Air (free jazz trio)

Last updated

Air
OriginChicago, Illinois
Genres Jazz, free jazz
Years active1971–1986
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]

Contents

Career

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]

Discography

AlbumLabelYear of release
Air Song India Navigation 1975
Air Raid India Navigation1976
Open Air Suit Arista Novus1978
Montreux Suisse Arista Novus1978
Air Time Nessa 1978
Air Lore Arista Novus1979
Live Air Black Saint 1980
Air Mail Black Saint1981
80° Below '82 Antilles 1982
Live at Montreal International Jazz Festival Black Saint1984
Air Show No. 1 Black Saint1986

[4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Threadgill</span> American composer, saxophonist and flautist

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elvin Jones</span> American jazz drummer (1927–2004)

Elvin Ray Jones was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such albums as My Favorite Things, A Love Supreme, Ascension and Live at Birdland. After 1966, Jones led his own trio, and later larger groups under the name The Elvin Jones Jazz Machine. His brothers Hank and Thad were also celebrated jazz musicians with whom he occasionally recorded. Elvin was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1995. In his The History of Jazz, jazz historian and critic Ted Gioia calls Jones "one of the most influential drummers in the history of jazz". He was also ranked at Number 23 on Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McCoy Tyner</span> American jazz pianist (1938–2020)

Alfred McCoy Tyner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Grammy award winner. Unlike many of the jazz keyboardists of his generation, Tyner very rarely incorporated electric keyboards or synthesizers into his work. Tyner has been widely imitated, and is one of the most recognizable and influential jazz pianists of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmad Jamal</span> American jazz pianist (1930–2023)

Ahmad Jamal was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator. For six decades, he was one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. He was a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Master and won a Lifetime Achievement Grammy for his contributions to music history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richie Powell</span> American jazz pianist (1931–1956)

Richard Powell was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He was not assisted in his musical development by Bud, his older and better known brother, but both played predominantly in the bebop style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Les McCann</span> American jazz pianist and vocalist (1935–2023)

Leslie Coleman McCann was an American jazz pianist and vocalist. He is known for his innovations in soul jazz and his 1969 recording of the protest song "Compared to What". His music has been widely sampled in hip hop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Hyman</span> American jazz pianist and composer

Richard Hyman is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters fellow in 2017.

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."

John Elbert Collins was an American jazz guitarist who was a member of the Nat King Cole trio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pheeroan akLaff</span> American jazz drummer

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).

Monette Moore was an American jazz and classic female blues singer.

Richard MacQueen Wellstood was an American jazz pianist.

Novus Records was an American jazz record label run by Steve Backer. Backer worked at Impulse! Records until 1974, when Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records, asked him to oversee the jazz division at Arista.

<i>Ming</i> (album) 1980 studio album by David Murray Octet

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.

<i>Home</i> (David Murray album) 1982 studio album by David Murray Octet

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.

<i>Murrays Steps</i> 1982 studio album by David Murray Octet

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.

<i>Air Song</i> 1975 studio album by Air

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.

<i>Air Time</i> 1978 studio album by Air

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.

<i>Air Lore</i> 1979 studio album by Air

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.

References

  1. Mandel, Howard (2002). "Air". In Barry Kernfeld (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. pp. 20–21. ISBN   1-56159-284-6.
  2. 1 2 Yanow, Scott (1998). Erlewine, Michael; Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Yanow, Scott (eds.). All Music Guide to Jazz (3 ed.). San Francisco: Miller Freeman. p. 12. ISBN   0-87930-530-4.
  3. Gold, Gerald (February 7, 1988). "Records Notes: A Recording Studio As Artists See It". The New York Times .
  4. 1 2 Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 8. ISBN   0-85112-580-8.