“The vocalist Elaine Mitchener, the poet Dante Micheaux, the saxophonist Jason Yarde, the trumpeter and flautist Byron Wallen, the pianist Robert Mitchell, the drummer Mark Sanders and the bassist Neil Charles delivered their set of Vocal Classics of the Black Avant-Garde with brilliance, discipline and daring; a body of work as substantial, poetic and exciting as Hans Werner Henze’s Voices.”
“Bravest of all were the vocalist Elaine Mitchener and the double bassist Neil Charles (the Charles Mitchener duet), who launched into two exhilarating, mind-bogglingly freewheeling improvisations.”
“We are immersed in action and distraction from every direction – performers are behind us and in front. Dam chants an unintelligible mantra from the side; Mitchener bangs a typewriter; Brenda Mayo slaps pink goggles over her eyes and addresses us in French. At a certain point, the performers assume the majesty of archetypes: the messenger, the trickster, the home-maker, the wild card.”
“Four performers improvised sound on assembled objects (…) with Elaine Mitchener dissolving into anxious glottal tics. She also created a memorable piece with Sam Belinfante, a couple throwing words at each other with the rainstorm hammering the roof celestially mirroring their plight.”
“Mitchener’s piece forces our idea of what a musical experience can be to shift through the breadth of her interests. Boundaries crumble because they have no choice.”
“Mitchener is a distinctive presence and interacts with her body and the remarkable sounds she produces: speech, soulful singing, breathless percussive bursts, skittering across octaves.”
“These were remarkable reinventions by two fearless originals, but they were devoted to illuminating the emotional cores of timeless old songs.”
“It might have been their debut performance as a quartet, but the wealth and depth of individual talent shone through. Hopefully we won’t have to wait “all of [our lives]” for another gig. Sublime stuff.”
“…Performing with a skilful Leon Michener on muted piano behind her, E.laine gave us a semi-improvised…performance where she moved seamlessly between voice styles such as avant-garde, torch song, jazz and even shards of pop. Quoting from ‘Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered’ amongst other things, the performance was intensely parodic, but also had something deeply felt to add to the satire. Hers is a stunning instrument, comfortable across her wide range in any dynamic and mode of articulation, with a stunning facility of control, and her set was one of the highlights…”
