Henry Threadgill Zooid: Cut You Where You Was & Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer, & Dafnis Prieto: Fifteen

     Beginning with Air, back in the mid-Seventies, the music of Henry Threadgill has always confused me - but in a good way. His compositions are consistently thought-provoking, particularly about the nature of music itself. Wherever his pieces start, there’s no way to know where they are going to end up, or how they’ll get there. It’s one of the many ways that improvisational music has expanded over time into a more open-ended musical space, in contrast to the close-ended format of head-solo(s)-head. Like many composer/improvisers, Threadgill often has a number of projects in the works. One of his bands is Henry Threadgill Zooid, a quintet with Threadgill on alto sax and flutes, Liberty Ellman on acoustic guitar, Jose Davila on tuba and trombone, Christopher Hoffman on cello and Eliot Humberto Kavee on drums. Zooid last recorded in late 2019 (Poof), and it’s back with Cut You Where You Was. Hoffman has been a member of Zooid for 15 years and the other musicians even longer. That kind of dedication is uncommon and it testifies to the absorbing allure of Threadgill’s music. A succinct outing at just under 36 minutes, the music on Cut You Where You Was is as brash and inventive as ever. Most of the pieces tend to emphasize the ensemble’s work as a unit. Red Admiral Red Moon Rising, by far the longest piece on the disc at 12:21, is the one track that gives the players plenty of room for imaginative solo work. Hoffman is up first, Threadgill follows with a typically knotty and mildly aggressive solo on alto, and then guitarist Ellman, who also produced and mixed the album, takes over before a suitably surprising finish. Davila, on tuba, and Kavee provide robust support. On the second half of the disc, Zooid presents 5 pieces, each under 2 minutes in length. That's about the capacity of the Edison cylinder, the earliest form of widely-distributed recorded sounds. As Threadgill notes, “You can’t take your time to get to the point because there won’t be a second chorus ...” These gem-like miniatures explore Threadgill’s compositional and arrangement strategies in a new way. Cut You Where You Was is another enigmatic and provocative release from this singular figure in creative music. 

Pi Recordings PI114; Henry Threadgill (as, fl, bass fl) Liberty Ellman (ac g) Jose Davila (tba, tbn) Christopher Hoffman (clo) Elliot Humberto Kavee (d); NYC, June 23-24, 2025 or *Brooklyn, NY, June 25, 2025; Flouroscope*/ Bingo Pat 1*/ Bingo Pat 2*/ Bingo Pat 3*/ Bingo Pat 4*/ Red Admiral Red Moon Rising*/ Blur/ Off and On What Happened/ Lightnin’/ Snow Bones/ Wind at My Back; 35:53. pirecordings.com

     The trio of Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer, & Dafnis Prieto first performed for a fundraiser at the Jazz Gallery in New York in 2012. They have periodically reconvened at the Jazz Gallery, and they’ve toured nationally and internationally. Over that time, they’ve achieved a state of deep empathy in their music, as clearly demonstrated on Fifteen, their very first release. With three of Threadgill’s originals, another three compositions by Iyer, and a pair by Prieto, this is very much a group effort. Threadgill on alto sax and flute is prominent in the mix, complemented by Iyer’s complex and jagged piano lines, and buoyed by the imaginative percussion work of Prieto. The trio’s music is focused and distinctly interactive, with each member of the trio soloing and listening to the other players at the same time. Particular highlights in this bountiful program include the drums and piano duet that’s the centerpiece of Threadgill’s Trio Piece, Iyer’s dynamic and emotionally wrought Fire City, and Prieto’s On the Way, a furiously upbeat number that features some harsh and forceful alto from Threadgill. It took a long time for this band to get into a studio, but it was more than worth the wait. Heartily recommended. 

Nonesuch 7559789247; Henry Threadgill (as, fl) Vijay Iyer (p) Dafnis Prieto (d); Mt. Vernon, NY, November 15-16, 2025; Trio Piece/ Last Night/ I Wanted a Map/ Where Coconuts Fall/ Gently Trapped/ Fire City/ Perfect Victims/ On the Way; 47:46. www.nonesuch.com
 

Timely Music From Civil Disobedience & Tyshawn Sorey

     Jazz has always reflected the social situation in which it is created. In these troubled times, that engagement with the world is inescapable, and different bandleaders have taken several approaches to that necessity. Here are two. 

