Customer Reviews

Everybodys Mouths a Book

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Everybody's Mouth's a Book" and "Up Popped the Two Lips" are his first releases in nearly 5 years ("Where's Your Cup?" came out in early 1997), and he maintains his high standards with more of the uniquely Threadgillian music he has been making since he formed his first Sextet back in the early 1980s. The sound is top-notch, with mixing by Bill Laswell.

"EMAB," which serves as a superb introduction to Threadgill for those new to his music, features a quintet of sax/flute, vibes, guitar, bass and drums. The instrumentation varies from piece to piece, some electric, others acoustic -- some with sax, others flute. The band carries the same name -- Make a Move -- as the band on 97's "Where's Your Cup?", but the substitution of vibes for accordion results in a quite different (and better!) sound. Brandon Ross on electric guitar provides some of the most exciting moments on this disc, and Dafnis Prieto drives things along in crackling fashion on trap drums. While both of the new records are excellent, this is the stronger of the two, in my opinion. Threadgill's music tends to be lugubrious, and "EMAB" offsets that with faster tempos and electricity, where "UPTL" tends to bog down periodically.

Threadgill has been mining the same distinctive sound for 20 years now, and it is still a rich vein. Threadgill's Air trio of the 70s, which came out of Chicago's AACM, explored the intersection of composition and free improv. The Sextet of the 80s and Very Very Circus of the 90s (with twin guitars and tubas!) both featured complex compositions that emphasized unusual textures, and utilized a dark, minor key harmonic palette, and these records do not mark a stylistic departure. There is improvisation, but it is tightly constrained. Threadgill has never been known primarily as a virtuoso alto soloist, rather his strength is as a composer and arranger. He utilizes rhythmic structures from Jellyroll Morton, sophisticated counterpoint, and subtle harmonic shifts that do not resolve. Threadgill was winning Best Composer awards from Downbeat Magazine back in the early/mid 90s at the time of "Too Much Sugar" (93), and "Carry the Day" (95), and he is certainly a contender again in 2001!

One of the best concerts I ever saw was the Henry Threadgill Sextet, 9/7/81 at the Underground Fest in Chicago, (the "afterfest" of the JazzFest, then in its second year), with Olu Dara on trumpet and Craig Harris on trombone (I still have the program!) I remember the walls of the near-West Side loft honoring Ellington and Mingus for the Sextet's performance, which at that time was a radical reincorporation of the past into the free jazz scene. They blew the roof off with wild collective improvisation -- I drove home the morning of the 8th as the sun was coming up, and have been a devoted fan of Henry Threadgill ever since!

I go out of my way not to denigrate artists to make a point about the greater value of another, but I'm going to do it just this once . . .

Two nights ago, I sat up late playing this Henry Threadgill album and it is as mesmerizing, penetrating and gorgeously realized as any collection of music I own. That it careens from the heartbreakingly reflective, pensive and lovely opener, a rumination with flute and vibes, and later digs into some fiery electric guitar that reminds me of the late Ted Dunbar in his brief stint with Tony Williams, just shows the breadth and scope of Threadgill. And it's free to a point but not cacophony. It's a special kind of logic that swings hot and cool. I love this album.

Tonight, I went down to the Kennedy Center for a free show by legends Benny Golson and Curtis Fuller. No one can dispute their credentials, music, contribution, what have you, but, my lord, they were tired, tired, tired. Killer Joe never sounded less killer in all his nightlife. So, I got to thinking, why can't the Kennedy Center -- or just about anybody -- make some room on the stage for Threadgill, who is as great as they come? Why must guys like this, on top of their game, be kept in the margins? Golson and Fuller are great, but somebody, please, bring the music of today to the people. I go to New York to hear jazz, but I don't know why I can't hear Henry Threadgill live. There used to be a club in d.c., where I saw the '80's band The Leaders, and Andrew Cyrille came in once or twice with a group, but where any of the more out there cats are today is a mystery to me. Maybe I need to keep my ear closer to the ground. Anyway, this album is an absolute find.

