grasping for words about Nicole Mitchell

Hello. My name is Jennifer Swanson and I play the flute and I am a big music nerd.

This is my first of hopefully many guest posts on this lovely idea for a blog that I sincerely hope becomes something that many Chicagoans, or at least those in our widespread group of friends, frequent and add to. !!!

I want to write about a recent musical experience I had that taught me about the beauty of instrumentation and instrumentalists and how choosing a good combination of both things will make music a beautiful adventure.

I had the amazing and lucky opportunity to play with the Nicole Mitchell Large Ensemble last Monday. Nicole Mitchell is one of the few jazz FLUTISTS, pure flutists, in this country, maybe the world, and she is a brilliant composer-performer-flutist. Her sound on the flute is one of the best I know, and I believe this is largely due to the freedom she has when she plays. Jazz=improv=freedom=no limitations, or at least not a constant awareness of them. She has all this plus a complete and utter lack of ego- she exudes an innocent and soulful beauty in all of her endeavours.
She comes from an initial education in Classical music, but has since separated from it, though still holds it in great regard.

The concert on Monday was a tribute to her father who loved Classical music. The compositions thus made use of her Classical knowledge, but allowed for times of improvisation. In the Nicole way, everyone got to solo, and all solos were played energetically and fearlessly.

What was so wonderful about this gig was to play with this technically and musically amazing person who can see the beauty in everyone and who seems to truly believe that every musician has something to say and just needs to find their way of expressing it. I think that playing for someone who believes that makes it happen.

There was a certain "specialness" to the gig that I believe stemmed from that.
And, on a personal note, I don't think I could have soloed for my first time with a group of professional jazz musicians like that for anyone else. Which is why I feel so very lucky.

The instrumentation was innovative and made for some surreal moments--- 3 flutes, 3 violins, 2 vibraphones, trombone, bass clarinet, and double bass. Unusual, but it worked. There were moments where we had an almost Bach-like chamber symphony sound. The harmonies Nicole wrote highlighted this beautiful and unusual instrumentation and made for some great sounds.

Nicole has been criticized in the past for writing too much melody, AKA cheesiness. I have criticized her in the past for the same... but at the same time, when watching her play it, I don't really care because she sounds so damn good.

The music she wrote for this gig threatened to be "cheesy" as it was supposed tribute music to her father; but I would say that very much due to the unique instrumentation, and the musicianship and accepting personalities of all musicians involved, the music was only exciting, emotional, and beautiful.

Anyway, there's my first post... it's been awhile since I've written anything of substance, so pardon the low level writing style. Thanks for reading if you made it this far. :)