Robert Mitchell - Beyond The Broken Beat
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Nods to Aphex Twin and 4-Hero on Robert Mitchell’s trio album The Embrace show that he “appreciates both songwriting and beat-making,” as Kevin Le Gendre discovers when he talks to the pianist.
In many genres of music, artists can have several projects on the go at any point in time, maybe more so in jazz. Robert Mitchell is a case in point. Although the long-running ensemble Panacea could be seen as his mainstay, the pianist records solo, in a duo with Cuban violinist Omar Puente and in a trio, alongside drummer Richard Spaven and bassist Tom Mason. Their 2009 debut The Greater Good, which finely balances invention and emotion, is a strong highlight of his discography to date.
Following last year’s Panacea album, The Cusp, the trio, or 3io as it is has been moulded by the Mitchell alpha-numeral imagination, now returns with The Embrace, an album that largely picks up where its predecessor left off. Sounding as responsive and cohesive as they did on The Greater Good, Mitchell, Spaven and Mason come across as a band that is properly lived in. Which begs the question how does the 3io fit into the pianist’s project-laden schedule? For the 40 year-old from Seven Kings, Essex, time management happens in a pretty organic way.
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