    Civil Disobedience is a quintet spearheaded by bassist David Ambrosio. The band’s debut release features cover versions of five jazz compositions originally recorded for Blue Note Records in the late Sixties but unreleased at the time. It was a difficult period for the company and for jazz records in general. Many albums were taped, sequenced, prepared for release, and then shelved. It took the late Michael Cuscuna to dig into the Blue Note vault and produce dozens of previously unissued albums, first on Lp and later on compact discs. The band’s debut release seeks to remind the listening audience of both the civil turmoil of the era and some of the compositions neglected due to the circumstances of their appearances in the marketplace. The quintet succeeds on both counts, doing justice to tunes like Bobby Hutcherson’s For Duke P., James Spaulding’s A Time to Go (from Hutcherson’s Patterns album), and two from drummer/composer Joe Chambers, Irina and Ankara. The most explicitly political tune is Harold Land’s Poor People’s March, first heard on another Hutcherson album, Spiral. With trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and saxophonist Donny McCaslin in the front line, plus a rhythm section of Ambrosio, pianist Bruce Barth, and veteran drummer Victor Lewis, Civil Disobedience is perfectly positioned to do justice to these unfairly passed-0ver tunes. The astute selection and arrangements deliver a solidly enjoyable musical experience along with a jolt of political resonance. As the record jacket says, “There may not be a more crucial moment to examine the windows of history in order to comprehend the current situation in America. The music featured [here] serves as one such window.” Recommended listening. And a special shout-out to the great Victor Lewis, who shines on this date as he did so many times before, beginning with his 1974 appearance on Woody Shaw’s The Moontrane. Because of some physical problems he’s been having recently, Civil Disobedience is probably his last recording. 

Blue Frog BF2501 (Lp); Ingrid Jensen (tpt) Donny McCaslin (ts, ss) Bruce Barth (p) David Ambrosio (b) Victor Lewis (d); NYC, February 2, 2025; For Duke P. (a/k/a XYZ)/ A Time to Go/ Irina/ Poor People’s March/ Ankara; 35:54. bluefrogrecords.com

 

    Where Civil Disobedience delivers fresh versions of compositions from the Sixties, more or less in the progressive bop style of the era, the multi-faceted Tyshawn Sorey has radically recast the songs from Max Roach’s 1968 Atlantic album Members, Don’t Git Weary into a suite titled Members... Don’t! Roach was one of the more outspoken musicians of the Fifties and Sixties, particularly about racial issues. His classic 1960 Candid album, We Insist ! - Freedom Now Suite, with an ensemble that included Coleman Hawkins, Booker Little, and Abbey Lincoln, is probably his best-known politically oriented release. In contrast, Members, Don’t Git Weary is more oblique in its implications. Roach’s band consisted of Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Gary Bartz on alto saxophone, Stanley Cowell on piano, and Jymie Merritt on electric bass, with a vocal by Andy Bey on the title track. Merritt was just a couple of years younger than Roach, but the rest of the band was considerably younger, in the great jazz tradition of bandleaders hiring the new generation of musicians to help stay current. (As the great drummer and bandleader Art Blakey once said, "young cats keep me young. I learn from them just like they learn from me.") Sorey, the much-praised drummer, pianist, composer and bandleader, follows in that tradition, putting together his quintet with a similar age distribution. The broadly experienced tenor saxophonist Mark Shim is the oldest member of the ensemble. But trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, pianist Lex Korten, and bassist Tyrone Allen II are much younger and starting to make names for themselves. Sorey’s quintet played two sets a night for three nights before recording the fourth and final night for this release. As Sorey told Nate Chinen for the liner notes, “It took that four-night run for us to arrive at being able to confidently perform the suite, but without having to spend extensive time rehearsing it.” In addition to Sorey’s expansion and resequencing of the original material, he’s arranged it all in one long medley laced with the occasional quiet passage to allow the musicians to take a tiny break. The band settles in quickly at the start of Stanley Cowell’s Abstrusions, the leadoff track to the Roach album and one of his three compositions, along with Effi and Equipoise. (Bartz composed Libra, and Merritt wrote Absolutions.) From there, the music ebbs and flows for 95 minutes, more than three times as long as the source material. The music stays the course as themes come and go, anchored by Korten’s calm style at the piano and propelled by Sorey’s magnificent drumming. There are some potent solos by O’Farrill and Shim, but it’s the ensemble as a whole that really shines. Sorey declares the title track of Roach’s album, “to be the apex of the original release” and that he wanted to “present an experience where all of the other music decisively arrives at Members, Don’t Git Weary.” Sound artist Fay Victor applies her avant-blues vocal to the song, credited to Max Roach and based on the traditional song Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning. Victor’s histrionics are not usually my cup of tea, but she nails this performance in a cathartic climax to the forceful and impassioned music that leads up to it. Definitely one of the best albums of the year. 

