CD Review: Henry Threadgill Ensemble - The Other One

Henry Threadgill Ensemble

The Other One

(Pi) www.pirecordings.com

As we get older, we have to leave things behind. Sometimes we simply outgrow stuff, while at other times, we are forced abandon physical things out of the necessity. Henry Threadgill noticed this as people left New York City during the COVID epidemic. They left a lot of remnants of their lives on the sidewalks of the Lower East Side, where Threadgill lives, and the accumulation of it said a lot to the composer/musicians about people and consumerism.

These ideas fueled "Of Valence," the 61-minute piece that makes up his latest album, The Other One. (The title indicates that it came from the second of two live performances at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, in May 2022. "One" came from the first night.) The original performance incorporated not just a 12-piece ensemble but video, paintings, electronics and Threadgill himself singing and accompanying himself on the piano.(The latter element, sadly, is not part of this album.)

Threadgill does not perform on The Other One, acting instead as a conductor of the ensemble, which includes musicians who have appeared in his other projects (cellist Christopher Hoffman, tubaist Jose Davila, pianist David Virelles, drummer Craig Weinrib) as well as newcomers to his oeuvre. Along with a couple bassoonists, three more strings and three saxophonists, they create a swirling sound that often moves in short sections, yet still maintains a steady flow.

The piece consists of three movements. The first and third appear in sections on the album, with two sections or sub-sections usually appearing in one band. Movement II stands as one 16-minute track. Since the sections run anywhere between 33 seconds and six minutes, the music is best appreciated by avoiding little more than a cursory glance at the breaks between bands and finding the flow between them. 

After Virelles' skipping chords and bright lines slowly get a bit foreboding, with sprays of dissonant notes, the saxophones (one tenor and two altos filling a role that Threadgill might normally occupy) enter, echoing each other before the whole ensemble joins in by Section 4, with the bassoons initially leading things. Everything seems to happen quickly, with the pauses between sections emphasizing the brevity. Despite the often quick cut-offs or change in mood, the momentum continues between each section.

At first, Movement II seems to slow things a bit, with the strings moving atonally, breaking down into scrapes and soft screeches. But one-third of the way in, the alto saxophonist Alfredo Colón or Noah Becker (it's not clear which) joins them to create a rich dreamscape. Hoffman, Sara Caswell (violin), Stephanie Griffin (viola) and Mariel Roberts (cello) play their parts while listening to playbacks of their heartbeats - a hat tip to the piece's dedicatee Milford Graves - and the varied tempi can be felt just shy of the seven-minute mark. What begins open and free ends with more of a groove as well. Weinrib eventually joins in and, as this movement fades, the alto locks into a vamp, one of the few moments where the piece has a more conventional element.

After that, Movement III feels more charged up. There are shorter moments with violin interludes, but it also contains passages where the saxophones add a bluesy, tart growl to the scene. Virelles gets a few spots too where he reprises the feel of his earlier passages without repeating specific melodies. A brief section with bassoon and piano adds to the dynamic of the piece. 

It's no wonder the last 30 seconds of the disc feature applause and Threadgill thanking the audience repeatedly for their reaction. The composer has again found a way to make something complex feel deeply fascinating. Turning 79 this year, the Pulitzer Prize winning Threadgill continues to work at a prolific rate. Right as The Other One appears, his memoir Easily Slip Into Another World, co-written with Brent Hayes Edwards, has also been published.