The Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University presents its Conversations Series, through which Brent Hayes Edwards will engage leading composer Henry Threadgill in a reflection on the role of improvisation in his creative life.
Threadgill's compositions are strikingly original, always surprising, and far-reaching. Though his ensembles—Air, the Sextett, Very Very Circus, the Society Situation Dance Band, Make a Move, and Zooid—are all very different, his compositional voice is ever present and identifiable, always fresh and challenging. Threadgill is also a distinctive and accomplished alto saxophonist. Among his recordings are Air Lore, Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket, and Everybody's Mouth's a Book. A number of Threadgill's key works, long unavailable, have recently been reissued by Black Saint and Soul Note Records, and many others are now available from Mosaic Records.
Discussing Henry Threadgill's work with him will be Brent Hayes Edwards, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Edwards is author of The Practice of Diaspora (Harvard University Press) and co-editor of Uptown Conversation: The New Jazz Studies (Columbia University Press). He is at work on a study of the interplay between jazz and literature in African American culture, and another book on the cultural history of experimental jazz in New York in the 1970s.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 7:30 pm
301 Philosophy Hall, Columbia University Morningside Campus
Free and open to the public
Threadgill's compositions are strikingly original, always surprising, and far-reaching. Though his ensembles—Air, the Sextett, Very Very Circus, the Society Situation Dance Band, Make a Move, and Zooid—are all very different, his compositional voice is ever present and identifiable, always fresh and challenging. Threadgill is also a distinctive and accomplished alto saxophonist. Among his recordings are Air Lore, Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket, and Everybody's Mouth's a Book. A number of Threadgill's key works, long unavailable, have recently been reissued by Black Saint and Soul Note Records, and many others are now available from Mosaic Records.
Discussing Henry Threadgill's work with him will be Brent Hayes Edwards, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Edwards is author of The Practice of Diaspora (Harvard University Press) and co-editor of Uptown Conversation: The New Jazz Studies (Columbia University Press). He is at work on a study of the interplay between jazz and literature in African American culture, and another book on the cultural history of experimental jazz in New York in the 1970s.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 7:30 pm
301 Philosophy Hall, Columbia University Morningside Campus
Free and open to the public
