"A knuckleball is like trying to hit a butterfly in a typhoon. It shakes side to side; it may go straight left on one pitch. It might go straight down to a right-hander on another pitch. It may stay on the very same plane on one pitch. The thing that makes a knuckleball effective is that you cannot predict which way the ball is going to move, which makes it an extremely hard pitch to hit."

RA Dickey

Interviewed by Terry Gross

Stephen Haynes is an improviser, arts organizer and recording artist.  His practice ranges from small groups to large orchestras with a focus on working directly with composers in the development of new music. His work is featured on Pillars, Tyshawn Sorey’s groundbreaking work for octet released on Firehouse 12 Records. He is also a founding member of Adam Rudolph’s East Coast version of Go: Organic Orchestra.

Haynes records for New Atlantis Records, most recently releasing Pomegranate, a quintet with Joe Morris, Ben Stapp, William Parker and Warren Smith. Over the past 40 years, he has worked with a range of vanguard composers including Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor, George Russell, Butch Morris, Rhys Chatham, LaMonte Young and Earle Brown.

Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.