(Avant-Garde / Free Jazz / Free Improvisation) Roscoe Mitchell - Solo [3] (3CDs) {Mutablemusic MUTABLE 17515-2} - 2003, APE (image+.cue) lossless

A triple-disc set of solo free jazz improvisations might seem like a daunting prospect, even for musically courageous souls, but multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell provides enough variety to keep the material fresh and unpredictable, playing many different horns and a battery of percussion along the way. Mitchell, a pivotal member of both the AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, has had a versatile career as both composer and performer. Solo [3] shares his singular amalgamation of disparate styles -- jazz, world music and modern classical; the music may be eclectic, but it has a purposeful and well-crafted sensibility about it.
The first disc is devoted to pieces for sundry wind instruments. Some of these are really modified solo works, and feature Mitchell overdubbing several parts. "Little Big Horn 2" is a duet done in this fashion, for the unlikely combo of bass and sopranino saxophones. The bass plays long held notes while its smaller counterpart darts lithely in and out. "1999/2002" is another duet, this time for flute and percussion cage. Bell-like sonorities are set against the flute's folk-like melodies, creating music of a poignant lyricism. "Tech Ritter and the Megabytes" is an overdubbed quartet improvisation for two altos, tenor and bass saxophones. From both a linear and ensemble standpoint, Mitchell creates engaging material for the four horns. Sometimes they collaborate to create affecting post-tonal harmonies, while at other times all four go their separate ways, creating a digressive but engaging musical conversation.
Disc one's centerpiece is "November 18, 2000", a gargantuan twenty-minute piece for solo soprano saxophone. Mitchell creates soaring, swirling lines that breathlessly turn over and over in a non-stop angular stream of notes. Its loquacity is occasionally given grit and determination by squalls, shrieks and overblowing. While the entirety is an endurance test, the listener's exhaustion will no doubt be tempered with gratitude and wonder at having experienced this resolute work.
Disc two is comprised entirely of works for solo alto saxophone. As such, it serves as an album-length suite of pieces, demonstrating Mitchell's versatility and creativity in the more restrictive concept of solo works for the same instrument, sans overdubs. From "Nemus", with its post-bop phrasing, to the Schoenbergian dissonance of "Mirnada", Mitchell gives a clinic on how to create a polyphony of ideas on an instrument that generates a single melodic line. Even short works like "Icy Pearls" and "Methane Snow" are filled with wonderful moments, despite their pithy economy.
The last disc highlights Mitchell's percussive explorations. Most of his work in this domain has been done in what he calls the "Percussion Cage", a four-sided structure filled with hundreds of instruments. Most of these are small: bells, chimes, toy horns and drums, cymbals and bicycle horns. As such, they create an enigmatic and subtle sound world, which Mitchell explores with dynamic sensitivity and an imaginative ear for color. While few of the works on this disc have as forceful a presence as the saxophone works on the preceding two, their delicate beauty and multi-tiered structures are a lovely listening experience.
Sure, triple CD sets are out of vogue, particularly for creative artists outside the mainstream. This may make Solo [3] seem all the more rarefied, but it is the wide reach of Mitchell's music that causes this kind of anthologization to be efficacious -- indeed, almost necessary. I have seldom heard a set encompass so many facets of music with such economy of means. Highly recommended.
-- Christian Carey