NICOLE MITCHELL
Nicole Mitchell Gantt is an award-winning creative flutist, composer, conceptualist, bandleader and educator. A United States Artist (2020), a Doris Duke Artist (2012), and a recipient of the Herb Alpert Award (2011) her research centers on the powerful legacy of contemporary African American culture and black experimental art. For over 20 years, Mitchell’s critically acclaimed Chicago-based Black Earth Ensemble (BEE) has been her primary compositional laboratory with which she has performed at festivals and art venues throughout Europe, Canada, and the US. The former first woman president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Mitchell composes for contemporary ensembles of varied instrumentation and size (from solo to orchestra and large jazz band) while incorporating improvisation and a wide aesthetic expression. She is perhaps best known for her work as a flutist, having developed a unique improvisational language and having been repeatedly awarded “Top Flutist of the Year” by Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll and the Jazz Journalists Association (2010-2022). Mitchell initially emerged from Chicago’s innovative music scene in the late 90s, having started as a co-founder of the all-woman group Samana, and a member of the David Boykin Expanse. Much of Mitchell’s creative process has been informed by literature and narrative, with a special interest in science fiction. Her album, Mandorla Awakening (FPE, 2017), combines Afrofuturism with intercultural collaboration and was selected by the New York Times as the #1 jazz album of 2017. As a composer, she has been commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Music NOW, French Ministry of Culture, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Newport Jazz Festival, the Art Institute of Chicago, the French American Jazz Exchange, Chamber Music America, the Chicago Jazz Festival, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and Bang on a Can. Mitchell has performed with creative music luminaries including Craig Taborn, Terri Lyne Carrington, Roscoe Mitchell, Joelle Leandre, Geri Allen, Mark Dresser, Anthony Davis, Myra Melford, Ed Wilkerson, Rob Mazurek, and Hamid Drake.
LAURA ANN SINGH FRACAS QUINTET
Laura Ann Singh (voice), Scott Clark (drums), Adam Hopkins (bass), John Lilley (reeds), Bob Miller (trumpet)
“Referencing avant garde pioneer Ornette Coleman’s free form improvisations as much as Joni Mitchell’s emotive lyricism, the result is a rowdy debut that launches Singh as one of the more distinctive new voices in jazz.” —The Guardian
Laura Ann Singh is a multilingual American singer, composer, and recording artist, known for her vibrant interpretations of Brazilian popular music, Latin boleros, and beyond. A founding member of the internationally acclaimed ensemble Miramar, she has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center, and on NPR’s Tiny Desk and All Songs Considered. With Miramar, Singh has toured internationally, from Russia to France, and released music on Daptone, Barbès, and Ansonia Records (Entre Tus Flores, 2025). Her projects span genres and continents: the Brazilian-focused projects Quatro na Bossa, Os Magrelos, and the Doug Richards Orchestra, a recent collaboration (Crumb of Me, 2025) with Rosette String Quartet, and experimental ventures with Out of Your Head Records — including the debut of her Fracas Quintet in October 2025 and a featured role on drummer-composer Scott Clark’s Dawn and Dusk in 2023. In 2024, she appeared alongside cellist Tomeka Reid at the Kennedy Center as a featured vocalist in Reid’s suite celebrating Ellington. Singh’s repertoire weaves together Latin American classics, the American Songbook, women composers, and original works, reflecting her love of cross-cultural collaboration and intimate connection with audiences. Singh moves easily between worlds, bending genres into something unmistakably her own. lauraannsingh.com