SUNDAY JAZZ
HENRY TREADGILL
Henry Threadgill - The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of... [2010] (8 x CDs)
You can come at The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air from almost anywhere and it still makes sense. That’s part of what makes this set easy to live with over time. Issued by Mosaic Records in 2010, it gathers the work of Henry Threadgill and Air across eight discs, moving between trio recordings and larger ensemble pieces without drawing hard lines between them.
If you let a few discs play, the thread starts to show. The core trio sound, saxophone, bass, drums, keeps returning, even when the groups expand. Themes appear, drift, and come back in slightly altered shapes. Nothing feels fixed, but nothing feels random either. There’s a quiet logic holding it together.
What makes it open up is time. A first pass might feel a little elusive, but stay with it and the patterns become easier to recognise. The interplay between the players, the way lines overlap or pull against each other, starts to feel natural rather than abstract. Even when the arrangements grow more complex, that sense of conversation remains.
The sequencing helps. It doesn’t force a direction, it just lets the music move between different settings, showing how the same ideas shift depending on who’s playing and how they’re framed.
By the end, it feels less like a box set to work through and more like something you can return to in pieces. Different discs, different moods, same underlying voice, waiting for whenever you feel like stepping back into it. (B)
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Track lists
CD1
01 Air - Card Two: The Jick Or Mandrill's Cosmic Ass 7:29
02 Air - Card Five: Open Air Suit 10:19
03 Air - Card Four: Straight White Royal Flush...78 6:14
04 Air - Card One: Cutten (2 Knuckles, 2 Widows, 2 Tricks)/3 X 1 15:31
05 Air - Let's All Go Down to The Footwash 11:27
06 Air - Abra 13:00
CD2
01 Air - Suisse Air 15:23
02 Air - The Ragtime Dance 9:18
03 Air - Buddy Bolden's Blues 9:28
04 Air - King Porter Stomp 3:48
05 Air - Paille Street 2:19
06 Air - Weeping Willow Rag 11:34
CD3
01 Henry Threadgill - Sir Simpleton 6:31
02 Henry Threadgill - Celebration 13:33
03 Henry Threadgill - Air Song 10:23
04 Henry Threadgill - Fe Fi Fo Fum 13:05
05 Henry Threadgill - Luap Nosebor 11:36
06 Henry Threadgill - Salut to The Enema Bandit 10:23
07 Henry Threadgill - Melin 6:28
CD4
01 Henry Threadgill - Bermuda Blues 9:28
02 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Silver and Gold Baby, Silver and Gold 5:45
03 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Theme From Thomas Cole 6:41
04 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Good Times 6:34
05 Henry Threadgill Sextett - To Be Announced 6:29
06 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Paille Street 4:27
07 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Those Who Eat Cookies 6:20
08 Henry Threadgill Sextett - I Can't Wait 'Till I Get Home 4:08
09 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Black Hands Bejewelled 7:05
10 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Spotted Dick is Pudding 8:53
CD5
01 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Let Me Look Down Your Throat Or Say Ah 7:15
02 Henry Threadgill Sextett - My Rock 8:12
03 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Hall (Dedicated to Muhal Richard Abrams) 4:15
04 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Award The Squadtett 7:02
05 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Off The Rag 12:44
06 Henry Threadgill Sextett - The Devil is on The Loose and Dancin' With A Monkey 6:44
07 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Gift 5:48
08 Henry Threadgill Sextett - Sweet Holy Rag 13:22
CD6
01 Henry Threadgill - Come Carry The Day 6:17
02 Henry Threadgill - Growing A Big Banana 3:29
03 Henry Threadgill - Vivjanrondirski 5:57
04 Henry Threadgill - Between Orchids Lillies Blind Eyes and Cricket 7:48
05 Henry Threadgill - Hyla Crucifer...Silence Of 6:12
06 Henry Threadgill - Jenkins Boys Again, Wish Somebody Die, It's Hot 7:39
CD7
01 Henry Threadgill - Noisy Flowers 6:42
02 Henry Threadgill - Like it Feels 11:18
03 Henry Threadgill - Official Silence 8:56
04 Henry Threadgill - Refined Poverty 9:07
05 Henry Threadgill - Make Hot and Give 7:56
06 Henry Threadgill - The Mockingbird Sin 12:12
07 Henry Threadgill - Dirty in The Right Places 8:10
CD8
01 Henry Threadgill & Make A Move - 100 Year Old Game 10:55
02 Henry Threadgill & Make A Move - Laughing Club 5:01
03 Henry Threadgill & Make A Move - Where's Your Cup? 11:14
04 Henry Threadgill & Make A Move - And This 13:41
05 Henry Threadgill & Make A Move - Feels Like It 6:40
06 Henry Threadgill & Make A Move - The Flew 9:51
07 Henry Threadgill & Make A Move - Go to Far 8:55
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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.
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BB, you are spoiling us! Last Sunday we got Tristano/Konitz/Marsh, and this Sunday is it Henry Threadgill. What I like about the box is that spotlights three periods of T.'s development as a performer and composer (late 70s, later 80s, mid-90s) that resulted in quite different and distinctive work - I am a huge fan. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi albrecht,
DeleteThreadgill really is one of those artists where each era feels like its own little universe, and this box makes that arc so clear, the raw, searching late‑70s Air material, the sharper, more architectural 80s work, and then the mid‑90s pieces where everything becomes more intricate and unpredictable. Seeing those periods side by side is a reminder of just how restlessly creative he’s always been.
It’s a set worth sinking into slowly and for being spoiled.
Cheers.
Thank you, BB, so much for this amazing treat. There's really no one quite like Henry Threadgill, and his journey is endlessly fascinating. Still going strong, and this set contains so much of his greatest work, certainly some of his most accessible. Thank you so much for this. Most grateful...
ReplyDeleteHi RickB,
DeleteThreadgill really is one of a kind, always shifting, always searching, and somehow always unmistakably himself. This set captures so much of that journey, especially the periods where his ideas opened up into something broader and more inviting without losing any of the edge. I’m glad it feels like a treat to you. It’s a body of work that rewards every return visit.
Cheers.