Pi Recordings PI112; Adam O’Farrill (tpt, elec) Mark Shim (ts) Lex Korten (p) Tyrone Allen II (b) Tyshawn Sorey (d) Fay Victor (vcl on *); NYC, June 14, 2025; Disc 1 (52:09): Abstrusions/ Effi/ Absolutions/ Equipoise (Part 1). Disc 2 (43:46): Equipoise (Part 2)/ Libra/ Members, Don’t Git Weary*. pirecordings.com 

Tyshawn Sorey Trio + 1: The Off-Off Broadway Guide To Synergism

  “Synergism” is defined as “the interaction of discrete agencies, agents, or conditions such that the total effect is greater than the sum of the individual effects.” You could hardly find a better musical illustration of the concept than The Off-Off Broadway Guide To Synergism, an expansive 3-CD project by the Tyshawn Sorey Trio + 1. Sorey’s Mesmerism was a gem of relaxed trio interaction. From that trio session, pianist Aaron Diehl is back on piano, Russell Hall replaces Matt Brewer on bass, and the “plus one” is alto saxophonist Greg Osby. The live format gives the band plenty of room to stretch out, and they take maximum advantage of the environment to deliver extended meditations on a remarkably wide variety of tunes. The band is burning from the start, with their 17 minute exploration of Night and Day. Diehl, perhaps best known for working with vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, performs with plenty of grit and a boundless imagination. Hall is a steady and responsive bassist in the ensembles and an impressive soloist. Sorey’s superb drumming “lifts the bandstand,” as Monk used to say. His fills and perfectly timed accents are continually feeding and directing the energy of his bandmates, with nary a drum solo in sight. Osby is in peak form, playing with fiery fluidity and grace. He contributes one original composition to the proceedings, Please Stand By. It was first heard on his Channel Three album (Blue Note, 2005), and touched on twice in the three sets. The balance of the repertoire is drawn from jazz composers as varied as Billy Strayhorn (Chelsea Bridge), Fats Waller (Jitterbug Waltz), Ornette Coleman (Mob Job, also played twice), Miles Davis (Solar), McCoy Tyner (Contemplation), and Andrew Hill (Ashes). Each disc also features at least a couple of long-familiar standards, touchstones for their collective improvisations. This includes Out of Nowhere, It Could Happen to You, and Three Little Words. The trio on Mesmerism liked to sneak up on melodies. This quartet operates in the same way, merely glancing at the melodies and using the underlying structure and harmony to build their impressive improvisations. An additional strategy, suited to the live performance situation. is the linkage of tunes into a flowing sequence of musical events. According to Sorey, there was hardly any discussion before they hit the stage. “All I suggested” says the drummer “was a starting point and an ending point, and wherever we went, we went.” The success of that approach depends on a deep well of songs and jazz compositions that they share, amply demonstrated here. From the occasional exclamations of encouragement and surprise we can hear coming from the bandstand, it’s readily apparent that the musicians are having a great time playing together. And of course, the enthusiastic audience contributes to the creative atmosphere. The home listener might be applauding the band as well; it’s that good. Definitely recommended. 

Pi Recordings PI96; Greg Osby (as) Aaron Diehl (p) Russell Hall (b) Tyshawn Sorey (d); NYC, March 3-6, 2022; Disc 1 (76:29): Night and Day/ Please Stand By/ Chelsea Bridge/ Three Little Words/ Mob Job/ Ask Me Now. Disc 2 (75:50): Out of Nowhere/ Ashes/ Please Stand By/ Three Little Words/ Jitterbug Waltz/ Mob Job/ It Could Happen to You. Disc 3 (74:17): I Remember You/ We’ll Be Together Again/ Contemplation/ Out of Nowhere/ Solar/ Ask Me Now. pirecordings.com 

