Roscoe Mitchell is an internationally renowned musician, composer and innovator serving as the Darius Milhaud Chair Emeritus of Composition at Mills College (CA). His virtuosic resurrection of overlooked woodwind instruments spanning extreme registers, visionary solo performances, and assertion of a hybrid compositional/improvisational paradigm have placed him at the forefront of contemporary music.
Mr. Mitchell is a founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), and the Trio Space. He is also distinguished as the founder of the Creative Arts Collective, The Roscoe Mitchell Sextet & Quartet, The Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, The Sound Ensemble, The New Chamber Ensemble, and the Note Factory. His vast discography includes “Sound” (1966), “People in Sorrow” (1969), “Nonaah” (1977), “Bells for the South Side” (2017), and “Discussions” (2017).
Mitchell’s honors include the Fromm Foundation commission for Ensemble Dal Niente: “Last Trane To Clover Five” (2019), 2020 NEA Jazz Master Fellowship, the United States Artist Award (2019), ASCAP Founders Award (2018), Multiple Reeds Player of the Year: Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards (2018) among others. Most recently, he premiered a large-scale orchestral work entitled “Useful News,” made possible by a prestigious commission from the Ensemble intercontemporain in Paris, France.
Mr. Mitchell is a founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), and the Trio Space. He is also distinguished as the founder of the Creative Arts Collective, The Roscoe Mitchell Sextet & Quartet, The Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, The Sound Ensemble, The New Chamber Ensemble, and the Note Factory. His vast discography includes “Sound” (1966), “People in Sorrow” (1969), “Nonaah” (1977), “Bells for the South Side” (2017), and “Discussions” (2017).
Mitchell’s honors include the Fromm Foundation commission for Ensemble Dal Niente: “Last Trane To Clover Five” (2019), 2020 NEA Jazz Master Fellowship, the United States Artist Award (2019), ASCAP Founders Award (2018), Multiple Reeds Player of the Year: Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards (2018) among others. Most recently, he premiered a large-scale orchestral work entitled “Useful News,” made possible by a prestigious commission from the Ensemble intercontemporain in Paris, France.
Discography
![Bells for the South Side (2017)]()
![Solo Saxophone Concerts (1974)]()
![Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound and Space Ensembles (1983)]()
