Roscoe Mitchell; image credit: Joseph Blough.
Saxophonist Ross Feller’s introduction to the avant-garde jazz music of Roscoe Mitchell was memorable — but not for all the right reasons.
“I listened to it in high school, and I remember the first time I put the needle to the record and I completely didn't understand anything about what was going on,” he said.
Fortunately, Feller — now James D. & Cornelia W. Ireland Associate Professor of Music and department chair — gave the legendary Chicago native another try.
“A few months later, I was in a different frame of mind and I gave it another listen, and it had a completely different effect,” he said. “The music was affecting me in a tactile way so that my body was moving to different parts of music, and I heard the entire album as a single composition. It really changed my trajectory as a composer and as a musician.”
Soon students, faculty, staff and the local community will be able to experience Mitchell’s music for themselves when the 83-year-old performs on campus Oct. 21.
The free concert with Tim Russell will begin at 8 p.m. in Rosse Hall Auditorium. Earlier in the day at 11 a.m., Mitchell will lead a free master class in the auditorium that anyone may attend. No registration is required for the class, and participants are invited to bring their instruments.
The visit is presented by The Gund Concert Series and Kenyon's Department of Music, and co-sponsored by the Department of American Studies, Black Student Union and James D. and Cornelia W. Ireland.
Mitchell is a prolific performer and composer who plays a host of instruments, primarily saxophone but also flute, clarinet, recorder and percussion. In the 1960s, he co-founded the highly influential Art Ensemble of Chicago and became known for his ability to meld musical traditions as different as funk, rock, classical and world music.
Named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, he’s written pieces for full orchestras, solo performers, and everything in between.
“One record I heard growing up was pretty much Roscoe's circular breathing for 45 minutes on a single record and altering the single pitch in various ways. And all this done with one breath!” Feller said.
He and Mitchell have crossed paths numerous times over the years, including a 2000 concert in Minnesota, where Feller was teaching at the time, in which they played a duet.
Feller predicted that the upcoming concert will be memorable — for all the right reasons.
“They're going to be playing some compositions by Roscoe, but also large, healthy doses of improvisation,” he said. “The type of improvisation is a very personal approach. The players have known each other, in some cases, for decades, so when they improvise together, it's as if they're having a musical conversation that's understood.”
Mwï Epalle ’24, president of the Black Student Union, said students can learn a lot from someone like Mitchell.
“Whether or not you’re a student musician, I think it’s important to see someone who has really dedicated themselves to their work and to their craft for as long as he has,” Epalle said. “His style, his uniqueness, even the way he dresses — I think it's wonderful to see someone, especially a person of color, who fully embraces themselves and their art and has been doing it since before I was born.”
For first-time listeners planning to attend the concert, Feller had some words of advice.
“Roscoe's musical language is wider and more diverse than just about any musician presently on the planet,” he said. “There's going to be a lot going on. As a listener, you have to have the ability to focus in on things and go along for a fun ride in sound.”