Flute Music

The flute has had major exponents in experimental jazz, including Eric Dolphy, Sam Rivers, and Henry Threadgill, but these were mainly saxophonists who doubled on flute. James Newton stands apart as a flute specialist and forebear of contemporary figures such as Nicole Mitchell and Jamie Baum. The reissue of *Flute Music*, Newton’s self-released 1977 debut, is essential to understanding his legacy. A detractor might say it’s all over the map, but it shows the breadth of an artist determined to blur boundaries between mainstream and avant-garde jazz and modern composition. “Arkansas Suite” begins with a multi-tracked solo flute intro and continues with a highly unusual duet for flute and harpsichord, the latter played by Clovis Bordeaux. Two full-band pieces by guitarist Les Coulter follow, the angular ballad “Skye” and the Brazilian “Darlene’s Bossa” with authentic percussion. Newton is wholly unaccompanied as he explores the harmonic nuances of Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady.” And “Poor Theron,” Bordeaux’s composition, closes out *Flute Music* in lengthy fashion, with an abstract arc that highlights Newton’s use of multiphonics and other extended techniques. The sound grows as Bordeaux enters on piano, joined by Glenn Ferris on trombone.

On his 1977 solo debut, the American flutist probes the possibilities of his instrument: multi-tracking it, pairing it with harpsichord, and playing alien, unadorned Ellington standards.