Mondo Jazz

I 70 ANNI DI HENRY

Henry Threadgill - I Can't Wait Till I Get Home from _Easily Slip into Another World_, 1987

Threadgill-Alto Sax Fred Hopkins-bass Fred Lacy-trombone Rasul Saddik-trumpet Diedre Murray-cello Pheeroan Aklaff and Reggie Nicholson-drums

Henry Threadgill oggi settantenne, è sicuramente, a dispetto dell'età, uno dei musicisti più innovativi e creativi della scena jazzistica americana. Un suo breve ritratto preso dalla Storia del Jazz di Piero Scaruffi:

One of the best examples of Chicago's fusion of theoretical issues and soundsculpting art during the 1970s was the career of Henry Threadgill (1944). He is emblematic of how creative music proceeded along two parallel paths, simultaneously exploring new techniques of texture (mainly through different combinations/juxtapositions of instruments) and new techniques of composition (influenced by contemporary chamber music but also grounded in the tradition of black American music, from ragtime to free jazz).

The saxophonist cut his teeth in churches and dancehalls and military bands, playing gospel, blues and rock music. Converted to creative music while stationed with the army in St Louis, Threadgill debuted, in Chicago, both as a composer and as an alto saxophonist, on Muhal Richard Abrams's Young at Heart Wise in Time (august 1969). In 1972 he formed a trio, Air, with bassist Fred Hopkins and percussionist Steve McCall, that immediately revealed his strong compositional skills.

Relocating to New York in 1975, Threadgill became part of a booming underworld of artists that liked to mix different kinds of art. Dance and theatre became as influential on his artistic growth as the jazz classics.

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http://www.scaruffi.com/jazz/threadgi.html