One of the best examples of Chicago's fusion of theoretical issues and
soundsculpting art during the 1970s was the career of Henry Threadgill (1944).
He is emblematic of how creative music proceeded along two parallel paths,
simultaneously exploring new techniques of texture (mainly through different
combinations/juxtapositions of instruments) and new techniques of composition
(influenced by contemporary chamber music but also grounded in the tradition
of black American music, from ragtime to free jazz).
The saxophonist cut his teeth in churches and dancehalls and military bands,
playing gospel, blues and rock music. Converted to creative music while
stationed with the army in St Louis, Threadgill debuted, in Chicago, both as a composer and as an alto saxophonist, on Muhal Richard Abrams's Young at Heart Wise in Time (august 1969). In 1972 he formed a trio, Air, with
bassist Fred Hopkins and percussionist Steve McCall, that immediately revealed
his strong compositional skills.
Relocating to New York in 1975, Threadgill became part of a booming underworld
of artists that liked to mix different kinds of art. Dance and theatre became
as influential on his artistic growth as the jazz classics.
Air Song (september 1975) contained four lengthy pieces, each for a
different lead instrument:
Untitled Tango for tenor sax,
Great Body of the Riddle for baritone sax,
Dance of the Beast for alto sax,
and Air Song for flute.
But the trio was truly "free" in the way they improvised around each other
with no clear leader, hiding individual identity behind collective identity.
Air Raid (july 1976) repeated the same format, with even more sophistication:
the violent Air Raid for chinese musette and alto sax,
Midnight Sun for alto sax,
Release (sixteen minutes) for flute and hubkaphone,
Through a Keyhole Darkly for tenor sax.
The research continued on Air Time (november 1977), that boasted even
more adventurous solos, especially in three complex compositions:
the obscure No 2 for alto, the mathematical Subtraction and
Keep Right on Playing Thru the Mirror Over the Water.
Open Air Suit (february 1978) was a four-movement suite with the movements
(or "cards") shuffled around. Threadgill on alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax
and flute was now dominating the proceedings.
Air Lore (may 1979), basically a nostalgic tribute to Threadgill's musical
roots, introduced a more accessible version of the band's sound, signaling
the end of the experience. Nonetheless,
Air Mail (december 1980) was still highlighted by the 18-minute C.T., J.L.,
and 80 Degrees Below (january 1982) was the trio's swan song, a return to the
format and the magic of the early years, particularly in
The Traveller, 80 Degrees Below '82 and Do Tell.
As an improviser, Threadgill seemed to create a different vocabulary and a
different persona for each instrument he played.
All of them shared an almost scientific passion for complexity. So much so that
McCall, the drummer, ended up sounding like the romantic soul of the trio (the
bass was mostly running after the reed).
Threadgill had already started a new project, X-75, a nonet with
four reed players (Threadgill, Douglas Ewart, Joseph Jarman, Wallace McMillan),
four basses and a vocalist (Amina Claudine Myers) that had debuted with
Volume 1 (january 1979), an album that replicated the four-composition
format of early Air albums and showed how far his ambitions had come
(notably Celebration and Fe Fi Fo Fum).
A "Sextett" (double "t")
which was actually a septet
(cornet player Olu Dara, trombonist Craig Harris, bassist Fred Hopkins,
piccolo bassist Bryan Smith, drummers Pheeroan Aklaff and John Betsch)
recorded When Was That? (october 1981), with 10 to 1,
When Was That and Soft Suicide at the Baths,
and (replacing Smith with Diedre Murray on cello)
Just the Facts And Pass The Bucket (march 1983), with
Gateway and A Man Called Trinity Deliverance.
Ancestral melodies were transformed into angelic bacchanals by a system of
performance that toyed with the timbres and roles of the instruments.
The Sextett was a micro-representation of the classical orchestra, divided
into three sections of strings, brass and percussion.
Threadgill was toying with the basic elements of the symphony without actually
abandoning the jazz format.
