A big achievement from the singer and pianist Patricia Barber, Clique makes these standards more relevant than ever and mean something significant in an array of possibilities through these renditions. Read more about the release here and here and above all listen. The art of the jazz singer is a discipline where imagination reigns. Barber on peak form never once lets go of the reins as the songs' essential intimacies reveal themselves.
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Avant icon Henry Threadgill has a new album out in September called Poof. The composer who is listed as playing alto saxophone, flute and bass flute on the album is joined by guitarist Liberty Ellman, the tuba player and trombonist Jose Davila (who was on Steve Lehman's classic from 2014 Mise en Abîme), cellist Christopher Hoffman (excellent on James Brandon Lewis' very significant release Jesup Wagon this year) and drummer Elliot Humberto Kavee. 'Now and Then' has a driving momentum with an absorbing solo from Ellman accompanied by deftly vaulting tuba lines and an energy-laden drum line from Kavee. 'Poof' is where Hoffman leads initially as Ellman improvises independently in a certain oblique trajectory to his lines leading to a wonderful bluesy statement on alto by Threadgill (a joy and a significant moment at 1 minute and 1 second: listen a few seconds earlier for the context and then the harmonic response afterwards) and who in 2016 followed in the footsteps of only Wynton Marsalis and Ornette Coleman to become Pulitzer prize winners for music during their lifetimes. Threadgill emerged via the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in the 1960s. Henry Threadgill photo: via Pi on Bandcamp