Henry Threadgill’s Fifteen is praised as a brilliant, accessiblely improvisatory album from the Pulitzer-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist, joined by pianist Vijay Iyer and Cuban percussionist Dafnis Prieto. The review argues that the trio’s shared strengths as composers and free improvisers make the record both structurally engaging and emotionally varied, moving between playfulness, urgency and reflection.

Released when Threadgill is 82, the album marks 15 years since the group first played together at a Jazz Gallery fundraiser in New York. Unlike Threadgill’s densely orchestrated 2016 Pulitzer-winning suite In for a Penny, In for a Pound, Fifteen focuses on the interaction of flute or saxophone, piano and drums, with highlights including the driving “Last Night”, the contemplative “Where Coconuts Fall” and Prieto’s Latin-inflected closing piece “On the Way”.