Air | |
---|---|
Origin | Chicago, Illinois |
Genres | Jazz, free jazz |
Years active | 1971–1986 |
Labels | Novus |
Past members |
Air was a free jazz trio founded by saxophone player Henry Threadgill, double bassist Fred Hopkins, and drummer Steve McCall in 1971. [1] [2]
Threadgill was asked by Columbia College in Chicago to arrange a number of Scott Joplin songs. [2] Joplin was so strongly associated with piano that the musicians enjoyed the challenge of performing his trademark songs without piano. They opted to play them as rags and as a basis for jazz improvization.
The album Air Lore contains improvizations over songs by Scott Joplin as well as selections by Jelly Roll Morton. [3]
Air broke up and reformed several times, and after McCall's death, Andrew Cyrille performed as part of the trio. They released two albums with drummer Pheeroan Aklaff as New Air on Black Saint Records. [4]
Album | Label | Year of release | Year Recorded |
---|---|---|---|
Air Song | Why Not | 1975 | 1975 |
Air Raid | Why Not | 1976 | 1976 |
Wildflowers 1: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions | Douglas | 1977 | 1976 |
Open Air Suit | Arista Novus | 1978 | 1978 |
Montreux Suisse | Arista Novus | 1978 | 1978 |
Air Time | Nessa | 1978 | 1977 |
Air Lore | Arista Novus | 1979 | 1979 |
Live Air | Black Saint | 1980 | 1976 & 1977 |
Air Mail | Black Saint | 1981 | 1980 |
80° Below '82 | Antilles | 1982 | 1982 |
(As New Air) Live at Montreal International Jazz Festival | Black Saint | 1984 | 1983 |
(As New Air) Air Show No. 1 | Black Saint | 1986 | 1986 |
Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. He came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles rooted in jazz but with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating other genres of music. He has performed and recorded with several ensembles: Air, Aggregation Orb, Make a Move, the seven-piece Henry Threadgill Sextett, the twenty-piece Society Situation Dance Band, Very Very Circus, X-75, and Zooid.
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Fred Hopkins was an American double bassist who played a major role in the development of the avant-garde jazz movement. He was best known for his association with the trio Air with Henry Threadgill and Steve McCall, and for his numerous performances and extensive recordings with major jazz musicians such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Arthur Blythe, Oliver Lake, and David Murray. He was a member of the AACM, and a frequent participant in the loft jazz scene of the 1970s. He also co-led a number of albums with the composer and cellist Diedre Murray. Gary Giddins wrote that Hopkins' playing "fused audacious power with mercuric reflexes." Howard Reich, writing in the Chicago Tribune, stated that "many connoisseurs considered [Hopkins] the most accomplished jazz bassist of his generation" and praised him for "the extraordinarily fluid technique, sumptuous tone and innovative methods he brought to his instrument."
Pheeroan akLaff is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He began playing in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan and Ann Arbor, with R & B keyboardist Travis Biggs, funk keyboardist Nimrod “The Grinder” Lumpkin, The Ebony Set and The Last Days. He moved to New Haven, Connecticut, and formed a group with saxophonist/flautist/percussionist Dwight Andrews. He debuted with saxophonist Bill Barron in 1975, followed by a tenure in Leo Smith's ‘New Dalta Ahkri’ (1977-1979).
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Ming is an album by David Murray, released in 1980 on the Italian Black Saint label and the first to feature his Octet. It features performances by Murray, Henry Threadgill, Olu Dara, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, George E. Lewis, Anthony Davis, Wilber Morris and Steve McCall.
Home is an album by David Murray, released in 1982 on the Italian Black Saint label and the second to feature his Octet. It features performances by Murray, Henry Threadgill, Olu Dara, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, George E. Lewis, Anthony Davis, Wilbur Morris and Steve McCall.
Murray's Steps is an album by David Murray released on the Italian Black Saint label in 1982. It feature his Octet consisting of Murray, Henry Threadgill, Bobby Bradford, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, Craig Harris, Curtis Clark, Wilber Morris and Steve McCall.
James Emery is an American jazz guitarist. He grew up in Willoughby, Ohio and Shaker Heights, Ohio. Emery plays archtop guitar, semi-acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and soprano guitar.
Air Song is the debut album by the improvisational collective Air featuring Henry Threadgill, Steve McCall, and Fred Hopkins performing four of Threadgill's compositions. The album was originally released on the Japanese Why Not label in 1975 and later released in the U.S. on India Navigation in 1982.
Air Time is an album by the improvisational collective Air, released in 1978. Henry Threadgill, Steve McCall, and Fred Hopkins perform three of Threadgill's compositions and one each by Hopkins and McCall.
Air Lore is an album by the improvisational trio Air featuring Henry Threadgill, Steve McCall, and Fred Hopkins performing compositions by Jelly Roll Morton and Scott Joplin. It was reissued on compact disc by Bluebird/RCA in 1987 and included in the eight-CD box set, Complete Novus and Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill and Air on Mosaic Records.
Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions is a series of five albums recorded May 14–23, 1976 at Studio Rivbea, a loft jazz space in New York City, run by Sam Rivers and his wife Bea. The albums include performances by groups led by musicians such as Hamiet Bluiett, Anthony Braxton, Marion Brown, Dave Burrell, Andrew Cyrille, Oliver Lake, Jimmy Lyons, Ken McIntyre, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Roscoe Mitchell, David Murray, Sunny Murray, Sam Rivers, Leo Smith, Henry Threadgill, and Randy Weston. The recordings were originally released in 1977 on the Douglas and Casablanca labels as five separate LPs, and were reissued in 1999 by Knit Classics as a 3-CD set.