"Baker's Dozen: Apéritif", out May 23 on Cantaloupe Music

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Baker's Dozen: Apéritif is the opening phase of a long-gestating collaborative project initiated by musician, composer, author and improvisational icon Henry Threadgill. Spanning style, genre and time, this "first course" collects 13 tracks from 13 different artists — a concise but comprehensive glimpse into the daunting range of live performances and previously unreleased studio material that's represented on the forthcoming 13-album Baker's Dozen box set, planned for release later this year.

In tapping into a thriving network of musical talent, intention, innovation and creative freedom, Threadgill worked his magic as the inspirational leader he's always been. “I knew that if I had unreleased tapes, the older musicians were also sitting on tapes of original music,” he tells jazz journalist Ted Panken in the liner notes for the project. “And I didn’t want to do anything without the young musicians, because they’re the future. I had a pretty good idea of who was doing original music, particularly the ones who’d played with me — they’re all excellent composers.”

As it turned out, Threadgill's enthusiasm was infectious, and with good reason. Over the course of a storied career that stretches back to the 1960s and the early days of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), his handle on the principles of group improvisation, whether on his chosen instrument or just out-and-about in the everyday world, remains matchless. Baker's Dozen is a testament to that ethos — a robust, visionary and self-sustaining community of musical ideas where anything is possible.