Customer Reviews

Where's Your Cup?

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

 

 

Threadgill can always be counted on for odd instrumental combinations and this is certainly no exception. While some of his Cds are all over the place this one is quite coherent.

Threadgill employes an excellent band including guitarist Brandon Ross and Drummer J T Lewis (Check out their band Harriet Tubman) and the great Accordian/Harmonium player Tony Cedras who has also done excellent work with Pharoah Sanders.

All the compositions are lengthy (most around 8-10 minutes) and quite strong. 100 Year Old Game is a favorite for me.

If you're new to Treadgill, I'm not sure if there is a good place to start, but this is probably as good as any since it is the most readily available of his works.

Henry Threadgill is one of the most innovative and personal composers in jazz history. He's always been conscious of the jazz tradition, more than even someone like Wynton Marsalis [his early band, Air, was devoted to play pre- and 1920s era jazz in a modern context], and he's been mercurial in stretching himself and that tradition. After his seven member Sextett, and his two-tuba band Very Very Circus comes this stellar group. This should be his most popular and accessible record, and it's still uncomprimising.

Under a sheen of a great, tight almost rocking group sound, Threadgills tunes stretch into unexpected melodic and structural areas, even the ballads, which are lovely and expressive. The players are never afraid to extend themselves into some free territory, if that's what is called for, but the means and purpose is always clear. If you like adventurous modern jazz and rock, you will LOVE this record!

"Where's Your Cup?" is a personal favorite of mine. Too me it's almost like the "OK Computer" of post-bop jazz. The lead-off track, "100 Year Old Game," lures me into a mental game of "whaaa?" almost every time. The song works immaculately but I don't understand how he got to that point with just pencil and paper. Composed jazz can really be an uncredited wonder of the world at times, and the auspicious start to "Where's Your Cup?" fails to strike me as anything less than that each and every time I hear it.

Numerous songs do follow a formula to kick-start them, usually in the form of a solo performance from someone. A one-minute drum solo rollicks "Laughing Club" into a more delicate existence. The accordion gets to push off "100 Year Old Game" and "And This" and songs like "Go To Far" and the title track feel like they are just sort of nudged into starting, proving that the art of the standard jazz chart is a quaint little antique in the vast mind of Henry Threadgill. Yes, I am in awe of this man and this dang album of his continues to haunt me. I don't want to worship musicians and composers anymore, I feel like I outgrew any perceptions of infallibility LONG ago. But along comes Mr. Threadgill. Enter my difficulty getting to sleep with the inner workings of "100 Year Old Game" in my head.

This CD shows that jazz is still a living, breathing, sophisticated, monster, changing the rules that music thought were unbreakable. Of all of Threadgill CD's I have heard this one is certainly one of the most daring. His instrumentation, harmonies, and melodies, all have at first a very unsettling quality to them, but after awhile there haunting beauty and emotional intensity will make you change your perception of how music you think music should sound.

Threadgill is that ultra-rare specimen of avant-garde jazz composer who displays such a commitment to pushing the boundaries of selfless experimentation that he puts nearly everyone else in his field to shame for shallow egotistical absorption.

"Where's Your Cup?" is surprisingly a major-label jazz release. You have to wonder if Columbia knew what it was going to get! It sounds like the other Threadgill I've heard, it doesn't seem like a departure. The instrumentation is slightly odd (for jazz, not Henry Threadgill), there's accordion instead of piano. Beside Henry Threadgill's alto sax, you have an electric guitarist, electric bassist and drums. "100 Year Game" is a strong start. The band plays a reggae rhythm, which is unusual in jazz; I've only heard Medeski Martin & Wood try it. The melody and soloing are memorable, and towards the end the band speeds up before bringing it all back down for the ending. "Laughing Club" is another good one. It starts off fairly diffuse, and stays free.

The reason I give the CD 3 stars is because with the title track, song 3, the album settles into a groove I'm not very fond of. The remaining songs sound like the songs on "Everybodys Mouth's A Book" that I don't like very much (I think overall "Book" is a much stronger CD). The songs are somewhat slow, not just in tempo, but the bass plays whole notes and the band plays unsettling chords. Nothing really resolves. This may be great for some people, and it's fine in smaller doses, but approximately 50 minutes of a 66 minute CD is too much.

I am still getting used to this work. It is very interesting and different. I love the bass work - great sound. I think this is a CD I will continue to come back to. I ca't say that I just love it through and through but it has captured my attention and imagination. I suppose that is saying quite a bit.