Sean Trane
I’m generally not much into 80’s jazzos, because like in rock music, that decades marked a real setback after a superbly adventurous 70’s decade, but Threadgill (he was present throughout most of that blessed decade) does present a bit of a difference to many of his then-contemporaries in that he did not vegetate in the soft-smooth ECM-type jazz, that seemed to flood over that dreaded era. Indeed, Rag Bush presents an energetic jazz, somewhat close to gypsy jazz or klezmer music, which was definitely not the mainstream of the time. This album features instrumental horn-laden jazz, sometimes close to 50’s and early 60’s standard stuff, but sprinkled with the afore-mentioned eastern European ambiances and melodies. The brass hovers between the low bass trombone and flute, sometimes underlined by a sombre cello (courtesy of co-producer Diedre Murry), to a higher-pitched alto sax, but there are no other lead instruments than winds; which leaves too few space for variety.
It’s rather difficult to recommend this kind of album blindly, but if you wish to investigate Threaddgill’s works, I suggest that this could be an introduction, but the Very Circus might have that little crazy edge that could make the difference.