Xenogenesis Suite: A Tribute to Octavia Butler is the new studio recording of Chicago-based flutist/composer Nicole Mitchell's extended work of the same name, inspired by the work of Afrofuturist writer Octavia Butler (1947 - 2006), a Hugo, Locus and Nebula Award winner and the first science fiction author to receive the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant. The piece, realized by her decade-old group, Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble, received its world premiere in June 2007 at the 12th annual Vision Festival in New York and was performed again at the Chicago Cultural Center in December 2007.
"Brooding and sometimes harrowing," explains the Chicago Reader's Peter Margasak in an August 2007 feature article, "[Xenogenesis Suite] combines lyrics and nonverbal vocals with jagged, dissonant instrumental arrangements to convey the story of a black woman abducted by aliens after humanity nearly kills itself off in a nuclear war - her captors need to interbreed with other species to remain genetically viable, and she's asked to recruit other humans to help."
Critics called have called the piece "dense, dramatic and daring" (Howard Mandel, JazzHouse.org), "haunting and extraordinarily moving" (Marc Medwin, AllAboutJazz.com) and "reminiscent of some of the best work of Sun Ra, The Art Ensemble of Chicago or Horace Tapscott and the Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra" (Dr. Sais Kamalidiin, jazzreview.com). Time Out Chicago's Matthew Lurie adds, "If only every high-achieving author had a champion this imaginative."
Musicians
Mankwe Ndosi :: voice
Nicole Mitchell :: flute
David Young :: trumpet
David Boykin :: tenor saxophone
Tomeka Reid :: cello
Justin Dillard :: piano
Josh Abrams :: bass
Marcus Evans :: drumset
Avreeayl Ra :: percussion
Compositions, arrangements and lyrics by Nicole Mitchell (Wheatgoddess Creations, ASCAP)
Commissioned by Chamber Music America's New Works Presentation program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Foundation
Recorded June 20, 2007 at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, CT
Press Reviews for Xenogenesis Suite
...an interesting group playing ambitious music...
-Brian Marley, The Wire
The most important jazz flutist of her generation, Nicole Mitchell reveals another facet of her diverse musical persona on Xenogenesis Suite. Conveying a menacing apocalyptic atmosphere without abandoning melody, harmony and structure, Mitchell proves herself an innovative composer, magnanimous band leader and compelling soloist. A surprisingly effective combination of disturbing surrealism delivered with raw emotion and lyrical experimentation, Xenogenesis Suite is an endlessly rewarding listen.
-Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com
There's both a buzz and an independence about flautist Nicole Mitchell. Xenogenesis Suite: A Tribute To Octavia Butler is her second disc for a label other than her own and it marks the arrival of a singular talent for whom the future holds much promise.
-Nic Jones, AllAboutJazz.com
One of the highest compliments I can pay to this recording is that I always listen to it from beginning to end, and that I don't really distinguish between separate tracks. It really is a suite in the sense of a continuous flow of feeling and atmosphere that pervades the album. It's cinematically evocative, and as such extremely effective in creating a musical version of the science fiction fantasy inspired by the work of Octavia Butler.
-Dan Melnick, Soundslope
Mitchell's achievement lies in her coherent assemblage of diverse elements of musical information to draw novelty from familiarity. But then again Mitchell has shown herself to be more than capable of rising above stylistic cliches while staying rooted in the deepest traditions of black music.
-Kevin Le Gendre, Jazzwise
...this is a remarkable achievement by a still-evolving talent whose recording debut Vision Quest was only seven years ago. That's long enough for a full evolutionary transformation, and with this set Mitchell seems ready to embark on something even more radically exciting and impressively achieved...she's already beyond category and working at some distance from the tired debate about composition vs. improvisation. If that isn't important, I don't know what is.
-Brian Morton, Point of Departure
Mitchell has composed a suite that is as harrowing as it is beautiful...the music serves as a true introduction and counterpart to Butler's groundbreaking work.
-Brad Walseth, JazzChicago.net
Un cambio radical y un paso adelante en la carrera de la flautista mas interesante de su generacion.
-Pachi Tapiz, Tomajazz.com
...this is an intriguing set, moving outside the comfort zone, but ultimately paying back repeated listens, and a splendid lesson on the merits of sometimes confounding expectations.
-John Sharpe, AllAboutJazz.com
Flutist Nicole Mitchell has become one of our city's most respected musical artists...her creativity is always boundless. With Xenogenesis Suite, Nicole Mitchell has created a strikingly original work that will surely be considered a major artistic statement for years to come.
-Jay Collins, Jazz Institute of Chicago's JazzGram
Xenogenesis Suite will be an equally gratifying listening experience for Nicole Mitchell's fans and those who are new to her music...it provides a fine opportunity to enjoy the composer and arranger, and to discover yet another side of Mitchell's many talents.
-Alain Drouot, jazzColours
From the opening upward flourish of the first movement, the recording is imbued with a sense of purpose that underlies every phrase of the beautiful scoring. The composition certainly invokes Mitchell's associations with the AACM, the multi-movement work clearly rooted in the multicultural conventions birthed by improvisational practices of the 1960s; however, Mitchell's harmonies owe a large debt to contemporary classical music, and her effective blending of stylistic traits becomes more apparent upon repeated listening. Her playing is second to none, scaling heights of register and virtuosity and making the suite's conclusion the powerful statement it is. This is a finely detailed rendering of a wonderful piece of music, and the playing is first rate.
-Marc Medwin, Bagatellen
Mitchell's music expresses the disoriented wonder of Butler's imaginary world by subjecting familiar tonal patterns to oblique treatments: a Black Saint And The Sinner Lady for our times.
-Philip Clark, Jazz Review
With its churning rhythms, high-intensity blowing and sharp ear for colors, Mitchell's Xenogenesis Suite is quintessentially AACM music with a twist. She takes care of the ancient roots-much of this music has a haunted, ritual quality that feels very African in its inspiration-while pointing the way to the musical future midwifed by the AACM for the past 40 years.
-John Chacona, Signal to Noise
...one of the few post-9/11 concept albums that succeed in balancing a heavy concept with solid music.
-Mike Shanley, JazzTimes
This 2008 release is an out-jazz wonder...a work that combines the spirit of free improv with a strong compositional sense. Ndosi's often wordless vocalizing is powerful and unique; she carves out her own space on the musical landscape. Mitchell's writing for the eight instrumentalists-who along with Ndosi make up the Black Earth Ensemble-is strikingly fresh, and this music is both deeply rooted and futuristic, in more ways than one.
-Fred Cisterna, iTunes editorial review
Xenogenesis Suite is a very strong and convincing proposition from flutist Nicole Mitchell. Moving, intricate and immediate, this album marks a paradigm shift in her work as a composer, toward a much more personal voice. Xenogenesis Suite is the kind of album that gains depth with each listen.
-Francois Couture, AllMusic.com
On Xenogenesis Suite: A Tribute to Octavia Butler she has achieved on disc what those who have seen her perform knew she had in her. It is firmly in the tradition of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (she is currently co-president of the Chicago chapter), but also something quite fresh. It's an inspired work.
-Kurt Gottschalk, AllAboutJazz-New York
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