In April, you should plant some roots on the Pi Recordings Bandcamp page: Preview new albums by Henry Threadgill and Dan Weiss

 

Adjust your budget for April, and add a dedicated line-item titled “Pi Recordings.”  The esteemed label is releasing two albums within the span of one week.  Both are outstanding, and both represent some of best talent on the modern scene.

First up is a new recording by the legendary Henry Threadgill.  It never fails to amaze me the way Threadgill weaves improvisation into the fabric of his compositions, and gives avant-garde music the cinematic allure of a movie soundtrack.  His newest recording Dirt… And More Dirt sinks its hooks with the accumulation of addictive melodic phrases, providing you a source of focus as his 14 or 15 Kestra: Agg ensemble shifts the entire landscape beneath your feet.  Threadgill is a master at doing something different and presenting it as the ghost of something intimately familiar.

Stream two of the album’s tracks for a preview of what’s to come…

Your album personnel:  Henry Threadgill (alto saxophone, flute, bass flute), Chris Hoffman (cello), Liberty Ellman (guitar), Jose Davila (tuba), Ben Gerstein (trombone), Jacob Garchik (trombone), Jonathan Finlayson (Bb trumpet, F trumpet), Stephanie Richards (Bb trumpet), Curtis Robert Macdonald (alto saxophone), Roman Filiú (alto saxophone, alto flute), David Bryant (piano), David Virelles (piano), Thomas Morgan (bass), Elliott Humberto (kavee) and Craig Weinrib (drums, percussion).

Learn more about the album, and pre-order it, on their Bandcamp page.

 

And due out April 6th, 2018 is the new album from Dan WeissStarebaby doesn’t sound like the drummer’s excellent electro-acoustic spiritual jazz recording Sixteen: Drummers Suite, but its odd eclecticism of influences and expressions certainly tags it as a bird of a feather recording.  First and foremost, Weiss brings a different kind of heat on his new one, and the electricity flows with a velocity all its own.  Also, every musician contributing to the album is a future inductee into the jazz hall of fame.  Those are just a few of the many reasons to scoop this one up.

Stream two of the album’s tracks for a preview of what’s to come…

Your album personnel:  Dan Weiss (drums, compositions), Ben Monder (guitars), Trevor Dunn (electric bass), Craig Taborn (keyboards, piano) and Matt Mitchell (keyboards, piano)

Learn more about the album, and pre-order it, on their Bandcamp page.