Legendary jazz musician and Pulitzer Prize winner Henry Threadgill returns with an album every bit as inventive as the 82-year-old's earlier efforts. Cut You Where You Was, with Threadgill's ensemble of the last quarter-centry, Zooid, is bracing. This is a record which is both discordant in spots, and lovely.
Opener "Fluoroscope" finds Henry's flute and sax mixing with tuba from Jose Davila. The other players in the group -- Liberty Ellman on acoustic guitar, Christopher Hoffman on cello, and Elliot Humberto Kavee on drums -- contribute enormously to the ruminative "Bingo", a three-part piece here. The notes are tentative and throughout the three cuts one hears a tension buidling and building. That it never quite finds release is what makes this music so affecting. The longer "Red Admiral Red Moon Rising" uses Hoffman's cello to weave a melody that's deliberate. The landscape of this piece is sparse, with instruments punctuating moments of stillness before the pace quickens. Elsewhere, "Blur" is horn-driven but all too brief goodness.
Cut You Where You Was finds Henry Threadgill in fine form. The pieces take harsh elements and juxtapose them with a spry playfulness. This isn't so out there as to scare away anyone, but it's a little bit jarring in brief moments. That disharmony between the melody -- or lack of one -- and the players moving in different directions give this energy. Things spin around each musician at different times here, and it's fair to say that the 82-year-old Henry Threadgill sounds as vitally full of fiery musical wit as ever.
Cut You Where You Was by Henry Threadgill is out this week on Pi Recordings.
[Photo: Uncredited]