The Squid's Ear Magazine

Threadgill Zooid, Henry

Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp

Threadgill Zooid, Henry: Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp (Pi Recordings)

Henry Threadgill and his Zooid band follow up the 2 part "This Bring Us To" series with this exceptional album of NY jazz, abstracting the jazz idiom in persuasive and stunning ways through great writing and playing.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Henry Threadgill-flute, bass flute, alto saxophone

Liberty Ellman-guitar

Jose Davila-trombone, tuba

Christopher Hoffman-cello

Stomu Takeishi-bass guitar

Elliot Humberto Kavee-drums


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UPC: 808713004328

Label: Pi Recordings
Catalog ID: Pi 43
Squidco Product Code: 16232

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2012
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded on December 3rd and 4th, 2011 at Brooklyn Recording, Brookly, NY by Andy Taub.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Henry Threadgill is finding himself in the midst of a career renaissance. His new release, Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp is the continuation of his twelve year-long musical journey with his band Zooid, whose prior releases This Brings Us To, Volumes 1 and 2 have brought Threadgill a resurgence of critical acclaim. NPR called him "a true idiosyncratic great" and The New York Times "one of the most thrillingly elusive composers in and around the jazz idiom." Pianist Vijay Iyer, who covers one of Threadgill's songs on his new release Accelerando, calls him "A true American maverick, Threadgill continues to matter because he has elevated the act of making creative choices to a high art. His lifetime of creative exploration is characterized by a continual, systematic, and often downright radical confrontation of the fundamental building blocks of music."

Threadgill was an early member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and has released over 30 records as a bandleader. At the age of 68, he continues to adhere to AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams's mantra of "constant search and constant research," challenging himself to create music that defies easy explication. Pianist Jason Moran calls him "My favorite composer, hands down.... My head nods to Threadgill just as deep as it does to J Dilla."

Tomorrow Sunny showcases the continuing development of Zooid, the longest-running band in Threadgill's illustrious 40-plus year career, which is something of a surprise given his leadership of such groups as Air, Sextett, and Very Very Circus. Zooid's longevity is a testament to the commitment that each of its members has made to master its leader's cutting-edge musical system. Guitarist Liberty Ellman, who has been with the band since the beginning, says of Threadgill: "His current musical system is difficult to learn. To keep writing at the level that he is, and to continue to experiment with form, he needs to have a band that can get right to it. We have a lot of rehearsals in order to get the parts tight, which requires a commitment from the players that is uncommon these days." As Threadgill himself puts it: "It's music made through allegiance."

Named after a biological term for a cell that is capable of spontaneous movement independent of its parent organism, Threagill's compositions for Zooid assign a set of intervals to each player that serves as the starting point for improvisation. The result is a contrapuntal crazy quilt that materializes with a mysterious logic. Zooid drummer Elliot Humberto Kavee describes Threadgill's system this way: "The spaces between the notes - the intervals in time and pitch - are the elements that we work with in our improvisations. His system generates a constantly shifting negative space - a mutating kaleidoscope of sound, movement and emotion that moves around its own axis." Jason Moran calls Zooid "The vanguard of counterpoint."

Zooid features Threadgill on flutes and alto saxophone, Liberty Ellman on acoustic guitar, Jose Davila on trombone and tuba, Stomu Takeishi on acoustic bass guitar, and Elliot Humberto Kavee on drums. Newly on board and representing the biggest change to Zooid's sound is Christopher Hoffman on cello, whose addition returns Zooid to Threadgill's original conception of the band as a sextet. The cello gives Threadgill another voice to help flesh out the harmony and to provide more color and variations in texture and dynamics. When asked about the challenges of playing in Zooid, Hoffman, who has performed with such disparate musicians as Marianne Faithful, Umphrey's McGee and Bebel Gilberto, said: "We are constantly reworking the pieces. You wouldn't be able to understand how the piece was performed from just looking at the chart as the structure is constantly being changed. It's as if the music is encoded into the written material and then Henry leads us through the labyrinth that becomes it's most current incarnation. The path is never the same twice. That said, Henry is writing not only for the band but specifically for us as players. He knows what we and our instruments are capable of and he seems highly attuned as to where he can push us to expand and develop as musicians."

