US saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell’s ears are forever open to scales, tunings and mantras from beyond western experience. Most recognised for his pioneering work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Mitchell sealed the deal on this stimulating evening at the London contemporary music festival with free improvisation at its most erudite and incisive. Lines coiled, pirouetted and multiplied as Mitchell locked himself into a dialogue with his saxophones, music evolving because of inner discussion, never the small-talk of post-minimalist pattern counting. Single note thought-bubbles turned progress on a dime, obliging him to view his mind-map of improvised lines from unforeseen angles; inventions by turn abstract, raw and funky. Emerging suddenly from the back of the hall, percussionist Kikanju Baku tapped rhythms on hand percussion as he wandered through the audience towards his drum kit. Initially Mitchell met these challenges with restraint. Isolated hollers and staccato lip-smacks contoured Baku’s blasts of rhythm, before Mitchell turned the tide the other way, flooding the space with a torrential outpouring of sound.
