Artist: Henry Threadgill Sextett
Album: Rag, Bush and All
Genre: Avant-Garde Jazz
Label: Novus
Released: 1989
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
- Off the Rag (Threadgill) - 12:43
- The Devil Is on the Loose and Dancin' with a Monkey (Threadgill) - 6:42
- Gift (Threadgill) - 5:47
- Sweet Holy Rag (Threadgill) - 13:19
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- Personnel:
- Henry Threadgill - alto saxophone, bass flute
- Ted Daniel - trumpet, flugelhorn
- Bill Lowe - bass trombone
- Diedre Murray - cello
- Fred Hopkins - bass
- Newman Baker, Reggie Nicholson - drums, percussion
This CD from altoist Henry Threadgill is a perfect mixture of improvisation and composition, hanging onto devices of the past while creating new music. Some of the ensembles (which match Threadgill with trumpeter Ted Daniels, bass trombonist Bill Lowe, cellist Diedre Murray, bassist Fred Hopkins, and both Newman Baker and Reggie Nicholson on drums) recall Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz with the cello-bass interplay inspired by the one-time team of Scott LaFaro and Charlie Haden. The organized horn parts and the riffs behind the lead voices are quite original and sometimes more interesting than the solos themselves. Of the four songs, "Off the Rag" at first dispenses with the melody quickly but the theme constantly pops up in surprising places. "The Devil" is highlighted by Murray's double-time cello runs behind Threadgill's alto while "Gift" contrasts colorful percussion with solemn long tones from the ensemble. "Sweet Holy Rag" has several sections including a pretty classical-like melody, a danceable rumba, a drum feature, and a fairly violent trumpet solo. However, the more one describes this music, the more seems to be left out. Highly recommended to open-eared listeners.
Review by Scott Yanow