This Dance Is for Steve McCall

Background

The record marks the debut of the Note Factory, an outgrowth of the Sound Ensemble, bassist Jaribu Shahid and drummer Tani Tabbal come from that group, while another drummer, Vincent Davis, performed on Mitchell's Songs in the Wind. This was the first Mitchell's recording with pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker.

The album is a tribute to drummer Steve McCall, who died in 1989 and whose last recording with Mitchell was The Flow of Things, and contains dedications to close collaborators who died in 1992, Phillip Wilson, the drummer of the pre-Art Ensemble Roscoe Mitchell Quartet, and Gerald Oshita, a composer proponent of unusual ultra-low registered wind instruments, and partner with Mitchell in his Space Ensemble.

Reception

In his review for AllMusic, Al Campbell states "The music ranges from dense contemporary classical to violence incarnate on 'The Rodney King Affair', in which Mitchell's circular-breathing technique pushes the tempo to a dizzy, frightening place." The Penguin Guide to Jazz says that "several of the nine pieces sound half-realized or foreshortened, with the bass and percussion textures unclear."

Track listing

1. "Ericka" (Joseph Jarman)– 11:32
2. "Uptown Strut" – 2:19
3. "The Rodney King Affair" – 5:24
4. "Ah" – 3:21
5. "Song for Gerald Oshita" – 3:03
6. "Paintings for Phillip Wilson" – 2:58
7. "The Far East Blues" – 5:34
8. "Variations for String Bass and Piano" – 6:56
9. "This Dance Is for Steve McCall" – 9:56

Personnel