Air
OriginChicago, Illinois
GenresJazz, free jazz
Years active1971–1986
LabelsNovus
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]

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 SongIndia Navigation1975
Air RaidIndia Navigation1976
Open Air SuitArista Novus1978
Montreux SuisseArista Novus1978
Air TimeNessa1978
Air LoreArista Novus1979
Live AirBlack Saint1980
Air MailBlack Saint1981
80° Below '82Antilles1982
Live at Montreal International Jazz FestivalBlack Saint1984
Air Show No. 1Black Saint1986

[4]

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.


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