The first collaboration between jazz flutist and composer Nicole Mitchell and performer, composer, and vocalist Lisa E. Harris, EarthSeed was commissioned by the Art Institute of Chicago and recorded live there in 2017. It's based on two novels by Afrofuturist writer Octavia Butler: Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, both eerily prescient of the present dystopian era. EarthSeed is the third work in Mitchell's catalog to directly emerge from her decades-long immersion in Butler's work; it is preceded by Xenogenesis Suite (2008) and Intergalactic Beings (2014). Mitchell and Harris met in New Orleans, and after discussing their mutual love of Butler, they committed to work together on a conceptual piece. Harris sings, speaks, and plays theremin, while Mitchell performs flute and electronics. The supporting quintet are members of the latter's Black Earth Ensemble: operatic tenor Julian Otis, violinist Zara Zaharieva, trumpeter/electronicist Ben LaMar Gay, cellist Tomeka Reid, and percussionist Avreeayl Ra. The texts here, other than the title, are original.

1		Evernascence / Evanescence
2		Whispering Flame
3		Biotic Seeds
4		Yes and Know
5		Ownness
6		Moving Mirror
7		Whole Black Collision
8		Phallus and Chalice
9		Fluids of Time
10		Elemental Crux
11		Purify Me with the Power to Self Transform

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