Henry Threadgill's ZOOID & Salzburg String Young Philharmonic Orchestra - 28th Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2007

Here is (part?) of the most important and exciting concert of the 28th Saalfelden Jazz Festival in 2007. In this edition the Festival, really a musical marathon, consisted of five concerts a day in four days at the end of august(23-26) 2007.

The Threadgill project with the Zooids and the Young Salzburg Filarmonic String Orchestra, worldy premiered here, took place in the final day on the main stage of the Festival.

The composition was ” Dedicated to Jazzfestival Saalfelden and Thomas Stöwsand”.

I think this is one of the most important efforts in Threadgill’s last years compositions and has been. I think, a great bet and a risky piece of music. Two were perhaps the most risky musical facts; first the integration of jazz improvisationals methods with the writing in an almost classical contemporary way, on the other, no less important, hand the difficulty of playin’ Threadgill’s music for a Young Austrian String Orch. with probably few rehalsals and the total lack of previous ensemble playin’.

I must say that Mr Threadgill has win his bet and has totally overcome every possible obstacle. He managed to do this in the most simple, probably the only, possible level. He wrote a piece in which the string parts works sometimes as a counterpart, others had the first place and others too are a background and armonical-timbrical completion to his music. But in every moment he had clear that the SFSO isn’t the string section of the Dance Situation Band, and he had to use it another totally different way. The little rehearsal and the difficulty of playin such a music sometimes is little evident in SFSO but the scoring is excitin’ and the ZOOID ensemble and solos parts are among the best ever heard in the last years.

One thought came to my mind listening to this short (sic) recording. Threadgill as Ellington in his live Sacred Concerts and others should have felt the importance of the event so he, being a terrific musician and composer, and the whole ZOOID are here at their best.

Note: the term Zooid refers to an organism cellular able to independently stir inside another and points out the great flexibility of the formation, able to operate within an ample ghost of references, jazz and not.

Henry Threadgill’s ZOOID

& the String Orchestra of the Salzburg Young Philharmonic Orchestra

Recorded at the Main Stage of the 28^th Saalfelden Jazz Festival

on Sunday 26 august 2007 at 2:30pm

Henry Threadgill conduction, alto saxophone, flute

Liberty Ellman guitar

Rubin Kodheli cello

Dana Leong cello, trombone

Jose Davila tuba, trombone

Elliot Kavee drums

String orchestra of the Salzburg Young Philharmonic Orchestra

Elizabeth Fuchs conductor

Track 01 Radio Intro 01.57
Track 02 Fly, Fliegen, Volar (Threadgill) 27.47

The recording comes (trough Dimeadozen) from a

BBC Radio Broadcast “Jazz on 3, 27th June 2008” here the page link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzon3/pip/j04kg/

Some images of the concert here: http://italia.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=2095

I don’t know of other Threadgill’s music on that night

but if someone else has more informations here are welcome.

ENJOY THE MUSIC!

Thanks to "giu" for some informations about the conductor an the link to images

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