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Howard Mandel's Urban Improvisation

Threadgill talks, Zooid photo’d

February 24, 2010 by Howard Mandel

Composer-saxophonist Henry Threadgill performed his quicksilver music with quintet Zooid at the Jazz Gallery a few days back: here are the photos. He talked at Jazz at Lincoln Center, also: a brief synopsis.


I was putting final touches on the article Down Beat commissioned about Threadgill, who I first heard perform live in the early 1970s, when Ken Drucker, general manager of media for Jazz at Lincoln Center, held a rare public discussion with him in JALC’s Diamond Education Center. Here’s how Ken described the session: 

Henry is quite talkative but doesn’t necessarily always speak directly to the questions asked. He spoke about the nature of his compositions and how they develop once they’re played by his band. We didn’t get to the intervallic nature of his music but did get to the opportunities for performing and the nature of his audiences.

 

He did talk about his early days in New York and playing with Howard McGhee, which I found interesting, and also about how he goes about finding young musicians to work with. He has very strong views about music education (and is very well-informed about the conservatory system in Cuba), most of which we talked about backstage before the event and which I think only came out a bit in the public portion.

 

The crowd was kind of interesting, as well, as Liberty Ellman, Steve Coleman and JD Parran were all there. Once the video’s edited, we’ll put it up here: http://www.jalc.org/jazzED/streamin/index09.asp.

I’m eager to see it — and also the promised 4-camera shoot of Zooid’s concert (with guest cellist Chris Hoffman) at Roulette last fall, which will eventually be online at Roulette TV. Until then, enjoy this series shot by Robert Klurfield at the Jazz Gallery, where Threadgill and Zooid performed to another SRO (though small) crowd, with utter confidence regarding its fast-moving, uniquely structured repertoire: 
4370862203_2617a3c6cc-1.jpg
photo c 2010 Robert Klurfield
4370862467_8970987f08.jpg
photo c 2010 Robert Klurfield
4371612940_d3e3f81f8a.jpg
photo c 2010 Robert Klurfield
Until then, recommended listening: This Brings Us To, Vol. 1. And when is Vol. 2 due? 
 
4352441557_28546e9bc3.jpg
photo c 2010 Robert Klurfield

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Filed Under: main Tagged With: Henry Threadgill, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz Gallery, Ken Druker, Robert Klurfield, Roulette tv, This Brings Us To vol. 1, Zooid

Howard Mandel

I'm a Chicago-born (and after 32 years in NYC, recently repatriated) writer, editor, author, arts reporter for National Public Radio, consultant and nascent videographer -- a veteran freelance journalist working on newspapers, magazines and websites, appearing on tv and radio, teaching at New York University and elsewhere, consulting on media, publishing and jazz-related issues. I'm president of the Jazz Journalists Association, a non-profit membership organization devoted to using all media to disseminate news and views about all kinds of jazz.
My books are Future Jazz (Oxford U Press, 1999) and Miles Ornette Cecil - Jazz Beyond Jazz (Routledge, 2008). I was general editor of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz and Blues (Flame Tree 2005/Billboard Books 2006). Of course I'm working on something new. . . Read More…

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What if there's more to jazz than you suppose? What if jazz demolishes suppositions and breaks all bounds? What if jazz - and the jazz beyond, behind, under and around jazz - could enrich your life? What if jazz is the subtle, insightful, stylish, … [Read More...]

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