Henry Threadgill on John Gilmore

Henry Threadgill writes about John Gilmore:

He was playing some very advanced harmonic and rhythmic information on the saxophone. His rhythmic approach was amazing. John used to tell me about practicing out of drum books, working on rhythmic patterns. ... It gives you a grounding in rhythmic patterns that you wouldn't ordinarily have, playing a melodic instrument. Gilmore's playing was very rhythmic playing. I don't meant that it was necessarily always busy, even if at times it was. It's more that there were very unusual rhythmic patterns in his playing. A lot of people knew about his musical thinking; Coltrane used to come and listen to him play. Gilmore was a highly sophisticated player, and totally original. (Threadgill, Easily Slip into Another World, Knopf 2023, p. 37)