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Editorial Reviews
Review
This is ensemble music in the purest sense, each
improvised line tucked delicately into one dazzling,
churning whole. --The Wall Street Journal
Slinky, utterly distinctive, and disarmingly engaging. --The New Yorker
improvised line tucked delicately into one dazzling,
churning whole. --The Wall Street Journal
Slinky, utterly distinctive, and disarmingly engaging. --The New Yorker
Product Description
This Brings Us To, Volumes I & II are the result of an
eight-year gestation period during which Threadgill
and his band Zooid have fine-tuned his unique system
of improvisation in a group setting. The compositions
provide the construct for open dialogue within the group
while encouraging the musicians to seek a new way to
improvise, away from a reliance on chords or scales or
any of the timeworn clichés of certain free jazz. In the
music, Threadgill creates structures in his compositions
that provide platforms for the musicians to interact in a
way that is constantly challenging, and allows for personal
exploration. Despite its intricacy, his music always
maintains a grooving, funky vibe, one of the reasons why
Threadgill has remained one of the most popular of the
cutting-edge jazz musicians of the last 40 years.
eight-year gestation period during which Threadgill
and his band Zooid have fine-tuned his unique system
of improvisation in a group setting. The compositions
provide the construct for open dialogue within the group
while encouraging the musicians to seek a new way to
improvise, away from a reliance on chords or scales or
any of the timeworn clichés of certain free jazz. In the
music, Threadgill creates structures in his compositions
that provide platforms for the musicians to interact in a
way that is constantly challenging, and allows for personal
exploration. Despite its intricacy, his music always
maintains a grooving, funky vibe, one of the reasons why
Threadgill has remained one of the most popular of the
cutting-edge jazz musicians of the last 40 years.
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A year ago Pi Recordings released the first new Henry Threadgill recording since 2001: This Brings Us To, Volume I. This is the second release from the same recording sessions of November 2008. Threadgill's Zooid band is a quintet, with Liberty Ellman on acoustic guitar, Jose Davila on trombone and tuba, Stomu Takeishi on bass and Elliot Humberto Kavee on drums, with Henry alternating between flute and alto sax. Volume II (about 44 minutes long) was again mixed by Liberty Ellman, in June 2010, and mastered by Steve Fallone.
According to the liner notes, which are not included with the disc, but can be found on the Pi Recordings website, the five pieces found here represented the second set of the live touring band. Whereas on Volume I Threadgill played flute on the first three numbers and alto on the last three, here he plays flute on the first and third tracks, "Lying Eyes" and "Extremely Sweet William," and alto on the other three. The five compositions form a satisfying whole, leading off with the mid-tempo "Lying Eyes," which features Ellman's guitar and Davila's trombone, then the slower title track, and then the up-tempo "Extremely Sweet William," with a fiery guitar solo and piercing flute. "Polymorph" slows down again, with a compelling, rolling rhythm that brings to mind a strange entity changing form as it shambles across the landscape. Takeishi takes a bass solo, and Threadgill the composer and Kavee the drummer masterfully create a constant sense of forward motion. Finally "It Never Moved," another faster number to close.
This is a tight unit, and they only entered the studio after extensive live touring with these compositions. The liner notes on the Pi Recordings website, explain that Threadgill has developed a new system of improvisation since his last recordings in 2001: "[t]he compositions are organized along a series of interval blocks comprised of three notes, each of which is assigned to a musician, who is free to move around within these intervals, improvising melodies and creating counterpoint to one another." This is something the listener can use in order to hear the parameters of the compositions, but in any event one has only to hear the record to immediately recognize Threadgill's sound world. The music is rhythmically propulsive and tight in the way that only a band that has played together for years can achieve.
Threadgill has been mining the same distinctive sound for 30 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 Sextett 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 the 2008 Zooid THIS BRINGS US TO sessions do not mark a sharp stylistic departure. There is improvisation, but it is tightly constrained, as described above. 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.
The return of Henry Threadgill is one of the great events of jazz/improv of 2009 and 2010, with much of his back catalog reissued in addition to these new recordings. If you are new to his music, you are in for a pleasant surprise, and if you are a long-time listener like me, you know what to expect -- the best!
(verified purchase from the Jazz Loft)
According to the liner notes, which are not included with the disc, but can be found on the Pi Recordings website, the five pieces found here represented the second set of the live touring band. Whereas on Volume I Threadgill played flute on the first three numbers and alto on the last three, here he plays flute on the first and third tracks, "Lying Eyes" and "Extremely Sweet William," and alto on the other three. The five compositions form a satisfying whole, leading off with the mid-tempo "Lying Eyes," which features Ellman's guitar and Davila's trombone, then the slower title track, and then the up-tempo "Extremely Sweet William," with a fiery guitar solo and piercing flute. "Polymorph" slows down again, with a compelling, rolling rhythm that brings to mind a strange entity changing form as it shambles across the landscape. Takeishi takes a bass solo, and Threadgill the composer and Kavee the drummer masterfully create a constant sense of forward motion. Finally "It Never Moved," another faster number to close.
This is a tight unit, and they only entered the studio after extensive live touring with these compositions. The liner notes on the Pi Recordings website, explain that Threadgill has developed a new system of improvisation since his last recordings in 2001: "[t]he compositions are organized along a series of interval blocks comprised of three notes, each of which is assigned to a musician, who is free to move around within these intervals, improvising melodies and creating counterpoint to one another." This is something the listener can use in order to hear the parameters of the compositions, but in any event one has only to hear the record to immediately recognize Threadgill's sound world. The music is rhythmically propulsive and tight in the way that only a band that has played together for years can achieve.
Threadgill has been mining the same distinctive sound for 30 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 Sextett 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 the 2008 Zooid THIS BRINGS US TO sessions do not mark a sharp stylistic departure. There is improvisation, but it is tightly constrained, as described above. 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.
The return of Henry Threadgill is one of the great events of jazz/improv of 2009 and 2010, with much of his back catalog reissued in addition to these new recordings. If you are new to his music, you are in for a pleasant surprise, and if you are a long-time listener like me, you know what to expect -- the best!
(verified purchase from the Jazz Loft)
