feature photo: Amy Touchette
On Anthony Braxton’s “Composition No. 52,” guitarist Mary Halvorson leads with wild, intervallic leaps, drummer Tomas Fujiwara plays a sort of rhythmic chess where often the intent behind his moves become clear only after a moment or two has passed. Bassist Michael Formanek keeps the proceedings tethered to Braxton’s peculiar logic between the opening and closing statements of the head, where he and Halvorson follow a certain code together. On “Composition No. 157,” Formanek and Halvorson follow along parallel paths of the same basic construct, Fujiwara latching onto wherever the more dominant theme is at the moment. And the equally short but trippier “Composition No. 14” is just as stuffed with ideas, starting with Halvorson making what sounds like successive intros, dropping loops that fade out as new ones are formed.
These are the first three Braxton compositions recorded for Thumbscrew’s fifth release The Anthony Braxton Project, and all were first takes. For this tribute to one of the all-time greatest jazz composers and a towering figure in progressive and avant-garde music, Halvorson/Formanek/Fujiwara collective Thumbscrew is uniquely qualified to take on a project that would probably confound all but a small slice of jazz musicians, much less any musician.
You see, it could be argued that Thumbscrew would not exist if Braxton didn’t exist. Formanek, Halvorson, Fujiwara have all performed under the NEA Jazz Master’s leadership. Halvorson even studied under Braxton, while Formanek became a student of his music since discovering it way back in the mid-70s. Fujiwara was part of an intriguing Braxton trio with another drummer, Tom Rainey. All three have become highly advanced, highly creative musicians largely by choosing Braxton as their beacon.
With Braxton attaining his 75th birthday this past June 4, people in the jazz and creative music world have celebrated the life of a man devoted to taking jazz to a higher art form over the late 20th/early 21st century much as Duke Ellington did in the middle of the last century. Thumbscrew’s own contribution to the celebration was to pull certain examples of his work that were not previously recorded (or little recorded), woodshed these songs at a four-week residency at a Pittsburgh club and then go into the studio and make the record without tinkering with the chemistry mix they already developed on stage.
Braxton’s body of compositions is so extensive and mind-bogglingly complex, they are meticulously curated in Tri-Centric Foundation’s archives in New Haven, Connecticut. The members of Thumbscrew visited the Archives to comb through these works and selected just a handful that they felt would work the best within their group dynamic. As noted a few sentences back, the choices leaned toward the earlier end of his catalog.
You might not gain much understanding of Braxton’s intensively academic and meticulous approach to composition from listening to these tracks, but you’re bound to feel the trio’s sense of discovery and revel in the composer enabling so much freedom despite so much structure. Oh, and you yourself will discover Fujiwara’s vibraphone making its first appearance for Thumbscrew.
You almost don’t even notice it when it first pops up in the middle of “Composition No. 68,” a composition that starts with gentle beauty and ends in a joyful cacophony, with Fujiwara playing percussion right alongside the vibes. Fujiwara’s vibes take on a more prominent role for “Composition No. 35,” competing with Halvorson’s guitar and skittering in much the same way Halvorson is doing. Fujiwara pivots to the drums only when Formanek steps forward and delivers a smashing bass solo, returning to the former instrument to deliver unison lines with Halvorson.
Thumbscrew chose a particularly difficult composition with “No. 274”, a one with complex, ever-changing rhythm tightly wed to an equally perplexing harmony but the trust in each of the players enables them to pull it off. A military-styled snare paces “Composition No. 61” until Halvorson’s flights of fancy take it into a whole different, unhinged direction. The barren contours of “Composition No. 150” rise up to a degree of intricate interplay before it suddenly evaporates.
“Composition No. 14 (Drums)” is another geometric shape of the same song performed earlier in the track sequence exclusively by Halvorson, the percussive piece of it performed very studiously on drums by Fujiwara. Formanek’s own take on “Composition No. 14” is carefree, casual but also full of rich, woody tones; timbres that tell the story more loudly than the notes themselves do.
“Composition No. 79” is a very Braxton-esque portrayal of 1930’s territory jazz complete with Formanek walking his bass, but also Halvorson playing an odd sort of slide guitar at the beginning, briefly spraying a blizzard of notes toward the end and combining with Fujiwara’s vibraphone to make the song really swing in-between.
There might not be a better vehicle for the genius of Anthony Braxton than Anthony Braxton himself, but in tackling a few choice selections of his material, Thumbscrew revealed further facets of his ingenuity just in how they use those compositions to take his vision to new places. Being able to unlock these doors in itself take some ingenuity, but three of Braxton’s students have learned those lessons well.
The Anthony Braxton Project will be available on July 24, 2020 by Cuneiform Records.
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