This CD opens up with the acoustic "Platinum Inside Straight". It's a beautiful, calming song, and features Henry Threadgill's flute. The rest of the CD is electric, and more jarring (though the flute returns). "Don't Turn Around" takes advantage of your softened-up ears with a convoluted groove, and a whole-note melody. I'll discuss this one a bit since it's one of the better songs, and shows Make A Move's method. Bryan Carrott comes in with a vibe solo, and Brandon Ross comps a little more loudly towards the end of the solo, since it's hard to "build" a vibe solo over a tricky groove. Threadgill returns with a sax solo, and then Ross plays an overdriven solo. In both cases, the band supports the soloist. The melody makes a brief return, and the song quickly fades out as Takeishi plays a short solo. Some of the remaining songs are as good, but Threadgill's compositions on this CD are a high-wire act. Sometimes they connect very well, sometimes they fall a little flat. The musicionship and group interplay give every song some value.

thank the stars henry threadgill is back recording music, after a half-decade hiatus following his getting dropped from columbia jazz. i should also note that these are the first two releases on a new and promising jazz label, pi recordings.

this disc and "up popped the two lips" are about what you'd expect from threadgill -- that is to say, they're quite unlike anything you've ever heard before, from threadgill or anyone else. UPTTL, in particular, with the new all-acoustic "zooid" configuration (reeds, guitar, oud, cello, tuba and drums) presents a delightful new sound. i won't bother trying to describe the music -- i can't think of any other musician on the scene whose art is so slippery to try and capture with words. so i'll just say this: if you know threadgill and enjoy his music, you won't be disappointed by these two new discs. and if you're not so familiar with threadgill's music, take the opportunity to see what you're missing, and help out a brand new label with some great ideas in the process!

I have been a loyal fan of Henry Threadgill for the past 12 years since I first heard him. This album is naturally as unpredictable as all his other albums - but this album also is beyond the 'Olympics' in the musical world in sheer compositional advancement and conception. I believe Threadgill has brought down barriers in terms of musical habits and acceptances completely and amazingly with this one. Try following the compositional aspect of each piece - see where you get - see what you can figure - you know its not random, random improvisation it certainly is not - the time, the solos, the progressions - mind-boggling. this album of Threadgill can be deceptive at first - its not in-your-face, and it sounds pretty laid back AT FIRST! but this is probably the most radical shift to another place, taking music to the next place - can't get much further than that.

I, to, witnessed the fire-and-brimstone glory of Make a Move's 1999 North Sea Jazz performance. It floored me, then varnished and then waxed and mopped. No, no, it didn't floor me. It tore the floor right off. I can still see them with crow-bars up their on the stage, ripping up boards and tossing them into the audience. It probably didn't help matters any that I was the companion mentioned in a previous review. We were wide open for this kind of balls-out-boom.
Comparing that live performance with their new album isn't very hard. Their sound has changed (in contrast to Where's My Cup?, as well as the live show), becoming more precise, less roilingly overwhelming.
This has to do largely with Dafnis Prieto, Make a Move's new drummer. Cause he's Cuban. Cuban jazzer's almost always have vicious chops, but they rarely utilize the kind of rolling tidal wave effect pioneered by Elvin Jones and then further developed by Jack Dejohnette. The effect they have on the music is more...groin. Groin, mixed with the kind of linear precision that fusion drummers are famous for. It gives the music a different flavor.
And the vibist/marimba player also greatly changes their sound (from the accordian/harmonium). Bonging washes of sound meld with Stomu's electic bass, which thromble's like the main vein of a whale weener, pushing Henry and Brandon Ross's voices leaping and soaring, like aggrieved sparrows looking for a fight in the clouds.
All I'm saying is, it's a different beast from Where's Your Cup?, but me thinks it better than that album (which I do like). However, I must reiterate that it didn't hold a candle to that live show.

3 1/2

An often stimulating and sometimes meandering affair of compact experimentation that doesn't quite consistently get onto higher ground to necessitate must-hear status from the accomplished composer.

Miserably tripping through a wasteland of drunken yuppies near tears from frustration and confusion brought on by no less than 2 grams each of store-bought mushrooms, my companion and I searched out a quiet place with perhaps some clean, fresh air. If that sentance is a bit florid or a bit jumbled, it is just my poor boy's attempt at doing justice to one of the worst days of my life. At the North Sea Jazz Festival in Den Haag, Holland I had a trancsendent experience. And I have this band to thank. Nobody conceives rhythm or harmony like Henry Threadgill. His music can be pestering agitating, taking you where you don't want to go. But since I was already where I REALLY did not want to be, this was not a problem. Just rocking, ripping, moving, emoting, grooving, or sweetly seducing would not have done. What this version of Make-a-move did was more. It was like it was beyond rationality the emotions in this music. It satisfied intellectually, yet was not intellectual. Damn that was a great show. I've been waiting for this album ever since. So... why only 4 stars. Overspecualtion pure and simple. If everyone else had set the bar so high it would take a miracle to get a 5. Henry Threadgill has already produced one miracle. This ain't no miracle, just a great album.