''Conversations II'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist

Roscoe Mitchell Roscoe Mitchell (born August 3, 1940) is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb – if idiosyncratic – saxophonist". ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' described him as "one of the key figures ...

, with pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Kikanju Baku which was recorded in 2013 and released on Wide Hive.''Conversations I''
at Wide Hive Records accessed January 5, 2018

Reception

In his review for

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

, John Shand states, "Here the anguished energy of the '60s continues to burn (as it does in St Louis) in a series improvisations so dense that it is like peering through the layers of paint on a Jackson Pollock painting. Its very relentlessness is thrilling, independently of the high levels of invention, but it is assuredly not for the faint-hearted"Shand, J. V
Sonny Rollins, Charles Lloyd, Roscoe Mitchell and all that jazz
Sydney Morning Herald, September 6, 2014, Accessed January 5, 2018 Regarding ''Conversations I'' and ''II'', ''

DownBeat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

s Bill Meyer commented: "Both of these CDs are remarkably consistent; the engagement and invention never flags, which makes it hard to favor one over the other... Not only is the sound crisp and immaculate, it imparts a spacial experience that makes it feel like the music is happening all around the listener."

Track listing

All compositions by Roscoe Mitchell, Craig Taborn and Kikanju Baku except were noted # "Frenzy House" – 6:03 # "Chipper and Bing" – 10:26 # "Stay Hayfer" – 5:32 # "They Rode for Them" (Mitchell, Baku) – 3:45 # "I'll See You Out There" – 5:20 # "Wha-Wha" (Mitchell, Taborn) – 2:26 # "Bells in the Wind" – 7:58 # "Shards and Lemons" (Mitchell, Taborn) – 3:41 # "Just Talking" – 5:12 # "Next Step" – 3:32 # "Fly Over and Stay a While" – 9:42

Personnel

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

* Craig Taborn –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

*Kikanju Baku –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

References

{{Authority control 2014 albums Roscoe Mitchell albums Wide Hive Records albums