Henry Threadgill

AllaboutJazz: INTERVIEW/PROFILE: Jazz Musician of the Day: Henry Threadgill http://t.co/dbyYADy8 Full http://t.co/JgOZKb1B

— Jazz Talk (@JazzTalk) February 15, 2012

Henry Threadgill

AllaboutJazz: INTERVIEW/PROFILE: Jazz Musician of the Day: Henry Threadgill http://t.co/dbyYADy8 Full http://t.co/JgOZKb1B

— Jazz Talk (@JazzTalk) February 15, 2012

Henry Threadgill

AllaboutJazz: INTERVIEW/PROFILE: Jazz Musician of the Day: Henry Threadgill http://t.co/dbyYADy8 Full http://t.co/JgOZKb1B

— Jazz Talk (@JazzTalk) February 15, 2012

Henry Threadgill Wins Music Pulitzer .....

Henry Threadgill calls his Pulitzer-winning piece, In for a Penny, In for a Pound, "an epic." - John Rogers/Courtesy of the Artist

Henry Threadgill Wins Music Pulitzer For 'In For A Penny, In For A Pound'

April 18, 20168:15 PM ET
Patrick Jarenwattananon, NPR Music

Henry Threadgill, a saxophonist and flutist known as one of the most original composers influenced by jazz, has been awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his recording In for a Penny, In for a Pound.


The jury described the piece as a "highly original work, in which notated music and improvisation mesh in a sonic tapestry that seems the very expression of modern American life." The recording was released as a 2-CD collection on Pi Recordings in 2015, and was listed among the Top 10 albums of the year in the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll.

Written for Threadgill's working quintet Zooid, In For A Penny includes four movements that each feature a different member — Jose Davila on trombone and tuba, guitarist Liberty Ellman, cellist Christopher Hoffman and drummer Elliot Humberto Kavee. Threadgill uses the literary term "epic" to describe each section, which can be approximately thought of as concerti, and also the entire work. It furthers an organizational method he has pursued for nearly 15 years with Zooid, which allows for contrapuntal improvisation within a specific intervallic framework.


"The group itself — these people have been with me 100 percent," Threadgill said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. "Zooid, this is the longest-running musical ensemble I've had. It's not about the number of years — it's about 100 percent to 150 percent that they give. So they were in for a penny, you see. And if you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound."

read more: http://puls.ly/qc-Cpg#http://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2016/04/18/474701928/henry-threadgill-wins-music-pulitzer-for-in-for-a-penny-in-for-a-pound?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=classical

Henry Threadgill

Threadgill first performed as a percussionist in his high school marching band before taking up the baritone saxophone and later a large portion of the woodwind instrument family. He soon settled primarily upon the alto saxophone and the flute.

He was one of the original members of the legendary AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) in his hometown of Chicago and worked under the guidance of Muhal Richard Abrams before leaving to tour with a gospel band. In 1967, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, playing with a rock band in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968. He was discharged in 1969.

Upon his return to Chicago he rejoined fellow AACM members Fred Hopkins and Steve McCall, forming a trio which would eventually become the group Air, one of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed avant-garde jazz groups of the 1970s and 1980s. In the meantime, Threadgill had moved to New York City to begin pursuing his own musical visions, which explored musical genres in innovative ways thanks to his daringly unique group collaborations. His first group, X-75, was a nonet consisting of four reed players, four bass players and a vocalist.

In the early 1980s, Threadgill created his first critically acclaimed ensemble as a leader, Henry Threadgill Sextet (actually a septet), which released three LP's on About Time Records. After a hiatus, during which Threadgill formed New Air with Pheeroan Aklaff replacing the late Steve McCall on drums, Threadgill re-formed the Henry Threadgill Sextett (with two t's). This group recorded three CD's on the Novus Records label. The six albums the group recorded feature some of Threadgill's most accessible work, notably on the album You Know the Number.

The group's unorthodox instrumentation included two drummers, bass, cello, trumpet and trombone, in addition to Threadgill's alto and flute. Among the players who filled these roles were drummers Aklaff, John Betsch, Reggie Nicholson and Newman Baker; bassist Fred Hopkins; cellist Deidre Murray; trumpeters Rasul Siddik and Ted Daniels; cornetist Olu Dara; and trombonists Ray Anderson, Bill Lowe and Craig Harris.

During the 1990s, Threadgill pushed the musical boundaries even further with his ensemble Very Very Circus. In addition to Threadgill, the group's core consisted of two tubas, two electric guitars, a trombone or french horn, and drums. With this group he explored more complex and highly structured forms of composition, augmenting the group with everything from latin percussion to French horn to violin to accordion and an array of exotic instruments and vocalists.

Threadgill composed and recorded with other unusual instrumentations, such as a flute quartet (Flute Force Four, a one-time project from 1990); and combinations of four cellos and four acoustic guitars (on Makin' A Move).

By this time Threadgill's place amongst the upper echelon of the avant-garde was secured, so prolific in fact that he was signed by Columbia Records for three albums (a rarity for musicians of his kind). Since the dissolution of Very Very Circus, Threadgill has continued in his iconoclastic ways with ensembles such as Make A Move, Zooid and Make A Move included guitarists Brandon Ross and James Emery and drummer J.T. Lewis. Zooid, a sextet with tuba, acoustic guitar, cello and oud (played by Moroccan Tarik Benbrahim) has been the primary vehicle for Threadgill's most current compositions throughout the 2000s.

Threadgill has recorded or performed with many of the legends of the jazz avant-garde, including Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, David Murray and Bill Laswell. He has a daughter with choreographer Christina Jones, a founding member of the Urban Bush Women Dance Company. Threadgill's daughter with Jones, Pyeng Threadgill, is an up and coming soul-blues artist with much of her father's flair for genre-bending experimentation. His long time wife/partner Senti Toy's debut album was named best of pop 2007 by the Wall Street Journal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Threadgill

Henry Threadgill Dance Band Hamburg 1988