A composer, improviser, virtuoso flutist who incorporates her woman’s voice, Mitchell transcends the boundaries of swing, free and modal jazz, blues, avant-garde, bebop, new music and non-melodic experimentation. She collaborates with choreographers, filmmakers and visual artists, is the bandleader and founder of multiple ensembles, and the former first woman president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

“I believe in music as ritual, meditation and trance, and consider music's power to shape culture, to heal and transform. I resist the temptation to get comfortable with my work as it is.”