttle journey in sound as Berardi weaves a nice thread between mood setting groove and electric firestorm. Finn and Esposito both rise to challenge with some nice improvised moments throughout the piece. "Coltrane Lights Our Way" really highlights Sangeeta's mastery on the guitar. The tune sways onward and upward with some fierce assistance from O'Brien on drums. This might be the closest Sangeeta comes to sounding like Santana without the overbearing theatrics. But there are also some rock elements running inside this piece that really set Berardi's style apart.

"Trane's Church" is another display of Berardi's blistering sound world while the gentle tandem of Berardi and Finn (this time on flute) on "Evening, Woodstock" add a gentle and soothing element to the high spirited tracks that proceed it.

Probably the head-turner of the session is the closing number, the legendary "My Favourite Things". While John Coltrane's version of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic has become a benchmark in jazz circles, Berardi's version certainly needs to be recognized as completely different take that is rich, inventive and stellar in its execution. It's pulsating, passionate and modern while all wrapped in a divine layer spirituality. It would make Coltrane proud and probably have Rodgers & Hammerstein cringe. I love it.

Earthship is a work similar to Berardi's debut that is seeking a much higher devotion than just the one in the studio or the one coming out of your speakers. It is truly hard to believe that this record was recorded in 1996. Considering the time period there were very few albums like it at the time (the closet I could think of was David S. Ware's Wisdom Of Certainty). And listening to Earthship now you would have thought it was recorded two months ago.

Sangeeta Michael Berardi has been ill for quite some time now and it would be great for people to discover his music now. Earthship contains the kind of thinking music people actually crave but can't find. A real treasure.

Mitch Kessler: Der Erlkonig

Mitch Kessler (sax, flute)

Der Erlkonig (Sun Jump Records)

John Esposito (piano)

Peter O'Brien (drums)
Ira Coleman (bass)

Working with longtime friends and fellow upstate NY musicians The John Esposito Trio, Mitch Kessler has produced a marvelous second album, Der Erlkonig (The ElfKing) (Sun Jump Records) which somehow surpasses his debut Erratica (Sun Jump Records; 2009). This is a spiritual/free jazz outing in the vein and quality of Pharoah Sanders, Eric Dolphy and Alice Coltrane; or even the soulful elements of Detroit's Tribe which featured Phil Ranelin, Marcus Belgrave and others.

Der Erlkonig, a poem written by Johann Wolfgan Von Goethe tells the story of young boy who is killed by a mysterious being while riding home with his father on horseback. It's is dark and unsettling story that leaves a lot to the imagination. Here Kessler has made the piece more haunting by delivering the poem in its traditional German. The performances "Der Erlkonig" are spectacular. The opening bassline from Coleman suggests a beat generation like journey over the next 70 minutes. And it delivers. The quartet are smokin' and make the haunting tale seem more like a journey of a higher order.

"Indo Eurasian Folksong" has all the elements of A Love Supreme-Acknowledgement with an added level of urgency. The timing and interaction between the quartet tells you that while they've only recorded a small amount of material together they are still tight and rhythmically adventurous. The floating hypnotic nature of Kessler's flute combined with Coleman's addictive bassline just underneath is sublime.

"Non Sequitur" bursts through with some wonderful improvisational exchanges between Kessler and Esposito. Coleman and O'Brien are not to be outdone as they emerge midway with an excellent yet delicate exchange that leads to a lovely closing.

"Vietnamese Waltz" closes out this session and it's a blisteringly beautiful track with excellent solo work from each musician. Kessler's playing is far-reaching, exploratory and touching all in a matter of nine minutes. This is great stuff, people.

For me, Kessler's compositions are an interesting and intricate balance of the latter works of both Coltrane's (John and Alice) and Monk. With only his second release, Der Erlkonig, Mitch Kessler has estabished himself as a soon to be dominate talent on the scene if he continues with this type of consistently strong and creative output. Mitch Kessler is an undiscovered treasure and more than worth the purchase (You can find it at Downtown Music Gallery). Enjoy.