Throughout most of the 1960s, Patrick Williams was one of the many composers/arrangers kicking around the NYC studio music scene. In the late 60’s he arranged/composed several Muzak-molder LP’s that only occasionally hinted at the ebullience and brilliance unleashed on his 1974 Grammy Award winning album THRESHOLD. Perhaps due to his nationally successful composing/arranging credits for both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show, he was able to compose/ arrange and finance Threshold, his pet project, that featured big band jazz/rock/classical compositions and stellar soloists that swung like mad.
The album’s instrumentation augmented the typical big band setting(saxes, trumpets, trombones plus rhythm section) of the day with inclusion of (French) horns and a full string section including the harp. Essentially two main soloists were featured- Tom Scott (woodwinds) and Marvin Stamm (trumpet)…Williams composed and arranged all of the music, didn’t do any pop covers, wasn’t suffering from “road weariness” and he hand-picked exceptional soloists and players specifically for this project. What resulted was some of the fresh, propulsive, exciting, spirited and original music of that or any following eras in big band music history.
Threshold is an experience all its own. For those who do not have it, there is a hole in your bucket.