1977 · Album
Nonaah
Recorded 1976–77 · Nessa · Produced by Not specified in available sources
Confrontation and Silence on the Alto Saxophone
Mitchell turns a hostile crowd into his instrument, playing the same phrase for nine minutes until the heckling stops.
Nonaah opens with aggression. Roscoe Mitchell plays a sharp three-second phrase across the full range of his alto saxophone, repeating it relentlessly for seven minutes while an audience that expected a solo concert by Anthony Braxton jeers and heckles him. There is no melody here, no warm entry into the music — just confrontation. When the crowd finally quiets, Mitchell breaks the phrase apart for two more minutes, then shifts into something quieter, almost meditative. This first track sets the album's purpose: strip away comfort, expose the raw relationship between player and listener.
Recorded between 1976 and 1977, Nonaah is a double album of solo, duo, trio, and quartet improvisations. Malachi Favors on bass, George Lewis on trombone, and Muhal Richard Abrams appear across these sessions, but Mitchell's saxophone is the constant. What's striking is how much space surrounds the notes — these are not dense, intricate arrangements but sparse dialogues where each musician's sound becomes visible, almost sculptural. AllMusic reviewer gave it 4.5 stars, and Clifford Allen's 2008 review noted it "complicates the AACM aesthetic," moving beyond the collective's usual warmth into something colder, more questioning. This is confrontational music by design, not because Mitchell is angry but because he believed listeners needed to hear the instrument and composer without the comfort of conventional structure.
Who's playing
Where next?
More by Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell Duets with Anthony Braxton 1978
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L-R-G / The Maze / S II Examples 1978
Old / Quartet 1975
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In Pursuit of Magic 2014
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
