Nonaah | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1977 | |||
Recorded | August 23, 1976, January 15, 17 & 22, & February 22, 1977 | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Label | Nessa | |||
Producer | Chuck Nessa | |||
Roscoe Mitchell chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [2] |
Nonaah is a double album recorded in 1976-77 by Roscoe Mitchell. It was originally released on the Nessa label in 1977 and features solo, duo, trio and quartet performances by Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Malachi Favors, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, Henry Threadgill, Joseph Jarman, and Wallace McMillan. The 2008 double CD reissue added five unreleased saxophone solos to the album.
The 2008 All About Jazz review by Clifford Allen states “Nonaah is extraordinarily confrontational music--it presents instrument, composer and materials in a profoundly naked light. Perhaps more important than opening up one's preconceptions about the saxophone, it also complicates the AACM aesthetic.” [3] Track 1 - the first version of Nonaah - was recorded in front of an initially hostile audience that had expected a solo concert by Anthony Braxton. Mitchell responds to the jeering and heckling from a section of the audience by forcefully playing an angular 3 second phrase that crosses the entire range of the alto saxophone and repeating that phrase for about 7 minutes and for a further 2 minutes breaks apart the phrase. Having at last silenced the hecklers his improvisation takes a quieter, more sweet toned direction and moves into more conventional free improvisation, ending with audience applause.
Original Double LP:
The 2008 CD reissue added the following saxophone solos as bonus tracks:
Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. He came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles rooted in jazz but with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating other genres of music. He has performed and recorded with several ensembles: Air, Aggregation Orb, Make a Move, the seven-piece Henry Threadgill Sextett, the twenty-piece Society Situation Dance Band, Very Very Circus, X-75, and Zooid.
Muhal Richard Abrams was an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the free jazz medium. He recorded and toured the United States, Canada and Europe with his orchestra, sextet, quartet, duo and as a solo pianist. His musical affiliations constitute a "who's who" of the jazz world, including Max Roach, Dexter Gordon, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Art Farmer, Sonny Stitt, Anthony Braxton, and The Art Ensemble of Chicago.
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is a non-profit organization, founded in 1965 in Chicago by pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran. The AACM is devoted "to nurturing, performing, and recording serious, original music," according to its charter. It supports and encourages jazz performers, composers and educators. Although founded in the jazz tradition, the group's outreach and influence has, according to Larry Blumenfeld, "touched nearly all corners of modern music."
Roscoe Mitchell is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb – if idiosyncratic – saxophonist". The Penguin Guide to Jazz described him as "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz; All About Jazz stated in 2004 that he had been "at the forefront of modern music" for more than 35 years. Critic Jon Pareles in The New York Times has mentioned that Mitchell "qualifies as an iconoclast". In addition to his own work as a bandleader, Mitchell is known for cofounding the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
Joseph Jarman was an American jazz musician, composer, poet, and Shinshu Buddhist priest. He was one of the first members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and a member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
Pi Recordings is a jazz record label founded by Seth Rosner in 2001. He was soon joined as partner by Yulun Wang. Pi specializes in avant-garde jazz. Its first two albums were by Henry Threadgill.
Douglas R. Ewart is a multi-instrumentalist and instrument builder. He plays sopranino and alto saxophones, clarinets, bassoon, flute, bamboo flutes, and didgeridoo; as well as Rastafarian hand drums.
Thurman Barker is an American jazz drummer.
Steve McCall was an American jazz drummer.
Ari Brown is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and pianist.
Sound is the debut album by free jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, recorded in 1966 and released on the Delmark label. It features performances by Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, Maurice McIntyre, Lester Lashley and Alvin Fielder. The CD reissue includes two takes of "Sound", which were edited together to form the original LP version, and an alternative take of "Ornette".
Fanfare for the Warriors is a 1973 album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago first released on the Atlantic label. It features performances by Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Maghostut and Don Moye along with AACM leader Muhal Richard Abrams.
Young at Heart/Wise in Time is an album by pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams released by the Delmark label in 1970 that featured an LP side-length solo piano composition and Abrams accompanied by Leo Smith, Henry Threadgill, Lester Lashley and Thurman Barker on the other side.
1-OQA+19 is an album by Muhal Richard Abrams released on the Italian Black Saint label in 1977 which features performances by Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Steve McCall and Leonard Jones.
Live in Berlin is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded in March 1979 and first released on the West Wind label in 1991.
The Iron Men is an album led by trumpeter Woody Shaw which was recorded in 1977 but not released on the Muse label until 1980. The Iron Men was reissued by Mosaic Records as part of Woody Shaw: The Complete Muse Sessions in 2013.
L-R-G / The Maze / S II Examples is an album by American jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell recorded in 1978 and released originally as a double LP on Nessa Records. It was reissued in 1989 as a single CD.
Solo Saxophone Concerts is an album by American jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell composed of solo concert performances from 1973 and 1974 and released on the Canadian Sackville label. It was reissued in 2009 by AECO/Katalyst under the title The Solo Concert.
For Trio is an album by American jazz saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton recorded in 1977 and released on the Arista label. The album features two recordings of the same composition by Braxton in two separate trios and was subsequently included on The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton released by Mosaic Records in 2008.
Made in Chicago is a live album by drummer and composer Jack DeJohnette with fellow Chicagoan musicians pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, bassist Larry Gray and saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill recorded at the 35th Chicago Jazz Festival in 2013 and released on the ECM label. The album documents the reunion of DeJohnette with colleagues from Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.