An arrival from out there in a spirit of collective creativity that reaches in here communicated at once in a heartbeat and by a sense of ancient freedom that seeks resolution passing from the universal to the individual is a relief and a rarity.
A blues drenched free form eight part suite – Maroon Cloud by AACM composer-flautist Nicole Mitchell provides a live recorded album gateway to pass into that aura and themed around resistance and dislocation within a framework that references the Maroons, who were Africans escaping slavery in the Caribbean, who found solidarity with indigenous people to form their own communities.
Mitchell, who paints pictures in her solos, cellist Tomeka Reid, pianist Aruán Ortiz and singer Fay Victor are on the record Maroon Cloud which was recorded live on 29 March 2017 at National Sawdust in Brooklyn as part of John Zorn’s Stone Commissioning Series.