Air_(jazz_group)
Air (free jazz trio)
American free jazz trio
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Air Song | Why Not | 1975 |
| Air Raid | Why Not | 1976 |
| Open Air Suit | Arista Novus | 1978 |
| Montreux Suisse | Arista Novus | 1978 |
| Air Time | Nessa | 1978 |
| Air Lore | Arista Novus | 1979 |
| Live Air | