Big Ears Preview, Part 2

The process of discovery continues as I further research the lineup for the 2024 Big Ears Festival.

Flutist and saxophonist Anna Webber and pianist Matt Mitchell both work near the intersection of abstract jazz and 21st Century composition.  Both are new to me.

Canadian Anna Webber moved to Germany in 2011 to study at the Jazz Institut Berlin where she began working on compositions for larger ensembles.  Now based in Brooklyn, her releases from 2013 to 2016 have alternated between her Percussive Mechanics septet and her Simple Trio. Percussive Mechanics, featuring James Wylie, Elias Stemeseder, Julius Heise, Igor Spallati, Martin Kruemmling, and Max Andrzejewski, was released in 2013 and the title track is posted up above.  

In the late 1990s, Matt Mitchell completed a master's degree at the Eastman School of Music and then settled in New York, where he met saxophonist Tim Berne (Mitchell was later part of Berne's Snakeoil band). Mitchell has written and published several collections of piano études, and a New York Times reviewer commented in 2011 that Mitchell's music "approaches the technical level of études but. . . churns and whirls and leaves spaces for broad interpretation." The Matt Mitchell Quartet, which includes Chris Speed (tenor sax and clarinet), Chris Tordini (bass), and Dan Weiss (drums), perform Select Your Existence down below.

The common element of the two seems to be drummer John Hollenbeck. Webber studied with Hollenbeck during her time in Germany, while Mitchell was a member of Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble and Claudia Quintet. In 2014, Webber released the LP Simple with Mitchell and Hollenbeck. The Simple Trio went on to release Binary in 2016 and Idiom in 2021. 

Anna Webber and Matt Mitchell will perform together next year at Big Ears. No word yet if it will be a strictly duet set, or if Hollenbeck or others will be joining them.