Bio

Nicole Mitchell was born in 1967 in Syracuse, New York. Her family moved to Anaheim, California when she was eight years old. She got her start in music bery early, playing both the piano and the viola by age 9. When she was in California with her family, she would often busk on the street with her flute. She attended Oberlin College for music in 1987, and in 1990 she moved to Chicago. She would integrate herself fully with the jazz and avant-garde scene there, playing with the group Semana, and working for Third World Press. She went on to be president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and also work closely with the Jazz Institute of Chicago. In the mid 90-s, she created her group the Black Earth Ensembles. She went on to serve as faculty at UC Irvine, and eventually as the head of the jazz program at the University of Pittsburgh. Over her long career, she has shared the stage with Craig Taborn, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony BRaxton, Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Billy Childs, and Hamid Drake.