Thumbscrew - Wingbeats (2024) [Hi-Res]

“...one of the most spellbinding trios in contemporary improvised music.” – Echoes

“Thumbscrew are one of the essential contemporary jazz groups, and each of those last four words requires an equal stress.” – The Wire

“Call it avant garde, new music or just wildly idiosyncratic, it’s a collective dance based on trust and fueled by an extraordinary group-think these kindred spirits have forged over time.” – DownBeat

Virginia Wolff was writing specifically about women when she observed that a room of one’s own is a crucial ingredient in the creative process, but it’s a truth universally acknowledged that artists of all stripes require their own space to thrive. The singular relationship between Thumbscrew and City of Asylum Pittsburgh vividly illustrates the creative synergy unleashed when collaborators share physical proximity for an extended period of time. Wingbeats is Thumbscrew’s eighth album and the latest to emerge from one of the trio’s three-week City of Asylum Pittsburgh residencies. It’s no exaggeration to say that the group’s productivity and sound is inextricably entwined with the grassroots program, with a purview that expanded from helping exiled writers resettle in the city to fostering a wide array of creative endeavors.

These City of Asylum residencies provides an oasis of concentrated time for three of jazz’s busiest and most acclaimed improvisors, “and it’s such a luxury to develop this music in that environment,” says Halvorson. “We really have a flow with that, a system with how we work. We all arrive with our music fully or partially composed. From day one there are daily rehearsals, working through the material with the goal of recording. That’s been the process for all of the albums after the first one.”

From its inception, Thumbscrew possessed a singularly mobile, slippery sound. The repeated City of Asylum sequestrations have allowed the trio to deepen that elastic sense of time while honing new works with an attention to detail that would otherwise be unattainable. Knowing they’ll have concentrated time together “means there are zero limitations on what I write for the group,” Fujiwara says. “It takes out any voice in my head asking ‘Are we really going to get this? Is this asking too much?’” With each composer represented by three tunes, the album is a gorgeous, consistently enthralling dispatch from jazz’s creative frontier.

“This is the second album where we’ve composed for the vibes,” Formanek says. “It’s been fun to see Tomas take that on, and he put in an incredible amount of work to make it a viable option. Even having an unusual take on a guitar trio, it’s still a guitar trio. With the vibes, I think about the Red Norvo Trio with Tal Farlow and Mingus. This is totally different, but we’re still working with those colors.”

Tomas Fujiwara – Drums and vibraphone
Michael Formanek – Double Bass
Mary Halvorson – Guitar