Thumbscrew - "Composition No. 61" (Official Audio) from 'The Anthony Braxton Project'

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THUMBSCREW - "Composition No. 61" from "The Anthony Braxton Project" (Cuneiform Records). Easily purchase this album now, here: https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-anthony-braxton-project-2

“The cooperative trio that merges guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara is named after an instrument of torture. It is a typically sly move from a band that is constantly flirting with the question of whether it is trying to draw listeners in or hold them at a slight distance. On the one hand, Thumbscrew plays with a flowing conversational rhythmic feeling, something that anyone would call "swing", no matter how many "new jazz" credentials the musicians boast.... Depending on your point of view, Thumbscrew either makes remarkably accessible weird music or cheeky-quirky straight-ahead jazz.” – Popmatters

Celebrating Anthony Braxton on his 75th birthday, Thumbscrew digs into the Tricentric Archives, focusing on previously unrecorded pieces by the legendary composer, multi-wind master and bandleader. The all-star collective trio releases its fifth album for Cuneiform, The Anthony Braxton Project. For fans familiar with Braxton’s music the project offers a whole new window into his genius for designing protean musical situations pregnant with possibilities. Those less acquainted with his work might find themselves enthralled and amazed by the sheer diversity of rhythmic and melodic material explored by Thumbscrew.

Invited to explore the Tri-Centric Foundation’s voluminous Braxton archives in New Haven, Conn. as part of the Braxton75 celebration, the trio spent a long afternoon looking for rarely played pieces that could fit their instrumental palette. “The idea was for us to choose compositions of Anthony’s, mostly early compositions, which hadn’t been previously recorded (or, in a couple cases, recorded only once or twice),” says Halvorson. “We chose pieces that captured our imagination and that we thought would work well for the instrumentation of guitar, bass, and drums or vibraphone. Our choices included graphic scores, complex notated pieces, and everything in between.”

All three of the musicians of Thumbscrew have had significant performing and / or study opportunities with Braxton, so they all can approach this music as ‘insiders’.