Henry Threadgill Essentials

Henry Threadgill Essentials

By turns focused and restless, jazz reedman and composer Henry Threadgill has blurred the lines between free improv and structured composition since he first emerged as a bandleader in the mid-'70s. “Air Raid” finds his trio Air careening between raucous outbursts and calm restraint, while “Spotted Dick Is Pudding” sounds like a New Orleans second line staggering alongside a drunken blues march, and Threadgill's Pulitzer-winning composition “In For a Penny, In For a Pound (Opening)” melds a century of African American music into a stunning amalgam.