MusicNicoleMitchell

"...I had the idea of creating a melody for each person that walked by, reflecting on how people seemed to me...I was trying to find a way to communicate with people through the improvisation. It wasn't necessarily that I was trying to play jazz...I was just trying to connect."

From An Improvised Life by Peter Margasak in Chicago Reader, August 2, 2007.

IB

What role does consensus and unity have in your musical omniverse? How deeply political do you consider your approach? How are the formal and aesthetic choices you make related to the music's politics?

NM

I have work that varies in political content. As an African American artist, I recognize three different approaches in relation to my work and the work of other artists. Many African American artists (visual art, film, music, dance...) focus on Reflection of what is. They want to the point out how things are for Black people right now in a realistic sense and what is wrong with society. It's like looking in the mirror.

Another group of African American artists I would define as Historically focused. They want us to remember what has happened, and honor the concept of 'Sankofa' that says, 'You have to know where you have come from to know where you are going to.' Some of my work, comes out of this aesthetic, including my orchestra piece for Harriet Tubman, 'Stealing Freedom in Broad Daylight,' and music I've composed that has been inspired by the blues, R&B, hip-hop, Afrobeat, swing and post-bop. Historically focused artists make work that helps us to remember our heroes and what has happened in the past.

The third and smallest group of African American artists are visionary.

This group wants to bring us something new. They want to show us a new world and new possibilities. They may relate us to what is known and show us a bridge to a alternative future. They visit other realities and imagination in their work. This concept of Visionary Art is what I most identify with in my work. My desire is to create music that can be transformative and invite us to question both the music and our reality.

The Creative Feminine

"...I want to leave that mark, that aesthetic of whatever is coming through me as a woman, as a channel for that feminine energy. I think that people get this idea about what that creative feminine aspect is, and it's usually not understood. Because there's a real power and strength, just as there is to the power of nature, and the power of mother...That power isn't really celebrated in our society right now."

From I Dreamed of Other Worlds an Interview with Nicole Mitchell, May 8, 2008 by Ellen Waterman in Critical Studies in Improvisation

Interview with Howard Mandel

IB

What are the realities for female musicians and composers in the global creative music scene today? Any better now than 30 years ago? Do you see music breaking down residual sexism/patriarchy? Do you actively seek out other women to work with? What are the challenges ahead?

NM

In response to these questions, Mitchell referred us to an interview with John Ephland in Downbeat, January 2011 excerpted below.

"...I know that women jazz instrumentalists have been getting more credit in the recent years. Geri Allen, Regina Carter and Jane Bunnett and others have helped opened the way for myself, Maria Schneider, Matana Roberts, Anat Cohen, Mary Halverson, Esperanza Spaulding, Tina Fuller and others.

Geri Allen Trio BET Jazz

Regina Carter Reverse Thread performs ""Artistya""

Jane Bunnett & the Spirits of Havana

It would be fantastic to have more women playing jazz. The classical realm seems to have made great strides in this regard, but in jazz we still have a long way to go.

Jazz is a hard path for anyone blue, purple, woman, man. Those that choose it have to be believers in this music and will have some struggle. Sound is invisible, so we may ask, what difference does it make a man or woman? But context of that sound gives us depth and also...controversy!

...gender is a dirty word when dealing with jazz. No one, including myself, really wants to talk about it. I'd rather be respected for my work without drawing attention to the detail of what type of human I am. I have been thankful to be respected as an artist without my 'female' aspect subtracting from that respect. In global society, it is still considered an advantage to be male, which is why women retract from the 'gender question.'

All that said, I don't think about gender that much. The musicians I work with don't bring it up. The people that ask me to play or want to work with me don't bring it up. I have experienced jazz culture as a place where I have felt acceptance as an individual, which is a special and sacred to me.

...Black Earth Strings is a quintet that happens to be four women and one man, but this was strictly decided based on my musical aesthetics, not gender. In the last few years I've also worked with the free improvising women's collective, Truth or Dare that was a more conscious decision to have a blast with some badass women musicians. In other groups I work as a collaborator and might be the only woman...[as in] Indigo Trio and Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra...In Anthony Braxton's ensembles I enjoy experiencing a real balance of gender."

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It would be fantastic to have more women playing jazz. We still have a long way to go.

Nicole Mitchell

www.nicolemitchell.com