Roscoe Mitchell - In Walked Buckner

1999 release

Roscoe Mitchell once fronted perhaps his most daringly different trio with multi-instrumentalist Gerald Oshita and vocalist Thomas Buckner. This recording, dedicated to Buckner, captures the singing characteristics of Buckner in a purely instrumental way, and quite beautifully. Timbres are rare and off-kilter, free flowing, static, or flat-out swinging. In the middle is Mitchell, carrying the torch that has kept him a vital, adventurous American musician for three decades. Armed with a raft of woodwind instruments, Mitchell, with yeoman's help from bassist Reggie Workman, the judicious pianistics of Jodie Christian and the masterful drumming of Al Heath, makes the quartet, when they play together, unstoppable. Substantive solo space is distributed, especially for the leader. 

AllMusic Review by Michael G. Nastos