CONTACT by ROSCOE MITCHELL - DAVID WESSEL

released October 14, 2009

All compositions by David Wessel and Roscoe Mitchell

CD recorded live on October 13 & 14 2002 at UC Berkeley's Center for New Music and Audio Technologies by Eli Crews
Recording and mixing are by Sébastien Naves, Thomas Leblanc, Pascale Bondu, and David Poissonnier.

DVD: Roscoe Mitchell and David Wessel performed on October 20, 2004 in IRCAM as part of the Sound and Music Computing 04 sessions of the Résonances festival. The video was shot by Elisabeth Grelier.

The sessions were produced by Gerard Assayag and Marc Chemillier and organized by Sylvie Benoit.
Liner Notes: David Wessel and Michel Dorbon.
Cover Design: Max Schoendorff
Cover Realisation: David Bourguignon
Executive producer: Michel Dorbon

David Wessel, despite whatever label on can attach to his music, is very familiar with the musical object commonly called jazz (never mind the name we give to this music which is both one and multiple, pushing the limits of its frontiers, the importance being that it exists, whatever the label). He has also played with George Lewis, Steve Lacy to name but a few; several times during later meetings, David told me of his admiration for the drummer Oliver Johnson, found dead in tragic circumstances one morning in March 2002 in the Halles square in the heart of Paris...
Roscoe Mitchell Mitchell, from the Art Ensemble of Chicago to his performances with Thomas Buckner, to his Note Factory and numerous other groups, is not a stranger to adventure as long as it serves the cause of music...
This duo is an evidence in itself. When we know that their first musical encounter dates from the 80’s (as witness a first concert in 1986 at IRCAM), we can only be surprised that their music has not been diffused more widely...
Roscoe Mitchell and David Wessel are of those, each in his own right, who push musical expression to its furthest limits. No cold rigour her, no search of form for form’s sake; music, complex, refined, is warmly offered to the audience.