A new edition of this Sextet
(Rasul Siddik on trumpet, Ray Anderson on trombone,
bass, cello, two percussionists) recorded
Subject To Change (december 1984), with
Just Trinity the Man, Higher Places and Subject to Change,
and then (with Frank Lacy on trombone) You Know the Number (october 1986),
that offered more accessible material (such as the
Caribbean Bermuda Blues).
All these albums displayed his mesmerizing ability at deconstructing
jazz music and constructing complex, twisting architectures.
A new phase in Henry Threadgill's career began with
Easily Slip Into Another World (september 1987), de jure another work by the
Sextett (now featuring Hopkins, Siddick, Frank Lacy, Diedre Murray and
percussionists Pheeroan Aklaff and Reggie Nicholson),
but de facto a quantum leap in eclectic arrangements packed into shorter
pieces, from frenzied cartoon music (Award the Squadtett)
to nostalgic New Orleans marches (Black Hands Bejewelled),
from moody ballads to pure chaos, to chaotic mixtures of ideas
(Spotted Dick is Pudding, Let Me Look Down Your Throat or Say Ah,
My Rock).
Threadgill returned to the four-song format of Air with
Rag Bush And All (december 1988), whose longer selections
(Off the Rag and Sweet Holy Rag) displayed the growing
idiosyncrasy of his compositions, ripped apart by the tension between
the organized improvisation and
an almost parodistic revisitation of traditional forms.
A new septet, Very Very Circus, with two brass instruments
(Curtis Fowlkes on trombone and Threadgill on alto or flute),
two electric guitars (Brandon Ross and Masujaa), two tubas and drums,
further increased that tension between future and past.
The spirited, denser and ever more eccentric standouts of
Spirit of Nuff Nuff (november 1990), such as
Unrealistic Love,
Drivin' You Slow and Crazy,
Bee Dee Aff and
First Church Of This (Threadgill's best flute workout)
coexisted with almost radio-friendly numbers (Hope A Hope A).
Replacing the trombone with a French horn,
Too Much Sugar For a Dime (1993) focused on sonic exploration in
Little Pocket Size Demons and Try Some Ammonia; and,
to increase the sense of displacement, In Touch and Better Wrapped Better Unrapped added three violins and lots of percussion (the former also vocals).
With neither trombone nor French horn,
Songs Out of my Trees (august 1993) delivered pieces without saxophone but with three guitars (Over the River Club, Crea), a piece with accordion, harpsichord and cello (Grief) and the gopsel-y Song Out Of My Trees with organ.
Carry The Day (1994) reintroduced the French horn and added
Chinese stringed pipa, accordion, violin and vocals (Come Carry the Day, Vivjanrondirski, Hyla Crucifer), but also indulged in more linear
jazz playing (Between Orchids Lillies Blind Eyes and Crickets).
Very Very Circus' chaotic music peaked (as far as chaos goes) with
Makin' a Move (june 1995):
Noisy Flowers was scored for piano (Myra Melford) and guitar quartet (no sax, no French horn),
The Mockinbird Sin for guitar quartet and cello trio,
and Refined Poverty for alto saxophone and cello trio.
The "regular" pieces (Official Silence, Like It Feels, Dirty in the Right Places, Make Hot and Give) for sax, French horn, two guitars, two tubas and drums harked back to the Sextett.
Threadgill pared down the ensemble to a quintet (Ross, Tony Cedras on accordion and harmonium, Stomu Takeishi on fretless bass, drums) to form Make A Move,
that debuted on Where's Your Cup (august 1996). Pieces such as 100 Year Old Game, Where's Your Cup, And This, The Flew and Go To Far merely increased the sense of puzzle-like hyper-fusion musical structures.
Replacing Cendras with Bryan Carrott on vibes and marimba, and introducing new
Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto, caused Everybodys Mouth's a Book (february 2001) to
sound more constricted (albeit benefiting the austere Platinum Inside Straight).
A new ensemble, the acoustic, multi-ethnic and string-driven Zooid (British guitarist Liberty Ellman, Moroccan oud player Tarik Benbrahim, Puertorican tuba player Jose Davila, cellist Dana Leong, Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto), debuted on
Up Popped the Two Lips (april 2001), had a more exotic and neoclassical feel
that better represented Threadgill's elegant eccentricity
(Around My Goose).
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