Nonaah: A celebration of Roscoe Mitchell’s acclaimed work at Benaroya Hall

On June 7th, 2013 Table & Chairs Music honored the music of the iconic, groundbreaking saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell. Held at Seattle’s historic Benaroya Music Hall, this event featured Roscoe’s legendary composition Nonaah. The composition itself is very brief, at under 1 page in total length, yet through the composition Nonaah Roscoe Mitchell has created a lasting legacy of musical innovation that has spanned over 4 decades. This event featured 5 iterations of Nonaah: an alto saxophone quartet (a world premier), a cello quartet, an improvised duo, an original arrangement for chamber ensemble, and a culminating masterful solo soprano saxophone performance by Roscoe Mitchel himself, who performed his legendary composition in addition to new works and free improvisations.

The Nonaah concert was independently organized and funded by Table & Chairs board and community members. From its founding in 2010 until that time, Table and Chairs efforts centered largely around the release of original music. The origins of this concert began as a simple conversation—what if there was an entire concert dedicated to Nonaah? What would this look like, and what versions of the piece could we hear in performance? The bright light of Roscoe Mitchell’s own contributions to American and world improvised music, including the Art Ensemble of Chicago and AACM and his own performances and records could not be denied.

Leading up to the concert, dozens of friends and heroes contributed short blogs and interviews about Roscoe Mitchell’s importance to their musical journey and to the landscape of music at large, which you can click the names of to read:

| Joe Morris | Matthew Shipp | Fred Frith & William Winant | Archer Spade | Mary Halvorson | Tom Djll | Dan Plonsey | Randy Pingrey | William Parker | Wally Shoup & Paul Hoskin | Phillip Greenlief | Vijay Iyer | Gust Burns | Anthony Coleman | George Lewis | Greg Sinibaldi | Craig Flory | Skerik | Tom Varner | Wayne Horvitz | Rova Sax Quartet | James Fei | Taylor Ho Bynum | Carl Testa | Dave Bryant | Jacob Zimmerman | John Seman | Greg Campbell | Chris Brown | Joe Moffett | Nils Bultmann | Stuart Dempster | Vinny Golia | Randy McKean | Joseph Kubera | John Ingle | Chuck Nessa | Charlie Kohlhase |

We felt that Roscoe Mitchell and his beautiful composition itself needed a proper welcome in Seattle. To date, this June 7th performance is Roscoe Mitchell’s only known solo performance in Seattle, Washington.

Performers at Benaroya Hall included: