Customer Reviews

Nine to Get Ready

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Roscoe Mitchell's "Nine to Get Ready" is a brilliant recording featuring Roscoe Mitchell and the Note Factory. The musicians on this album are all creative improvisors with a keen perception of the "ins" and "outs" of creative music. The approach is orchestral. The personnel has a distinctive Detroit/Michigan flavor. Fans of the James Carter quartet will be familiar with Jaribu Shahid, Craig Taborn, and Tani Tabal. The rhythm section of Tabal/Shahid is one of jazz's most intense and well matched. Craig Taborn on piano is a delight. Taborn has yet to receive the acclaim he is due. I remember hearing him during his days as a student at the University of Michigan and have been pleased to watch his progress and development in the jazz world. Joining Tani Tabal on drums in this ensemble is Gerald Cleaver. Cleaver is a dedicated drummer with Michigan roots as well thrilling the Sunday evening jazz crowd at the popular Del Rio bar in Ann Arbor quite often.

Roscoe Mitchell featured on soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, as well as flute is joined by two other horn musicians on this tour de force. Hugh Ragin fills in on trumpet and the profound George Lewis can be heard on trombone. Included in the ensemble are William Parker (bass) and Matthew Shipp (piano). This pair needs no description or explanation other than great musicians. Fans of the "out" stuff will agree I am sure.

I've listened to many jazz records in my lifetime and I've listened to the music that some deem avante-garde, free, or creative. The music on this album defies category. Simply put it is unobtrusive music that causes one to contemplate on the nature of ensemble improvisation.

I don't know why someone would give this album two stars and then say "I'm just a casual jazz fan who doesn't like this"! Then WHY bother reviewing it? I have been listening to jazz, free-jazz, avant-garde , and free impov for over ten years now, and I can tell you that this album is a trues classic that would fit into all of those categories. It is one of roscoe's masterpieces, and it is a great place to start if you interested either in free-jazz of the 90's or Roscoe Mitchell's work. The mood and tone on the album range from delicate and meditative to free-wheeling and chaotic. It's not unobtrusive. Some of it very demanding, some of it even violent and disturbing. But overall Roscoe's amazing feat was to capture the spontaneity and choas (even in the very quiet tunes somehow) of this amazing double quartet--two drums, two basses, two pianos, two horn--on this recording. Some of it comes out in flawless compositions, such as Leola *possibly the best free-jazz composition in to date), and sometimes in the freeflowing jams, as in Hip, hop, bip, burr, rip. This album takes the orginal free-jazz experiment of Ornette Coleman, later taken up briefly by Coletrane, to new levels of possibilities, and it is one of the only examples of this daring musical approach. HIGHLY recommended. This is one of the gems in my free-jazz collection. Admittedly, this is not for fans of smooth jazz or mainstream jazz, this is for the open minded.

This music represents spirituality to me. The musicians evoke deep feeling and inner peace. Thank you, Roscoe Mitchell.

it is altogether fitting that i should be listening to this recording a memorial day weekend, the first four selections sound like dirges, forms of solemn anthems, but incredibly rhythmic, as is the whole cd, the rhythm holds everything together and gives it majesty in a democratic way.

things pick up with hop hip bip bir rip, with mitchell's sax as a ball of twine dropped that slowly begins to unravel before spinning crazily down a steep hill with everyone else in mad pursuit. hop hip etc reminds me of coltrane's my favorite things.

bessis harris is a series of wonderful solos by the group members.

fallen heroes attempts a talking horn, my guess as a eulogy.

big red peaches is an upbeat tribute to robert johnson's hot tamales, hot tamales can be heard on cassandra wilson's belly of the sun. not to be disrespectful or anything, but listening to leola the second time around i heard a bit of big red peaches and for a brief moment had a vision of a big hip woman.

I am a pretty open-minded person when it comes to music, but I just could not get myself to enjoy this album. The music was erratic and moody, as if it was the soundtrack to a nightmare. I only recommend this album to listeners who can appreciate the art behind the music, not casual jazz fans such as myself.

I was terribly disappointed with the jazz album Amazon.com rated as the best of 1999. I found this recording unpleasant to listen to because the music was depressingly low key, but in no way melodious. It often sounded like the musicians were simply tuning their instruments. A terrible purchase.