Flute Force 4

Flutistry is the only album by Flute Force 4, a quartet made of four flautists and nothing else: James Newton, Henry Threadgill, Pedro Eustache and Melecio Magdaluyo. There is no bass, no drums and no piano, so every line, every pulse and every chord comes from the flute family, from piccolo down to bass flute. Discogs dates the session to June 26, 1990, and Black Saint released it seven years later, in 1997. Newton still lists it among his recordings on his own website, with the same instrument credits, and CAM Jazz later placed it in the seven-disc box of Threadgill's complete Black Saint recordings.

The credits on the disc spell out who plays what. Newton takes flute, alto flute and bass flute, Eustache adds piccolo to the same three, Magdaluyo plays flute and alto flute, and Threadgill plays flute and bass flute. Giancarlo Barigozzi engineered the recording, Paolo Falascone mixed it and Giovanni Bonandrini produced, with liner notes by Howard Mandel. The six pieces run from five and a half to ten minutes. T.B.A. opens the record, Luap Nosebor (Paul Robeson spelled backwards) and the closing Figwig are the two longest, and in between come Intersection, Hymn To Wright Reverend and Paseo Del Mar. The cover uses paintings by Max Martino, with illustrations by Maria Bonandrini.

This is the Black Saint CD 120164-2, the album's original 1997 release.