''Sketches from Bamboo'' is an album by saxophonist

Roscoe Mitchell Roscoe Mitchell (born August 3, 1940) is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb – if idiosyncratic – saxophonist". ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' described him as "one of the key figures ...

. It was recorded in June 1979 at Palm Studio in Paris, and was released on LP later that year by

Moers Music Moers Music is a German jazz record label that was founded by Burkhard Hennen in Moers, Germany. The label started in 1974 under the name Ring but was changed three years later due to a conflict with a Canadian record label that had the same name. ...

. On the album, Mitchell is joined by members of a large ensemble known as the Roscoe Mitchell Creative Orchestra.

Reception

In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Brian Olewnick wrote that Mitchell "splits the date between two of his notable predilections: the abstract and the funky. The former is represented in the two variations on the title theme that utilize the horns to develop spare, pointillistic patterns that emerge into and then escape out of drone-like textures... Both are fairly successful ventures into structurally balancing composition and improvisation for a large group... 'Linefine Lyon Seven' is... good, ragged fun with the composer up front on alto... ''Sketches from Bamboo'' is worth seeking out for the Mitchell fan, although newcomers can gain easier access elsewhere." The authors of the ''

Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'' stated: "The first 'Sketches' is a compelling, slowly collecting composite of horn lines and the second seeks to amplify that tendency into what is, at the end, a vast, swirling collage that is nevertheless very precisely directed and sustained... for the vividness of the first two tracks, this is well worth having."

Track listing

Composed by Roscoe Mitchell.

Side A

# "Sketches From Bamboo - Cyp I" – 13:17 # "Linefinelyon Seven" – 10:15

Side B

# "Sketches From Bamboo - Cyp II" – 13:49

Personnel

– alto saxophone *

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chica ...

– reeds *

Douglas Ewart Douglas R. Ewart (born 13 September 1946 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican multi-instrumentalist and instrument builder. He plays sopranino and alto saxophones, clarinets, bassoon, flute, bamboo flutes ('' shakuhachi'', ''ney'', and panpipe ...

– reeds * Wallace McMillan – reeds * Dwight Andrews – reeds *

Marty Ehrlich Marty Ehrlich (born May 31, 1955) is a multi-instrumentalist (saxophones, clarinets, flutes) and is considered one of the leading figures in avant-garde jazz. Biography Though born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the portion of Ehrlich's youth spent in ...

– reeds * Leo Smith – trumpet *

Kenny Wheeler Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active ...

– trumpet *

Hugh Ragin Hugh Ragin is an American jazz trumpeter. Career Ragin was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Houston, Texas, and began playing trumpet in his early teens, taking lessons in classical music, and was a member of the Houston All-City High Sch ...

– trumpet * Mike Mossman – trumpet * Rob Howard – trumpet *

George Lewis George Lewis may refer to: Entertainment and art * George B. W. Lewis (1818–1906), circus rider and theatre manager in Australia * George E. Lewis (born 1952), American composer and free jazz trombonist * George J. Lewis (1903–1995), Mexican ...

– trombone * Ray Anderson – trombone * Alfred Patterson – trombone * Pinguin Moschner – tuba *

Marilyn Crispell Marilyn Crispell (born March 30, 1947) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Scott Yanow described her as "a powerful player... who has her own way of using space... She is near the top of her field." Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrot ...

– piano *

Bobby Naughton Robert Naughton (June 25, 1944 – December 3, 2022) was an American jazz vibraphonist and pianist. Biography Naughton was born in Boston on June 25, 1944. He studied piano from the age of seven through his teens. He played in rock bands and loun ...

– vibraphone * Wes Brown – bass *

Pheeroan akLaff Pheeroan akLaff (born Paul Maddox January 27, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He began playing in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan and Ann Arbor, with R & B keyboardist Travis Biggs, funk keyboardist Nimrod “The Grinder” ...

– drums, percussion

References

{{Reflist 1979 albums Roscoe Mitchell albums Moers Music albums