Numbers is an album by American jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, which was recorded in between 2003 and 2010 and released on the French RogueArt label.
[1] All About Jazz', John Sharpe said "Mitchell himself, playing alto saxophone, appears on just one out of 13 tracks, recorded in multiple sessions over an eight year period from 2002.
Even though... little of the content would seem out of place individually in any Mitchell set list, the act of bringing these pieces together does make for a different experience.
There is no indication as to whether the works are entirely through-composed or allow extemporization into their realization, but in spite of their abstraction, the consistent purity of tone and precision of delivery places them firmly in the contemporary new music camp.
"[2] In a review for DownBeat, Alain Drouot wrote: "Numbers should not be viewed as a new chamber work for the reason that most of the musicians performing these solo and duo pieces... come from a particular musical sphere.