Xenogenesis Suite will be an equally gratifying listening experience for Nicole Mitchell’s fans and those who are new to her music. This work is a tribute to Octavia Butler, a Black woman and science-fiction writer who passed away last year. It takes some distance from the colorful and more “swinging” aspects that have characterized her previous output. While she continues to focus on how to balance composition and improvisation, she gives us an opportunity to discover a darker side, a music that does not have an immediate appeal. A case in point is Mankwe Ndosi’s overpresent and unsettling vocalise that can seem at first annoying, but later appears to be most adequate to suggest the frightening universe Butler depicted in her novels.
Mitchell privileges ensemble work rather than individual vituosity and she herself rarely moves to the forefront. Instead of blending the instruments there is considerable thought given to the role they each play in the proceedings. Mitchell juxtaposes insistent riffs (bass and cello), a dissonant piano, angular phrases played by the wind instruments (saxophone, trumpet, and flute), and cacophonous support from the drum/percussion section. True to her personality, Mitchell closes the suite with a prayer for hope (“Dawn of a New Life”) that reveals the beauty that her music can exude.
Xenogenisis Suite is not the best entry point to assess and appreciate Mitchell’s facility on the flute. On the other hand, it provides a fine opportunity to enjoy the composer and arranger, and to discover yet another side of Mitchell’s many talents.