The other major instrumental addition is Threadgill's bass flute, which perhaps because it approximates the register of his natural voice, sounds eerily as if he's singing through his instrument. Iyer says of Threadgill's playing: "Henry often reminds me of my all-time hero, Thelonious Monk. Like Monk, Henry has a composer's approach to improvisation; his choices are not simply about notes and rhythms, but reflect a profound and purposeful overview on the shape and feel of the music. He is also someone, like Monk, who played in the church and in other contexts where one learns how to move a crowd. You can hear that communicative power when he plays; his relationship to the beat and the visceral qualities of his sound are profound and stirring." Moran has another take: "Threadgill strikes me as the most patient of improvisers: waiting for the right moment to stab a note, or send the next one sailing over the horizon." When asked to describe this music, Henry avers: "Tomorrow Sunny... is in one sense something epic, and this is just one part of what I could best describe as species activated. ...The Revelry, Spp is not a full stop, but a kind of long chain that gets broken for practical reasons; it is not conclusive." In other words, it's just another station in Threadgill's ever evolving musical travels."-Pi Recordings



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Henry Threadgill (born February 15, 1944) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, saxophonist and flautist, who came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres.

Threadgill studied at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, majoring in piano, flute, and composition. He studied piano with Gail Quillman and composition with Stella Roberts. He has been a bandleader and composer for over forty years. He was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his composition In for a Penny, In for a Pound, which premiered at Roulette Intermedium on December 4, 2014

Threadgill has performed and recorded with several ensembles: Air, Aggregation Orb, Make a Move, the seven-piece Henry Threadgill Sextett, the twenty-piece Society Situation Dance Band, Very Very Circus, X-75, and Zooid."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Threadgill)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Based in Brooklyn New York, guitarist / composer Liberty Ellman has performed and or recorded with a host of stand out creative artists including: Joe Lovano, Myra Melford, Wadada Leo Smith, Butch Morris, Vijay Iyer, Steve Lehman, Greg Osby, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Nels Cline, Somi, Matana Roberts, Ledisi, Michele Rosewoman, Adam Rudolph, Josh Roseman, Barney McAll, Okkyung Lee, Steven Bernstein, Ben Goldberg and John Zorn. In 2014 Ellman worked with Jason Moran on Luanda Kinshasa, a video installation by visionary filmmaker Stan Douglas.

Mr. Ellman is perhaps best known for his long tenure in Henry Threadgill's groundbreaking ensemble, Zooid. The group has recorded several critically lauded albums. Their most recent recording "In For A Penny, In For A Pound" earned a Pulitzer prize for Mr. Threadgill. In addition to playing guitar, Mr. Ellman is credited as producer and mixing engineer on that recording. He has mixed and mastered many other recordings as well, including Gregory Porter's "Be Good," which was nominated for a Grammy.

Ellman has released 4 of his own critically acclaimed albums: Orthodoxy, Tactiles, Ophiuchus Butterfly, and 2015's Radiate on Pi Recordings. His compositional style has been described as "At once highly controlled and recklessly inventive," and the Wall Street Journal said: "Ellman, along with his peers, is helping to define post millennial jazz." Voted #1 Rising Star Guitarist in the 2016 Downbeat Critics Poll, he was also honored in the 2015 Jazz Times expanded critics poll, as one of the four guitarists of the year alongside Bill Frisell, John Scofield and Julian Lage.

Liberty Ellman has also worked beyond the jazz world: hip hop artists Midnight Voices, and The Coup, dance producer DJ Joe Claussell, and worked on remixes of N'Dea Davenport, Chico Freeman, Ann Dyer, Ayo and others. He also made an appearance on the Grammy nominated Groove Collective record, People People Music Music."

-Liberty Ellman Website (http://www.libertyellman.com/bio/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Tuba player and trombonist Jose Davila is a versatile New York-based musician whose work spans across a broad spectrum of musical genres; everything from traditional to cutting-edge jazz, to salsa and classical music. He is currently a member of Henry Threadgill's Zooid and bands led by guitarist Liberty Ellman and alto saxophonist Steve Lehman. His work with both Threadgill and Ellman extends the tuba from its traditional role as part of the rhythm section to a front-line solo voice. His playing can also be heard on the Grammy-nominated salsa recording "Un Gran Dia en el Barrio” from the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and "Remembranzas” and "Siguendo la Tradicion” from Soneros del Barrio.

