2014 · Album
Conversations II
Recorded 2013 · Wide Hive · Personnel: [Roscoe Mitchell] (saxophone), [Craig Taborn] (piano), Kikanju Baku (drums)
Dense Improvisations in Real Time
The anguished energy of the '60s continues to burn in a series of improvisations so dense it's like peering through Jackson Pollock.
Roscoe Mitchell brought Craig Taborn and Kikanju Baku into the studio in 2013 to continue a conversation that had started years before. The three players knew each other's language—no written arrangements, no preset structures, just three musicians responding in real time. The result is relentless, searching improvisation that doesn't apologize for its difficulty. These aren't pretty miniatures or gentle explorations. They're dense, layered exchanges where Mitchell's saxophone cuts through Taborn's angular piano work while Baku locks in with propulsive, responsive drumming.
What makes this record matter is its consistency. DownBeat reviewer Bill Meyer noted that the invention never flags across both Conversations discs, and the recording itself is crisp and immaculate—you can hear into every corner of the music, feel the space around each voice. This isn't a studio full of musicians playing over each other. It's a conversation where everyone is listening, adjusting, pushing back. For over five decades Mitchell has worked this territory—free jazz, European improvisation, ensemble interaction—and this session shows he still has something urgent to say.
It's not for casual listening. The density Mitchell and his partners build here demands attention and rewards it. If you want to hear what happens when experienced improvisers trust each other completely and follow the music wherever it leads, this is where to hear it.
