Thumbscrew: The Anthony Braxton Project

  Thumbscrew is the trio of guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek, and drummer and vibraphonist Tomas Fujiwara. Each is each a leader of their own ensembles and mutual participants in other bands, and they adopt a cooperative ethos when gathering for this group. On their fifth Cuneiform release, the trio elected to focus on the extremely influential music of Anthony Braxton, who turned 75 in June 2020. The Anthony Braxton Project offers succinct explorations of nine of his compositions, ranging from the early Composition No. 14 (heard here three times in solo renditions by each player) to Composition No. 274. While Braxton’s music and philosophy have been critically important to many musicians, his pieces are not often played outside of his own groups. Each of the players in the band has a particular association with Braxton. Halvorson probably has the strongest connection, having studied with him at Wesleyan. She’s been a member of many different Braxton groups. Fujiwara met Braxton through trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, and has performed with the composer on several occasions. Formanek first encountered Braxton’s music back in the mid-Seventies, then followed Braxton’s output over the years until he finally worked with him in New York in the late Nineties. The trio had the unique opportunity to spend a long afternoon looking through Braxton’s archived scores. Halvorson notes that the “idea was for us to choose compositions of Anthony’s, mostly early compositions, which hadn’t been previously recorded.” They ended up with “pieces that captured our imagination and that we thought would work well for the instrumentation ... Our choices included graphic scores, complex notated pieces, and everything in between.” With the luxury of a four-week residence at Pittsburgh’s City Of Asylum, Thumbscrew could take the time to hone their interpretations of this famously difficult material. The most recent piece the trio tackled is Composition No. 274, a completely notated work from Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music series. Formanek notes that it’s “about how you deal with music that’s almost impossible to play and what happens when you do them with someone else, opening up possibilities you couldn’t plan.” Music that’s “almost impossible to play” presents the ultimate challenge to creative musicians, a challenge that is more than met by Thumbscrew on this endlessly fascinating release. Definitely recommended. 

Cuneiform Rune 475; Mary Halvorson (g) Michael Formanek (b) Tomas Fujiwara (d, vib); Pittsburgh, PA, September 8-11, 2019; Composition No. 52/ Composition No. 157/ Composition No. 14 (Guitar)/ Composition No. 68/Composition No. 274/ Composition No. 14 (Drums)/ Composition No. 61/ Composition No. 35/ Composition No. 14 (Bass)/ Composition No. 150/ Composition No. 79; 46:50. www.cuneiformrecords.com