PROGRAM

International Contemporary Ensemble
Henry Threadgill
Zooid*

Henry Threadgill, flute, alto saxophone, bass flute
Michelle Farah, english horn
David Byrd-Marrow, french horn
*Jose Davila, trombone, tuba
Josh Modney, violin
Joanna Mattrey, viola
*Christopher Hoffman, cello
*Liberty Ellman, guitar
Lizzie Burns, double bass
Levy Lorenzo, percussion
*Elliot Humberto Kavee, drumset/percussion
Vimbayi Kaziboni, conductor

Henry Threadgill: Pathways (2018), NYC Premiere 

Run Time: 60 minutes with no intermission.

Henry Threadgill’s Pathways was premiered by Henry Threadgill, Zooid, and Oberlin Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, under the direction of Tim Weiss, at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Pathways was commissioned by the Cleveland Museum of Art in partnership with the Cleveland Foundation.

BIOGRAPHIES

Henry Threadgill
Only three jazz artists have won a Pulitzer Prize. In spring 2016, Henry Threadgill joined Ornette Coleman and Wynton Marsalis as Pulitzer laureates, when he was honored for In For A Penny, In For A Pound (Pi, 2015), the latest album by Zooid, his unconventional quintet (reeds, acoustic guitar, cello, tuba, drums). “Unconventional” describes not just Henry Threadgill’s music, but his life. 

Born in Chicago in 1944, Henry grew up on the South Side, where parade bands and the blues filled the air. He played percussion, then clarinet in the Englewood High School band, but switched to sax at 16. Idolizing Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Lester Young, he adored Fritz Reiner’s Chicago Symphony and avant-classical composers like Luciano Berio. He was 17 when he joined the Muhal Richard Abrams’ Experimental Band, which later expanded into the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM); there he found like-minded musical explorers. 

When bebop broke, most swing players thought it was nonsense and claimed boppers couldn’t play “real” jazz. The members of what became the AACM faced a similar reaction. So Henry performed at dances and parades, joined polka and Latin bands, sat in theater pits, and raised the roof in churches. He played the blues at joints like the South Side’s Blue Flame with local heroes like Left Hand Frank. All the while, he kept studying Berio, Stravinsky, and Debussy. 

In 1967, he enlisted in the Army as a clarinetist-saxophonist, was upgraded to composer-arranger, and then shipped to Vietnam to join the 4th Infantry Division Band. Injured during the 1968 Tet offensive on his way back from guard duty, he was sent home and honorably discharged with two campaign ribbons. 

He returned home for Chicago and reenlisted with what was now the AACM, but in 1970 left for the perennial lure of jazz’s Big Apple, New York City. For the next 40 years, while Henry challenged bedrock ideas about jazz, he settled into New York City, where he lives with his wife. Around the East Village, he’s a familiar face on the streets and in the cafes; old friends like Philip Glass and Allen Ginsburg and total strangers alike engage him in animated conversation. But he regularly decamped for months at a time to Goa to recharge his creativity in a faraway, very different world. That openness to ideas and experiences has always been vital to who Threadgill is and how his music works. As Charlie Parker put it, “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” 

It was in the East Village—long a seedy, tumultuous haven for outsiders of all types—that Henry Threadgill launched the unconventional concepts that led to his Pulitzer-winning art. AIR, his 1970s trio, reimagined ragtime without the piano—a lot like dropping the electric guitar from rock. His 1980s Sextett, pairing complex compositions and dynamic soloists, combined heft and agility, and birthed the “little big band” sound. In the 1990s, Very Very Circus stepped deeper into unorthodoxy, with two electric guitars, two tubas, a trombone/ French horn, drums, Henry’s alto sax and flute, and frequent add-ons. With Make A Move, a fluid lineup mixing French horn, tubas, electric and acoustic guitars, and cello, he began exploring the approaches to composing and improvising that led to Zooid. From 2000 on, Zooid became his primary vehicle. 