Davila has also worked in the bands of Ray Charles, Andrew Hill, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Marc Anthony, Eddie Palmieri, Ray Anderson, Butch Morris, Ted Nash, along with the Lincoln Center Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and the American Symphony and New York City Opera Orchestras.

A native of Puerto Rico who was raised on the East Coast, Jose received his formal musical training from the University of Connecticut and Mannes College of Music."

-Pi Recordings (https://pirecordings.com/artist/Jose_Davila)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Christopher is a cellist, composer, producer, engineer and filmmaker. He currently performs in Henry Threadgill's Pulitzer Prize winning ensemble Zooid, Anat Cohen Tentet, Kenny Warren Trio, Tony Malaby, Michael Blake, Darius Jones and his own projects. He has worked with Martin Scorsese, Yoko Ono, Bleachers, Iron & Wine, Ryan Adams, Marianne Faithfull, Michael Pitt & Pagoda, Marc Ribot, Butch Morris, Lee Konitz, Rudy Royston, Anna Webber, Ryan Scott, Anthony Coleman, Jeremiah Cymerman & many others."

-Christopher Hoffman Website (https://www.christopherhoffman.com/new-page-1)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Stomu Takeishi (born 1964, in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese jazz bass player. He generally plays fretless five-string electric bass guitar, as well as a Klein five-string acoustic bass guitar. He often uses looping or other electronic techniques to enhance the sound of his instrument.

Takeishi began as a koto player. He came to the United States in 1983 to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. After completing his degree in 1986, he moved to Manhattan to continue his studies at The New School. He has lived in New York City ever since.

In the 1990s he began to achieve prominence as an innovative New York jazz bass player, and critics have noted both his adventurous playing and sensitivity to sound and timbre. He has played in many international jazz festivals and often performs at major venues in New York, the United States, and Europe.

He has performed and/or recorded with Don Cherry, Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris, Dave Liebman, Randy Brecker, Wynton Marsalis, Paul Motian, Myra Melford, Cuong Vu, Badal Roy, David Tronzo, Erik Friedlander, Satoko Fujii, Laszlo Gardony, Ahmad Mansour and Andy Laster.

In Downbeat's 57th Critics Poll in 2009, Stomu was the poll winner in the category of Electric Bass, Rising Star.

He has been performing all over Mexico with MOLE (Hernan Hecht at drums, Mark Aanderud at piano.)"

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stomu_Takeishi)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Elliot Humberto Kavee has performed/recorded ground-breaking new music with Omar Sosa, Joseph Jarman, Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, Francis Wong, Ben Goldberg, John Tchicai, Glenn Horiuchi, Elliot Sharp, Tim Berne, Jon Jang, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, and his own projects. Before moving to New York, he was the drummer of choice among the San Francisco Bay Area's most gifted creative musicians, playing on over 40 critically acclaimed recordings. In addition, Kavee was a musician, composer, musical director, actor and writer with the Tony award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe for seven years - the only musical director in the group's 40 year history to win a dramalogue award. He was a percussionist, cellist and composer with the Club Foot Orchestra, who performed their score for G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box at Lincoln Center. His collaboration with Asian-American Jazz pioneer Francis Wong has yielded 20 recordings and countless performances. As a founding member of the trail-blazing Omar Sosa Sextet, Kavee recorded four CD's and has toured the world. For his debut recording as a solo performer (on Eliasound records), "not only did Kavee make his skin and metallic percussion instruments sing by effecting a polytimbral/polyrhythmic approach, he further mixed up the program by doubling on cello. (Yes: drums and strings, one player, at the same time.")"- SF Weekly

-SF Weekly (https://pirecordings.com/artist/Elliot+Humberto_Kavee)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. A Day Off 5:51

2. Tomorrow Sunny 6:31

3. So Pleased, No Clue 3:34

4. See The Blackbird Now 9:28

5. Ambient Pressure Thereby 10:36

6. Put On Keep/Frontispiece, Spp 6:30

7. All Text Read 1:44

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
NY Downtown & Jazz/Improv
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Sextet Recordings
Instant Rewards

Search for other titles on the label:
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