Miles Okazaki: The Sky Below

Guitarist Miles Okazaki enlists keyboardist Matt Mitchell plus two of his long-time bandmates in Steve Coleman’s Five Elements, electric bassist Anthony Tidd and drummer Sean Rickman, for the distinctly absorbing The Sky Below. This new collection of original songs is derived somewhat mysteriously from the tunes on his 2016 release Trickster (Pi Recordings), coupled with the influence of the guitarist’s deep dive into the music of Thelonious Monk that resulted in a much-praised collection of solo versions of Monk’s complete works. As Okazaki explains it, “If Trickster was the introduction to the characters, the songs on this album are their children, bearing their features but finding their own way.” While there’s plenty of available information about how this thoughtful composer got from one set of compositions to the next, or details about the “virtual instruments” he designed via software, or his own musings about the myths and characters behind the songs, none of that would matter if this wasn’t beautifully realized music that thrills from the get-go. The rhythmic lock that Tidd and Rickman provide keeps things popping all the way through. Okazaki, using an array of effects and computer-generated sounds, and Mitchell, switching off between acoustic and electric pianos plus a synthesizer, trade solos in brisk and ever-surprising interactions. From the jittery wake up call of the cannily arranged Rise and Shine through the quietly intense Seven Sisters, the uptempo electronics of Monstropolous, the deliciously laid back feeling of The Castaway and on to the mostly peaceful lullaby To Dream Again that closes the set, there’s a genuine depth to the writing and playing that will surely keep listeners enthralled for a long time. Absolutely recommended.
Pi Recordings PI84; Miles Okazaki (g, elec) Matt Mitchell (p, Rhodes el p, Prophet-6 synth) Anthony Tidd (el b) Sean Rickman (d); Astoria, NY, June 13-14 & June 29, 2019; Rise and Shine/ Dog Star/ Anthemoessa/ Seven Sisters/ Monstropolous/ The Castaway/ The Lighthouse/ To Dream Again; 40:31. pirecordings.com

Tyshawn Sorey & Marilyn Crispell: The Adornment Of Time

Tyshawn Sorey & Marilyn Crispell approach one another warily and respectfully on their perfectly poised duo release The Adornment Of Time. As Sorey writes, this 65 minute performance at The Kitchen in New York “represents the culmination of the several journeys” that the pair have made together since their first encounter at the Creative Music Studio in 2014. Pianist Crispell is well regarded among creative musicians for, in Sorey’s words, “her mindful decision making, intense listening, and the profound clarity” of her creative responses. For his part, Sorey has been attracting a lot of attention for his composing as well as his exquisite percussion work. There’s a spacious luminosity to this extended improvisation. As you would expect, the pair explores a broad range of instrumental colors and tempos. Particularly fine passages include Crispell’s rhapsodic interlude at around the 18-minute mark, the pair’s delicate call and response around 23 minutes into the piece after a minute or so of silence, the invigorating appearance of tuned bells at the half-way point, a deliciously intense passage in the second half of the piece, some creaky sounds from inside the piano, and the magnificent rave-up that brings things to a close. Absolutely recommended. And is there a better title for creative improvisation than The Adornment Of Time?
Pi Recordings PI83; Marilyn Crispell (p) Tyshawn Sorey (d, perc); NYC, October 21, 2018; The Adornment of Time; 64:57. pirecordings.com