As a composer and improviser, Henry sees artistic process and product as inseparable, the essence of jazz. Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus strove toward the same goal. Rooted in that history, Henry’s solutions have taken radical new tacks. For Zooid, the Pulitzer committee explained, “A set of three note intervals assigned to each player…serves as the starting point for improvisation.” Zooid’s musicians make in-the-moment decisions about structure, shaping the work-in-process. The unpredictable results are jazz’s “sound of surprise” updated for the 21st century. 

After decades of probing music, cult status, and critical acclaim, Threadgill’s Pulitzer Prize caps growing high-culture recognition: 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award; 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award; 10 11 2008 United States Artist Fellowship; 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship. He is especially proud of being the first black nonclassical musician to get a Copland House Residency Award. In July 2016, the annual Leadership Conference of the Vietnam Veterans of America honored him with their Excellence in the Arts award—a very special moment for the only Vietnam veteran ever awarded a Pulitzer for music. 

With his new lineups Ensemble Double-Up (two pianos, two alto saxes, tuba, cello, and drums) and 14 or 15 Kestra: AGG, this consummate creative shapeshifter is upending artistic expectations yet again, while planning a unique international concert series.

ZOOID MEMBERS

Christopher Hoffman
Christopher Hoffman is a cellist, composer and filmmaker living in Brooklyn. His most recent record Asp Nimbus was named best of Jazz 2021 by Bandcamp. https://www.christopherhoffman.com/

Elliot Humberto Kavee
A member of Henry Threadgill Zooid for 21 years, premiering fourteen evening length works of Mr. Threadgill’s worldwide, Kavee is featured on six Zooid recordings including the 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner “In for a Penny, In for a Pound”. Eliasound.biz

Liberty Ellman
Guitarist / composer Liberty Ellman has performed and or recorded with a host of stand out creative artists including: Joe Lovano, Myra Melford, Wadada Leo Smith, Butch Morris, Vijay Iyer, Steve Lehman, Greg Osby, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Nels Cline, Nicole Mitchell, Matana Roberts, JD Allen, Michele Rosewoman, Adam Rudolph, Jonathan Finlayson, Mary Halvorson and Ches Smith. Mr. Ellman is perhaps best known for his long tenure in Henry Threadgill’s groundbreaking ensemble, Zooid. The group has recorded several critically lauded albums. Their 2015 recording “In For A Penny, In For A Pound” earned a Pulitzer prize. https://www.libertyellman.com/

Jose Davila
Tubist, trombonist, arranger, composer and recording artist, Jose Davila is a versatile New York based musician whose work spans across a broad spectrum of musical genres. He is an original member of Henry Threadgill’s Zooid, which was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music for their recorded work, “In for a Penny, In for a Pound”. His work with the aforementioned extend the tuba from its traditional roles to an integrated rhythm-melodic instrument and a front line solo voice. Davila actively freelances and is a proud educator to the next generation of musicians, artists and music aficionados in the Yonkers Public Schools.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE STAFF

Jennifer Kessler, Executive Director
George Lewis, Artistic Director
Jenni Bowman, Executive Producer
Daniel Rodier, Technical Director, Audio Engineer
Bridgid Bergin, Producer & Communications Director
Eddy Kwon, Director of Individual Giving
Isabel Crespo Pardo, Production & Communications Coordinator
Keisha Husain, Business & Finance Manager

SUPPORT

The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2022-23 concert season are made possible by the generous support of many individuals as well as the Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., MAP Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New Music USA’s New Music Organizational Development Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.

NYU Skirball’s presenting programs are made possible with support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and by Howard Gilman Foundation; FACE Contemporary Theater and FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance), programs of FACE Foundation in partnership with Villa Albertine; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Collins Building Services; Marta Heflin Foundation; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Mertz Gilmore Foundation; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Stage Pass Fund support.