The artistry of Nicole Mitchell is wide-ranging —a virtuosic flutist, acclaimed bandleader, noted educator, and the first woman president of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). An award-winning composer, her music defies classification and celebrates contemporary African American culture.

Craig Taborn’s music, too, has an elusive aura, both in its spectral, moody textures and in its proud refusal to cater to expectations about what jazz, or even music, should be. He is a musical omnivore, too, but his explorations of other forms never sound willful: Taborn has so fully absorbed his influences as to camouflage them, in a musical language of casual authority. (Ryan Pfluger - The New York Times)