Matt Mitchell: Phalanx Ambassadors

Keyboardist Matt Mitchell is one of the busiest musicians in New York, working with such ornery conceptualists as Tim Berne, Henry Threadgill, Dave Douglas, Steve Coleman, and John Hollenbeck, among others. Phalanx Ambassadors, just his fourth release as a leader since 2013's Fiction, a duo set with percussionist Ches Smith, is the first documentation of this eponymous quintet. Mitchell is joined by Miles Okazaki on guitar, Patricia Brennan on vibes and marimba, Kim Cass on bass, and Kate Gentile on drums for passionate performances of Mitchell’s fascinatingly intricate compositions. Okazaki, also a mainstay of Coleman’s groups, characterizes Mitchell’s compositions as an “endlessly branching decision tree ...” The composer himself declares his pieces here as “the most challenging music I’ve ever written for a band ...” Mitchell, equally adept on piano and all manner of electronic keyboards, sticks mostly to the acoustic variety for this session, which had a lengthy gestation of composing and rehearsals until the ensemble was ready to document the compositions in a studio. The band slams into stretch goal to open the show, with Gentile’s busy drums leading the way. Bassist Cass takes a complex and propulsive solo next, followed by a brisk turn by Mitchell. After barely two minutes, you’re either thoroughly captivated by the dense goings-on, or you’re ready to stop and turn to something more easily apprehended. Put me firmly in the captivated camp, since as soon as I made my way through this 45-minute project for the first time, I was more than ready to take it from the top all over again to try and attend to more of the details that fly by. Terse melodies, unexpected harmonic twists, surprise dissonances, and forceful polyrhythms combine with the unerring commitment of the players to make Mitchell’s difficult music utterly absorbing as it unfolds. (Makes for great headphone listening, by the way, for the opportunity to concentrate and hear more detail.) Mitchell notes one of his recurrent goals “in creating music such as this: to try and make something that will continually and variably make sense, even as it sometimes doesn’t until it does.” Let that percolate in your brain for a spell, then turn your attention to Phalanx Ambassadors for a healthy dose of idiosyncratic and beautifully realized performances that fulfill that goal admirably. Highly recommended.
Pi Recordings PI81; Matt Mitchell (p; Prophet 6 synth on *) Miles Okazaki (el g) Patricia Brennan (vib, marimba) Kim Cass (b) Kate Gentile (d); Rhinebeck, NY, December 13-14; stretch goal/ taut pry/ zoom romp/ phasic haze ramps/ ssgg/ be irreparable*/ mind aortal cicatrix; 45:41. pirecordings.com

Jonathan Finlayson: 3 Times Round

Trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson has been a mainstay in bands led by Steve Coleman since the beginning of this century. He’s also performed with Mary Halvorson, Henry Threadgill and Muhal Richard Abrams. His debut as a leader came in 2012 with Moment And The Message (Pi Recordings). The follow-up, Moving Still (2016, Pi Recordings), featured the same rhythm team of Matthew Mitchell on piano, John Hébert on bass, and Craig Weinrib on drums that appears on his latest opus, 3 Times Round. This stirring sextet date offers a front line of Finlayson with a pair of frequent collaborators, Steve Lehman on alto sax and Brian Settles on tenor and flute. Finlayson wrote all the tunes, a batch of knotty and unpredictable compositions that these first-rate musicians animate with great finesse and brio. Decidedly not easy listening, Finlayson’s music commands your attention with its boldness and intricacy. The band jumps right in on Feints with its complex interlocking parts. Pianist Mitchell takes a bouncy solo to show why he’s in such demand among progressive musicians. Then it’s the turn of the horns. Trading off with brief pungent solos, Finlayson, Lehman, and Settles on tenor engage in a bout of fruitful repartee while the churning rhythm section keeps the tricky groove going. There’s more licks being traded on Grass, with Finlayson’s burnished and thoughtful sound leading the way. Mitchell’s piano solo is a fascinating amalgam of flowing lines and rhythmic surprises, enlivened by the barrage laid down by drummer Weinrib. A Stone, a Pond, a Thought is pensive and brooding. The always impressive Hébert outdoes himself on this tune, with a commanding arco solo at the center of the 9-minute track. One of Finlayson’s best solos comes on the CD’s longest piece, The Moon is New, where his deceptively vulnerable sound rides over the busy rhythm section. Lehman uncorks a powerful solo next, followed by self-contained solos by Settles and Mitchell. Refined Strut is fairly subdued, featuring an exceedingly lovely trumpet solo and a mellow and breathy tenor solo by Settles. Drummer Weinrib plays beautifully on this piece, with a calm and understated ease. He switches to brushes for the melancholy Rope From the Sky, a piece that covers a lot of ground in just over 3 minutes. Mitchell’s penetrating solo is a highlight. Tap-Tap ends the disc. It’s an energetic track with characteristically incisive solos by the horns and pianist Mitchell. As Lehman told an interviewer, “you can’t just dial up your usual bag of tricks” to play Finlayson’s music, which makes it a challenging situation for any musician. Finlayson has surrounded himself with like-minded players who are always ready to respond to what Settles describes as “an expansive perennial-garden landscape ... thoughtfully designed ... with a subtle underlying order.” 3 Times Round is highly recommended and not to be missed.
Pi Recordings PI77; Jonathan Finlayson (tp) Steve Lehman (as) Brian Settles (ts, fl) Matthew Mitchell (p) John Hébert (b) Craig Weinrib (d); Brooklyn, NY, March 5-6, 2018; Feints/ Grass/ A Stone, a Pond, a Thought/ The Moon is New/ Refined Strut/ Rope From the Sky/ Tap-Tap; 53:21. pirecordings.com