Other One

The Other One, the latest from Henry Threadgill, is the musical component of a large multimedia work performed and recorded live at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, New York in 2022. The recording is comprised of a three-movement composition entitled "Of Valence," which was inspired by the percussionist and theorist Milford Graves, in particular, his integration of the human heartbeat into his musical works, and is performed by a 12-piece ensemble. All the hallmarks of Threadgill's music are here: unpredictable forms, unusual instrumental combinations that create surprising timbres, percolating rhythms, interwoven melodic strains, and masterful interlacing of composition with improvisation. The New York Times described the performance as possessing "a galvanic sense of swing," and "in lock-step with his every surprise rhythmic feint - producing an obliquely danceable, straightforwardly joyous Threadgillian energy." There is nothing else like it.