Fifteen, the first album from the collective trio of saxophonist and flutist Henry Threadgill, pianist Vijay Iyer, and drummer Dafnis Prieto, is out August 21, 2026 on Nonesuch Records. It is the label debut for all three musicians. The record takes its name from the number of years the trio has been performing together—first at a series of benefits for the New York City club the Jazz Gallery, a club they have since played at periodically, and then around the US and internationally. It comprises three compositions by Threadgill and Iyer and two by Prieto. The album track “I Wanted a Map,” written by Iyer, is available now, along with this video made during the recording session:
Threadgill, Iyer, and Prieto are three of the most celebrated composer-performers of our time. Their collective project, informally dubbed “The Trio,” began in 2012 when Rio Sakairi from the Jazz Gallery called upon these three acclaimed musicians to participate in a fundraiser. Despite their preexisting musical ties, they all felt a unique spark in the mysterious flow of this musical encounter. They have steadily developed the project over the ensuing years, each musician serving as a composer and creative soloist, bringing each of their distinct backgrounds and strong personalities into the group dynamic.
Their shared composer orientation gives the ensemble a special, continually evolving quality. These artists are not only electrifying performers, but also visionary creators and thinkers. As Threadgill states, “each time we come together to perform, it seems brand new… We’ve got three composers here. Every time the music changes, it holds up a different world, because it’s coming from a different place—because of each one of us, [and] our different approaches to composition.”
NEA Jazz master Henry Threadgill is hailed by the New York Times as “perhaps the most important jazz composer of his generation.” He has been celebrated for over forty years as one of the most original, forward-thinking composers and multi-instrumentalists in American music. His four-movement work, In for a Penny, In for a Pound, received the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2016, one of only three jazz compositions to ever be so honored.
A Chicago native, Threadgill studied at the city’s American Conservatory of Music, majoring in composition, piano, and flute. A Vietnam veteran, he performed with the U.S. Army Concert Band. Threadgill is an early member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), dedicated to the performance of its members’ original music. Threadgill has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Aaron Copland Award, and the Doris Duke Impact Award. DownBeat magazine’s International Jazz Critics Poll has five times distinguished him with its Best Composer Award. The Jazz Journalists Association honored him with its 2002 Composer of the Year Award and its Lifetime Achievement Award. Threadgill has released more than thirty critically acclaimed albums.
Threadgill’s orchestral pieces, 1987’s Run Silent, Run Deep, Run Loud, Run and 1993’s Mix for Orchestra premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. His many commissions include Mordine & Co. Dance Theater, Carnegie Hall, the New York Shakespeare Festival, Talujon Percussion Ensemble, Junge Philharmonic Salzburg Orchestra, the Biennale di Venezia, and the American Composers Orchestra. He has been composer-in-residence at University of California-Berkeley and the Atlantic Center of the Arts. Through the years, Threadgill has led, performed, and recorded with numerous groups, most recently Zooid and the Double Up Ensemble. In 2015, a two-day festival at New York’s Harlem Stage celebrated works spanning Threadgill’s career performed and reinterpreted by an all-star collection of musicians.
In 2024, The Big Ears Festival presented a total of five Henry Threadgill concert programs including Zooid, The Henry Threadgill - Vijay Iyer - Dafnis Prieto Trio, and three repertory bands: Air, Make A Move, and Very Very Circus. Threadgill will also be releasing Cut You Where You Was with his long-running band Zooid on August 28 on Pi Recordings.
