Henry Threadgill has had a singular life in music. At 79, the saxophonist, flautist, and celebrated composer is one of three jazz artists to have won a Pulitzer Prize. In Easily Slip Into Another World, Threadgill recalls his childhood and upbringing in Chicago, his family life and education, and his career.
Easily Slip Into Another World is so good a music memoir, in the serious and obstinate manner of those by Miles Davis and Gil Scott-Heron, that it belongs on a high shelf alongside them ... A lot of attention is paid to Threadgill’s own failures, large and small. This is among the reasons that this memoir is the kind of book I’d want to place in the hands of young musicians ... Threadgill writes ardently about the barriers Black composers and classical musicians have faced. He also refuses, most of the time, to ratify the borders between classical music and jazz.
Threadgill recounts his key collaborations with many prominent musicians in Chicago, New York, and around the world, and shares his unique perspective on how music is created, taught, and shared. A remarkably eloquent memoir by a Chicago jazz giant.
The author is both encouraging and stern ... More than that, he urges readers to innovate, improvise, and widen their horizons ... A vivid, vigorous memoir that every budding musician should read.
