JSngry Posted May 31, 2012 Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 Received via email: Pi Recordings is pleased to announce the release of Henry Threadgill's latest recording, Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp. Not available in stores or online till June 26th, copies are available directly from Pi Recordings now. 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 even covered one of his songs on his new release Accelerando. One of the most highly respected composers and conceptualists in music today, 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. 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 illustrious 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, 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, but Henry is very big on experimenting with form, and by putting in the hours to learn his musical language we all are very flexible and able to experiment with the music easily. Most band leaders just don't get to rehearse like that. It 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, zooid is an apt description of the musical language that Threadgill has developed for this band. In his compositions, each player is assigned a set of intervals that serves as the basis 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." 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. Another subtle difference between This Brings Us To and Tomorrow Sunny is greater complexity to the compositions and an overall more fluid and open feel. 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. For the Vision Impaired Inspired by a friend who is an advocate for the disabled, Threadgill has tried to make the CD more accessible to the vision impaired by including a track that is a recitation of all the text on the CD package. A special version of the CD with a Braille label is available directly from Pi Recordings. Please email requests for these copies directly to Info@pirecordings.com. Track Listing 1. A Day Off 2. Tomorrow Sunny 3. So Pleased, No Clue 4. See the Blackbird Now 5. Ambient Pressure Thereby 6. Put On Keep / Frontispiece, Spp Musicians Henry Threadgill: flute, bass flute, alto saxophone Liberty Ellman: guitar Christopher Hoffman: cello Jose Davila: trombone, tuba Stomu Takeishi: bass guitar Elliot Humberto. Kavee: drums The link: http://pirecordings.com/album/pi43 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjazzg Posted May 31, 2012 Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 Looking forward to this one, definitely. Anything new by HT is worth investigating. And as someone who works for a charity for the blind and partially sighted I'm particularly taken by the adjustments being made and would like to applaud both the artist and label for doing so (hopefully Pi and others will extend it to other releases) however i'll be waiting to purchase from elsewhere to avoid Pi's inexplicably costly international postage, at least x2 most other labels. guess it doesn't matter to them as long as I get a copy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kh1958 Posted May 31, 2012 Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 Their domestic shipping is also high ($4.95 for one CD); so I'll wait and use amazon.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted May 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2012 I got eager to hear it ASAP and ordered at their price. Where my personal math is now, 24 days (more or less) head-start > two or three or four bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILLYQ Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 I saw this group previewing the music at Roulette in February. If the disc is anywhere close to what they played live it'll be a smoker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted June 1, 2012 Report Share Posted June 1, 2012 Too expensive to ship over the pond... but I'm looking forward to hearing it a lot! Saw the group last november and it was great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Yeah, this is yet another good one from Henry. Tight as the proverbial gnat's ass, and quite often funkier than the equally proverbial mosquito's tweeter. The band is really inside the music, obviously, and vice-versa. Of course, this is true of damn near every Henry Threadgill album ever made, but each one adds a little something to the ongoing story. This one adds a lot, I think, just because of the way the unusual denisties of the instrumentation and the eternal demands of the music come together like it would be this way anyways, all by itself. The previous Zooid albums were delightful and masterful, this one is all that plus. Such a band! Such a leader! The great ones do indeed make it look easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JETman Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Yes, he is one of the music's warriors who still makes vital music. Kudos to him, and lucky for us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St.Noah Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 however i'll be waiting to purchase from elsewhere to avoid Pi's inexplicably costly international postage, at least x2 most other labels. guess it doesn't matter to them as long as I get a copy I'll be ordering it from Allegro when there's a couple of others I want to make up a parcel. $7 for 1 CD internationally, +$2 for each thereafter. Cheers Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 Now streaming over at NPR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 not sure where else I could post this ... but here's an interview with Seth Rosner: http://gethappymag.de/en/pi-interview german translation available, too: http://gethappymag.de/pi-interview it was conducted in relation to a multi-page special on Pi Recordings (disclaimer: yours truly was involved amongst others) that can be found in the third issue of the independent german music magazine get happy!? - haven't seen it yet, but it also contains what I assume is the first lengthy story in german on Bobby Wellins (by yours truly, you guessed it) and should be another nice presentation. sorry for the plugs ... but the guys are doing a fine job and are struggling to survive! next up will be a review by yours truly on the album in question in this thread - I've been listening to it on and off for several weeks now, and it's absolutely great - still don't have the Mosaic box, but currently this ties up with the About Time albums as my favorite Threadgill! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigP Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 I need to listen to this again. I thought it lacked focus and that too much of it meandered along without much direction. Still keeping an open mind though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 I need to listen to this again. I thought it lacked focus and that too much of it meandered along without much direction. Still keeping an open mind though... I felt that way last time I saw the band, about 2 years ago. And I love Threadgill, but I didn't love the two prior Pi releases. Up Popped Two Lips was, for me, his most recent totally great album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigP Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 I need to listen to this again. I thought it lacked focus and that too much of it meandered along without much direction. Still keeping an open mind though... I felt that way last time I saw the band, about 2 years ago. And I love Threadgill, but I didn't love the two prior Pi releases. Up Popped Two Lips was, for me, his most recent totally great album. That's my feeling as well. Gosh, how'd you get so smart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 They may have lacked focus when they recorded "Up Popped the Two Lips", as the band was brand new and - so I read somewhere, this coming from Mr. Threadgill - not quite ready yet to record. But whoever thinks the new one lacks focus ... must be out of focus, really! To me, it's quite clearly the strongest effort of Zooid yet - the point, where everything really does come together! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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