Henry Threadgill’s Zooid, Live at the Village Vanguard

 

Nadia

Hey guys, Nadia Sirota here. Today we are bringing you an exclusive recording of Henry Threadgill’s longest standing ensemble, Zooid. This past October, Zooid performed at The Village Vanguard, a legendary New York City venue, and Meet the Composer was lucky enough to have a front row seat.

 

So to introduce the piece, here is the band!

 

Liberty

My name is Liberty Ellman and I’m a guitarist.

 

Chris

My name is Christopher Hoffman and I’m a cellist.

 

Elliot

I’m Elliot Humberto Kaveé, I play the drums.

 

José

José Davilla, tubist, trombonist.

 

Nadia

And also the pianist, Jason Moran

 

Jason

Jason moran, and I’m a pianist.

 

Chris

The Village Vanguard is, probably one of the most historically famous jazz clubs that has continued to exist.

 

Jason

And It’s a small place, on seventh avenue and eleventh street, in the basement, it seats about 150 people, an odd shaped triangle building.

 

Vanguard Host

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Village Vanguard.

 

Chris

And there's something about the room... it just seems to breed great music

 

Liberty

it's sort of a temple of jazz history. I mean, what really sets it apart is that it's truly a listening room. It's a concert environment. But it's in this historically magical room that happens to sound so good.

 

Jason

It's been there 81 years now! And it's, that's our resource, you know, that this place should be preserved. Thank goodness it's still there.  Henry hadn't played in there in many years, and now he's a firm part of their annual line-up, so I'm positive that there are people going to see Henry Threadgill at the Vanguard, and having their life changed.

 

Liberty

It's more than just being in the room. It's working on the music and getting a chance to really work it out. It takes it to another enlightened kind of space. It's almost kind of a spiritual experience.

 

Chris

Just to play on the same stage that Miles Davis or John Coltrane is special. And then I'm on stage with Henry Threadgill.

 

Henry

Henry Luther Threadgill, as a matter of fact. And I'm a musician, composer, in New York City. And I have the privilege of working with a whole lot of great people. So, I have to only remind myself about what I’m getting ready to say, and then stay out of the way.

 

Chris

His music is like uh... It's kinda like, it’s like a labyrinth. Because you can go so many different ways in it. And then he basically kind of leads you through the labyrinth, or we find a new path every time.

 

Elliot

With us, I always feel like with us it's almost like someone who's coming, you're standing up, and someone behind you is kicking behind your knee where you're always a little bit off balance. If you're ever too comfortable he just, he doesn't want that. He wants us to be playing above what we know, playing outside what we know, being out of our comfort zone.

 

The other thing is, he does that, he puts himself on the line.

 

Henry

You have to stay flexible, you know.

You prepare for something and all you're doing is rehearsing. It's not until that second element come in, when the audience coming in, You might make a change right then because once you feel that, you know --

 

José

Back in the day he would just like, "Okay, we're gonna do this and this and that and this, ready? One, two, three four, boom!" Yeah, exactly. That's the exact look that everybody would have, like wow. And everything would just get twisted and he would like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it, that's it, that's it, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Because he enjoyed the part where everybody would have to communicate.

 

Liberty

We're going to take you on a ride and you have to come with us. And you're not going to have a seat belt. [Chuckle] And all of that is a part of the magic of the sound of Zooid. It can't really be underestimated how important that is to the final outcome.

 

Henry

You don't lose, in the music world. There is no such thing as “You've got something you don't need." It's all good. It's all music. And in the end, it's all good. It's benefiting you and informing you, you know.

 

Nadia

So here we go! This is Henry Threadgill’s Zooid, performing “I Never”, live at The Village Vanguard

 

[“I Never” Live at the Village Vanguard]

Credits

Curtis Macdonald

That was Henry Threadgill's Zooid performing the composition "I Never" Live at The Village Vanguard on October 2nd, 2016. Zooid consists of Liberty Ellman on tres, Christopher Hoffman on cello, José Davilla on Tuba, Elliot Humberto Kaveé on drums, and Henry Threadgill on alto saxophone.

 

This recording was produced by me, Curtis Robert Macdonald, and recorded by Edward Haber, Irene Trudel, Duke Markos, Bill Moss and myself. It was mixed by Edward Haber. Special thanks to The Village Vanguard, Lorraine Gordon, Jed Eisenman, and the entire staff at the Vanguard for their support of this recording.

 

This MTC bonus track was produced by myself, with help from Nadia Sirota, Meade Bernard and Alex Overington. Our executive producer is Alex Ambrose. For complete episodes and more bonus tracks of exclusive audio, subscribe to the Meet the Composer podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.