Acknowledging Roscoe Mitchell as a Major Composer

On the 50^th Anniversary of the founding of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, of which he has always been a member, and the release of his new small group CD, the New York Times’ Seth Colter Walls tries to position multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell as a composer in the western tradition. While Mitchell, who  also teaches at Oakland Calif’s Mills College, discusses his compositions for large and small, contemporary and so-called classical music ensembles in North America and Europe, he says he actually sees this work as an extension of the sounds he’s been creating in a Jazz context for many years. Citing how associates such as his students and players experienced in both improved and notated works like percussionist William Winant and James Fei on electronics help transcribe and convert major improvisational pieces so they can be interpreted by more formal groups, he also relates his concepts back to the work of venerable Jazz masters such as saxophonist Benny Carter.