Henry Threadgill, born February 15, 1944, Chicago, Illinois is an American composer, saxophonist, and flutist. He was a percussionist for high school marching bands and briefly served in an U.S. Army band. Threadgill is known as one of the most original composers in “modern” and “avant-garde jazz. In contrast to jazz’s loose, improvisatory style, Threadgill’s dense, complex, multi-layered music is often meticulously scored. Traditional blues and jazz music often feature elements of mexican, traditional african, and folk music. Threadgill is known for creating groups with unusual names and unusual instruments. The Henry Threadgill Sextett, Threadgill’s group, consisted of Threadgill and two drummers, double basse, cello, trombone, and trumpet. Threadgill stated that the two drummers were one unit or that he was a conductor more than a performer. Very very circus was Threadgill, who was a French hornist (or in an earlier incarnation, trombone player), and two tubas, two guitars, and a drummer (Gene Lake, or Pheeroan Laff). Very Very Circus also features other instruments such as violin, harmonium and oud, Afro-Venezuelan drummers, vocalists, and pipa. Threadgill, Brandon Ross, Tony Cedras and Stomu Takeishi were the members of Make A Move. Lewis played the drums. Henry Threadgill’s Zooid currently includes Threadgill (tuba), Jose Davila(guitar), Elliot Humberto Kavee (“drums”), Stomu Takeishi („acoustic bass guitar”) and Christopher Hoffman (cello). Threadgill has recorded and performed with Anthony Braxton (as well as Muhal Richard Abrams, David Murray, and Bill Laswell). He was married to Cassandra Wilson, a singer. Text contributed by users is available under Creative Commons By–SA License. It may also be available under GNU FDL.
