Formerly the President of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, flautist and composer Nicole Mitchell Gantt emerged from the Chicago avant-garde scene in the early 90’s and has a work ethic that is both tireless and inspiring. It’s not so much the energy she harnesses (although this is quite incredible), but the positive focus she brings to her mission to “celebrate the power of endless possibility by creating visionary worlds through music.”
Those visions saw her Black Earth Ensemble (which includes Tomeka Reid and Jeff Parker) exploring the ancient past and painting visions of a positive future. They included a celebration of Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturist literary work, which we’ve touched on before through the likes of Trippers & Askers, the folk and spiritual jazz project of Jay Hammond, who was inspired by Butler’s dystopian novel “Parable of the Sower”.
In 2008, the Black Earth Ensemble released their Xenogenesis Suite: A Tribute To Octavia Butler, inspired by Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago) which paved the way to cosmic freedom and a brighter future. As well as exploring black experience, much of Gantt’s work also has a universal message, something that shines through on Who We Are, a project featuring spoken word by her late husband, Calvin Bernard Gantt.
Who We Are was completed just before Calvin Gantt’s untimely death in July 2021 and released on his birthday, May 30, 2022.
Calvin, like Nicole, was also driven by a tireless work ethic, something he touches on in the title track, Who We Are, in which he challenges ‘our future plans’ and ‘what is it we should be planning to do?’ Their approach to life can maybe be summed up by continually questioning Who Am I? and Why Am I Here?
Described as a “blog music” duo collaboration, some of Calvin’s biography is outlined in the title track (he had over forty blogs) alongside snippets of wisdom that are worth noting and keeping close to hand.
It’s inspiring…as it says in the album notes, the album “hopefully provokes the listener to participate in what it is they are hearing. The content of every song applies to what’s going on in our world today, and the challenge is to think about what you are doing or what you can do to contribute to the healing of the planet we all share.”
Order it here: https://nicolemitchell.bandcamp.com/album/who-we-are
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