Tatsu Aoki is a multi-instrumentalist trained in traditional Japanese music, educator and experimental filmmaker. In his career as Chicago's Jazz and creative improvisor, he is mostly known as a long-standing bassist for Fred Anderson and he has also worked with George Freeman, and Von Freeman in the 90s. Aoki also has curious recording projects with Malachi Favors, Roscoe Mitchell, Don Moye, Wu Man, and other internationally renowned artists. Aoki also directs cultural events that promote the history of Japanese artistic traditions and contemporary Asian influences in jazz. As the founder and artistic director of Asian Improv Arts Midwest, he hosts events such as the annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival and the Japanese American Service Committee's Tsukasa Taiko Legacy arts residency program.
Nicole Mitchell is an American jazz flautist and composer who teaches jazz at the University of Virginia. She is a former chairwoman of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
Altitude is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris which was recorded live in 2011 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. It documents the first time performance by Morris, bassist William Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver as a trio during a two-week of dates curated at John Zorn's club The Stone by label owner Steven Joerg. For the second set, excerpted in the final two cuts of the album, Parker played sintir, the Moroccan bass lute, instead of upright bass. All the tracks are collective and completely improvised.
Elastic Aspects is an album by American jazz pianist Matthew Shipp recorded in 2011 and released on Thirsty Ear's Blue Series. It was the debut studio recording by the trio with Michael Bisio on bass and Whit Dickey on drums, following a live performance included in Art of the Improviser.
Tomeka Reid is an American composer, improviser, cellist, curator, and teacher.
Black Unstoppable is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell, which was recorded in 2007 and released on Delmark. It was the fourth album by her Black Earth Ensemble and the first for Delmark after three recordings on Dreamtime, the label she established with David Boykin. According to Mitchell, this project features a diverse collection of songs that touch all sides of Great Black Music: avant-garde jazz, blues, R&B and soul. The group ranges in size from a quartet to a nonet.
Renegades is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell, recorded in 2008 and released on Delmark. It was the first album by her Black Earth Strings, a band that brings African rhythms, contemporary sounds and swinging improvisation to a chamber music setting.
Awakening is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell, which was recorded in 2011 and released on Delmark. She leads a quartet with guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Harrison Bankhead and drummer Avreeayl Ra. Although she's worked extensively with these musicians, the group played together for the first time just days before heading into the studio. Mitchell explained "With this quartet I tried to put the flute more out front as usual. I wanted to dig back into the old school jazz a bit and yet still make room to branch out into never-never land".
Arc of O is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell & an_Arche New Music Ensemble, a Polish chamber group co-founded and directed by Rafal Zapala and Filip Walcerz. It was recorded live as part of the Made in Chicago Festival of Poznań in 2010 and released on the French RogueArt label.
Emerald Hills is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell, which was recorded in 2009 and released on the French RogueArt label. It was the debut recording by Sonic Projections, a quartet featuring pianist Craig Taborn, saxophonist David Boykin and drummer Chad Taylor. The band was formed in 2008 to celebrate the publication of George Lewis's book A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music.
Hope, Future and Destiny is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell, which was released in 2004 on Dreamtime, the label she established with David Boykin. It was the third recording by her Black Earth Ensemble. This work was the musical score for a multi-arts community play involving a cast of over 50 people in dance, video, acting and live original music.
Book of Mæ'bul is an album by American jazz saxophonist Darius Jones, which was recorded in 2011 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. Book of the Mæ'bul is the third chapter in the Man'ish Boy series created by Jones and graphic artist Randal Wilcox. The album features his working quartet with pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Ches Smith.
Artifacts is an album by a collective trio consisting of Nicole Mitchell on flute and electronics, Tomeka Reid on cello and Mike Reed on drums, which was recorded in 2015 and released on 482 Music. The trio, which Tomeka Reid conceived for a concert in Seattle early in 2015, was formed to celebrate the legacy of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians during its 50th anniversary, interpreting compositions by some of its members. Cover art by Lewis Achenbach, created live during the 50th anniversary of the AACM at Mandel Hall in Chicago.
The Speed of Change is the second album by Loose Assembly, a quintet led by American jazz drummer Mike Reed featuring alto saxophonist Greg Ward, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, cellist Tomeka Reid and bassist Josh Abrams. It was recorded in 2007 and released on 482 Music.
Afrika Rising is an album by jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell with her group Black Earth Ensemble. It was released in 2002 by Dreamtime, Mitchell's own label.
Xenogenesis Suite is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell with her Black Earth Ensemble, which was recorded in 2007 and released on Firehouse 12. The work was commissioned by Chamber Music America and premiered at Vision Festival XII in New York City. It was her first suite based on the Xenogenesis novels of American science fiction writer Octavia Butler.
Joshua Abrams is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist who plays the double bass and guimbri.
Three Compositions is an album by American jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell which was recorded live at the occasion of Sant'Anna Arresi Jazz Festival 2009 and released on the French RogueArt label. Mitchell's scores are played by flautist Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble.
Moments of Fatherhood is an album by American jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble with French contemporary music Ensemble Laborintus, which was recorded in 2015 and released on the French RogueArt label. The album is inspired by a collection of photographs that civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois put together for The Exhibit of American Negroes at the 1900 World's Exposition in Paris.
Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra is an album by American jazz trumpeter Bill Dixon and Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra. It was recorded at Electrical Audio studios in Chicago in 2007, and was released in 2008 on the Thrill Jockey label. The album features two versions of a composition by Dixon plus one by Mazurek.
