Review Text
"Dirt... and More Dirt" is the latest from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and multi-reedist Henry Threadgill, a living legend whom the New York Times calls a "composer and bandleader of intense, unyielding originality." Featuring a brand new ensemble, 14 or 15 Kestra: Agg, the new release continues Threadgill's groundbreaking work in utilizing "a serial intervallic language" in improvisation, a system he has honed over the last 16-years with his long-running band Zooid. Inspired by the conceptual art installation "The New York Earth Room" by Walter de Maria at The Dia Art Foundation, "Dirt"finds Threadgill expanding his compositional palette to include brass instruments and the harmonic possibilities provided by two pianos. The larger instrumental forces deployed here allows for a much wider range of color, texture, and polyphonic density. Released in conjunction with "Double Up, Plays Double Up Plus" which features his Ensemble Double Up, these two recordings represent the crowning achievements in Threadgill's still-flourishing half-century long career. At the age of 73, he continues to challenge himself to create music that is pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
