Numbers (Roscoe Mitchell album)

Last updated
Numbers
Numbers cover.jpg
Studio album / Live album by
Released2011
RecordedAugust 16, 2002, February 13, 2003, January 10, 2010, February 10, 2010, March 27, 2010 and August 8, 2010,
VenueMills College, Oakland, CA
StudioSystems Two, Brooklyn, NY, Audio for the Arts, Madison, WI and Duderstadt Center Audio Studio, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Genre Jazz
Length65:05
Label RogueArt
ROG-0036
Producer Michel Dorbon
Roscoe Mitchell chronology
Far Side
(2007)
Numbers
(2011)
Three Compositions
(2012)

Numbers is an album by American jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, which was recorded in between 2003 and 2010 and released on the French RogueArt label. [1]

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
DownBeat Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [3]

All About Jazz', John Sharpe said "Mitchell himself, playing alto saxophone, appears on just one out of 13 tracks, recorded in multiple sessions over an eight year period from 2002. Even though... little of the content would seem out of place individually in any Mitchell set list, the act of bringing these pieces together does make for a different experience. There is no indication as to whether the works are entirely through-composed or allow extemporization into their realization, but in spite of their abstraction, the consistent purity of tone and precision of delivery places them firmly in the contemporary new music camp." [2]

In a review for DownBeat , Alain Drouot wrote: "Numbers should not be viewed as a new chamber work for the reason that most of the musicians performing these solo and duo pieces... come from a particular musical sphere. They have also tested the improvised music and jazz waters... this collection of works can appear fairly academic. Still, their relative classicism should not overshadow the pure pleasure they provide." [3]

Marc Medwin, writing for Dusted Magazine, commented: "The performances could not be more committed. Each brims with vigor and is flawlessly executed." [4]

Track listing

All compositions by Roscoe Mitchell except where noted

  1. "Bells for New Orleans (Prelude)" – 1:33
  2. "9/9/99" – 10:33
  3. "Sketches" – 6:36
  4. "Because It's" (Mitchell, e.e. cummings) – 2:14
  5. "This" (Mitchell, cummings) – 4:30
  6. "Dim" (Mitchell, cummings) – 5:47
  7. "Bells for New Orleans" – 5:01
  8. "WR/C 2A Opus I" – 9:49
  9. "8/8/88 1st Movement" – 4:24
  10. "8/8/88 2nd Movement" – 1:50
  11. "8/8/88 3rd Movement" – 3:33
  12. "9/9/09" – 7:09
  13. "Bells for New Orleans (Postlude)" – 2:11

Personnel

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References

  1. Numbers at RogueArt Records, accessed January 5, 2018
  2. 1 2 All About Jazz review, accessed January 5, 2018
  3. 1 2 Drouot, Alain (June 2012). "Numbers". DownBeat. p. 68.
  4. Medwin, Marc (March 20, 2012). "Numbers". Dusted Magazine. Retrieved July 2, 2022.