Contrebassist and improviser Joëlle Léandre counts John Cage among her close mentors and has remained under-acknowledged for the amount -- and quality -- of her work since she began recording in 1981. Léandre has performed and recorded with many of the best, and most interesting, musicians in improvised music, including German bassist Peter Kowald, American reedsman and composerAnthony Braxton, Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer, Australian violinist Jon Rose, vocalist Lauren Newton, and British guitarist Fred Frith, among others.
Born in Aix-en-Provence, France, Léandre played recorder and piano before deciding upon the double bass. She won honors and scholarships during her studies for her outstanding musicianship and first met composers such as John Cage, Giacinto Scelsi, and Morton Feldman while in Buffalo, NY, on a scholarship. Léandre recorded works by Cage and Scelsi and performed in a number of new music ensembles including 2E2M and l'Ensemble Intercontemporain. She got to know Cage personally and he had a strong influence upon her music and perception of sound. Within jazz, Léandre was attracted to free playing and found another influence in Derek Bailey; the two later recorded together. Léandre has also recorded in duos with bassist William Parker and trombonist Sebi Tramontana and as a member of the European Women's Improvising Group, the Marilyn Crispell Quartet, the Canvas Trio with violinist Carlos Zingaro and clarinetist Rüdiger Carl, and a trio with pianist Georg Graewe and clarinetist François Houle. Joëlle Léandre has held residencies in Berlin and in Metz, France, during the '90s, and continues to write and paint in addition to making music and teaching. She has recorded for FMP, Intakt, Leo, Hat, and (most of all) Chris Cutler's Recommended Records (or ReR).
Chicago Afrocentric singer/flutist/piccolo player Nicole Mitchell has been part of the area's jazz/experimental music scene since the early '90s. First lending her talents to other artist's projects (David Boykin, Ed Wilkerson), Mitchell issued her solo debut in 2001, titled Vision Quest, credited to Nicole Mitchell and Black Earth Ensemble. Joined on the recording by a host of other musicians (violinists Savoir Faire and Edith Yokley, bassist Darius Savage, plus percussionists Hamid Drake and Avreeayl Ra), Vision Quest received favorable reviews in the Chicago music press, as avant-jazz veteran (and fellow flutist) James Newton offered praise, saying that Newton "has produced new techniques that have not yet been heard from any other flutist." A year later, Afrika Rising arrived on Dreamtime Records. It was also credited to the Mitchell/Black Earth Ensemble combination, continuing her collaborations with the large Chicago-area ensemble.
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