Roscoe Mitchell and Charles Lloyd share common pedigrees. Both made names for themselves in the 60s and 70s as searching souls. Mitchell is best associated with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, while Lloyd sojourned alone, bringing along fellow pilgrims on his journey. The 78 year old Mitchell and 76 year Lloyd have both recently recorded albums in concert, and it’s fascinating to see the world views that are ingrained in each artist for compare and contrast.
Mitchell performs at the Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary art with a pair of drummers (Kikanju Baku/Tani Tabbal), a multi-faceted percussionist (William Winant) as well as the loose fitting team of James Fei/reeds-elec, Hugh ragin/tp, Tyshawn Sorey/tb-p-dr, Craig Taborn/p-key, Jaribu Shahid/b while the leader switches between a bucketload of reeds, woodwinds and percussion during this two hour extravaganza.
Space is definitely the place on the open and wide “Spatial Aspects of the Sound” while eerie Hitchcockian themes mix ominous percussion and squeaky doors on “Panolpy” and “Six Gogs and two Woodblocks.” Mitchell blurps, squawks and screams with avalanches of rhythms that cavalcade on the chaotic “R509A Twenty B” and “The Last Chord” while teaming with electronics that bring together more noodling than a soup kitchen in Little Tokyo on “Red Moon in the Sky” before the team sizzles to a close on the grooving “Odwalla.” Spontaneous, intuitive and filled with sharp turns. What more could you expect or want?
Lloyd, meanwhile, mixes his dna-embedded bopper’s soul with a Nepenthe-infused trip through Big Sur on this concert with his simpatico team of Jason Moran/p, Reuben Rogers/b and Eric Harland/dr. Lloyd seems to summarize every aspect of his weltanschauung, bopping with delight during a swinging “Bu Blues” while signing and reflecting as if he were re-creating John Coltrane’s Ballads album on a lovely “How Can I Tell You.” He’s meditative with Moran on the recitative “Shiva Prayer” while on flute he gets into a Haight-Ashbury boogaloo groove on the hippy and happy “Tagore On the Delta.” The rhythm team shows how frisky it can get on the title track, while Lloyd creates a tapestry on “Dream Weaver.” At this stage of his illustrious career, his guy is the sage of the sax!
ECM Records
Blue Note Records