How does she do it? How does one pair of lungs produce so much voluptuous sound, so many melodic lines simultaneously issuing from a single flute?
Nicole Mitchell, known simply as “Niki” to her musician friends, has been enjoying an increasingly high profile in Chicago in recent years. But the set she played Wednesday night at HotHouse, leading her new Black Earth Ensemble, signaled a turning point in the artist’s development.
For if Mitchell has shown promise as contributor to various avant-garde ensembles, this time she stepped to the foreground as bandleader, composer and instrumental virtuoso. At ease in each of these roles, Mitchell sounded as if she had been fronting this band for years, rather than months.
That she also offered bracingly original ideas built on the innovations of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians only added to the appeal of her performance.
First and foremost, though, was the remarkable sound she drew from her instrument. As distinct as a fingerprint, it proved large and tonally resplendent in the lower registers, plush in the middle and unremittingly brilliant on top. Even if Mitchell were playing nothing but scales, listeners would savor every note.
But like all of her AACM colleagues, Mitchell thrives on extending the technical and expressive possibilities of her instrument. Thus at some junctures she produced three crisply defined lines at once, articulating high and low notes on the flute while adding counterpoint with her voice.
Yet this was no mere stunt. By thickening the texture of her solos in some passages, distilling them to a few well-chosen notes in others, Mitchell catered to the ebb and flow of the band’s improvisations.
Mitchell’s musical tastes were wide-ranging, juxtaposing traditional swing-based rhythm with experimental sonic effects. Old and new merged in this music to great impact.
Moreover, she never allowed the music to become static or lacking in forward motion. Every phrase–whether built on traditional chord changes or conceived in a “free,” non-chordal language–led inexorably to the next.
Technically, Mitchell can be quite impressive, unleashing fortissimo trills, lightning-quick runs, grating dissonance, silken legato lines–just about every device one might think of.
Close your eyes, and you might believe an entire wind section was on stage.
Yet for all her technical prowess, Mitchell took pains to weave her lines into the band’s instrumental fabric. Performing with a pared-down version of the Black Earth Ensemble, Mitchell benefited greatly from Hamid Drake’s forceful work on drum set and Darius Savage’s sonorous, soulful bass playing.
The entire Black Earth Ensemble, which includes strings and two percussionists, can be heard in full splendor on Mitchell’s stunning debut CD, “Vision Quest.”
Together, the recording and the HotHouse performance point to the emergence of a potentially major figure in the evolution of the AACM, and the experimental spirit it represents.
Jazz note: The Ravinia Festival in Highland Park has announced headliners for this summer’s Jazz at Ravinia schedule: Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, June 14; Oscar Peterson, June 15; Roy Hargrove and Bibel Gilberto, June 16; Ramsey Lewis, Joshua Redman and Nancy Wilson, June 17. In addition, Danilo Perez will perform in various settings, including master classes with the Steans Institute.
