Jazz Pioneer Roscoe Mitchell Marked for Dismissal at Mills College

Roscoe Mitchell, the influential saxophonist known for groundbreaking work in jazz and orchestral music, is in danger of losing his job at Mills College due to the Oakland-based university’s financial problems.

A founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago who was once described as “ http://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/26/archives/the-innovative-jazz-arsenal-of-roscoe-mitchell-mitchell-mitchell.html?_r=0" rel="nofollow - one of the most important musicians in jazz ” by the New York Times, Mitchell is one of 11 faculty members expected to lose his position, according to Chris Brown, the co-director at the  https://www.mills.edu/academics/faculty/mus/cbmus/cbmus.php" rel="nofollow - Mills College Center for Contemporary Music .

In May, Mills College  https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/17/mills-college-declares-financial-emergency-and-plans-layoffs-and-curricular-reform" rel="nofollow - announced  that its operating deficit had grown to $9 million. With an annual budget of $57 million, officials at the 165-year-old school declared it needed to take transformative actions, which were outlined in a  https://www.mills.edu/administration/presidents_office/documents/MillsCollege_DraftFinancialStabilizationPlan_24MAY17.pdf" rel="nofollow - financial stabilization plan  (FSP).

From a statement from the  https://www.mills.edu/administration/presidents_office/mills-next.php" rel="nofollow - office of the president’s website :

Like so many colleges and universities across the country today—particularly small independent liberal arts colleges—Mills has faced financial challenges in recent years. Despite having worked diligently to control costs and diversify revenues, Mills has been unable to correct a very large imbalance in our finances.

If the school’s board of trustees approves the plan in its current format its meeting on June 26, Mitchell will be one of at least 30 employees let go. It will also mean the end of the Darius Milhaud Chair in Composition, a position started by  https://www.mills.edu/academics/graduate/mus/programs/music_at_mills_history.php" rel="nofollow - an endowment in 1978  that has employed notable composers such as Mitchell, Anthony Braxton and Pauline Oliveros.

Brown, who was on the search committee that hired Mitchell in 2007, said that if Mills cuts Mitchell’s position, it would be losing its most senior and best-known composer, “an African-American master who has had a profound influence on both the jazz and classical music fields.”

“Students have come from around the world to study with him, and many of them wind up performing and recording with his ensembles,” Brown wrote in an email. “Roscoe has had a profound influence in the Bay Area on its creative music scene, beginning in the 1960s while the Art Ensemble of Chicago was in residence at Stanford University. It would be a shame to have this influence end in this manner.”

Mitchell grew up in Chicago, and started playing saxophone and clarinet at age 12. After a stint playing in the army band, Mitchell helped start the  https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/arts/music/50-years-on-association-for-advancement-of-creative-musicians-influences-jazz.html" rel="nofollow - Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians  [AACM] to provide support and empowerment for black jazz musicians at a time when rock and folk music was more prevalent. Mitchell would eventually recruit some AACM members into his own group, the Roscoe Mitchell Sextet, which transformed into the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The band would become influential for its avant-garde jazz, its use of unconventional instruments (bicycle horns, wind chimes, etc), and eye-catching costumes and face paint.

Now 76, Mitchell continues to compose both jazz and orchestral works. This year he released two new recordings — Bells for the South Side and Four Ways with Yuganaut — and his works for symphony orchestra have been performed at BBC-sponsored concerts all over Europe.

Brown started an  https://www.facebook.com/cbmuse53/posts/10154852645690756" rel="nofollow - online campaign  telling students and fans to write Mills officials in the hopes that the board will change its plan. Brown admits that “it doesn’t look good” for Mitchell, but that perhaps there are other solutions, such as finding individuals who could fund an endowment.

“The history of financial problems at Mills is a long one, but this proposed solution radically strikes at the heart of its reputation for innovation and excellence in the arts,” Brown wrote in his Facebook post.

Brown’s post has been shared dozens of times and many supporters have included their own statements.

“Many of us already know because we’ve studied with, performed with or taught with Roscoe Mitchell, but according to the New York Times, the man is an ‘ http://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/25/arts/jazz-roscoe-mitchell.html" rel="nofollow - iconoclast ,’ Will Gluck  https://www.facebook.com/will.gluck.9/posts/10154844369259958" rel="nofollow - wrote on Facebook . “I fear that many in the administration at Mills College may not be aware of that fact.”

from https://ww2.kqed.org