Far Side

Veteran saxophonist and composer Roscoe Mitchell was an early member of AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago, but he’s played in many different settings over the years. In the ‘90s he formed the Note Factory, and 2010’s Far Side, the band’s first release in several years, is complex, intriguing, and even baffling — but in a good way. Mitchell leads a group made up of pianists Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn, bassists Jaribu Shahid and Harrison Bankhead, and drummers Tani Tabbal and Vincent Davis. Trumpet player Corey Wilkes rounds out the group. Mitchell mixes modern composition with free jazz, and it’s often hard to tell what is composed and what is improvised. The saxophonist’s penetrating solos dazzle with their intensity and precision, and the band can create passages as delicate as a whisper, let loose explosions of atonal fury, or play a sort of tense chamber music. Far Side begs for repeated plays; it’s the kind of work that reveals mysterious riches on each new listening.