Henry Threadgill

The Profile

Henry Threadgill (born 1944, Chicago) is an American composer, saxophonist, and flutist, a key figure of the AACM. He has led innovative ensembles including Air, Very Very Circus, Make a Move, and Zooid. He won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music for In for a Penny, In for a Pound.

American avant-garde jazz composer and multi-instrumentalist (saxophone, flute); leading AACM member; active since the 1960s; led groups including Air, Very Very Circus, Make a Move, and Zooid; awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music; reviewed here for the album Too Much Sugar for a Dime, described as genre-defying with percussive and African-influenced elements.

A single, poetic review frames Threadgill’s music as boundary-smashing, rhythm-scrambling, and gleefully anti-categorical. It highlights percussive pivots, African-tinged melody, and restless motion. Overall tone: intrigued but ambivalent (rating 3/5). Public facts: American AACM composer-saxophonist-flautist; 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music.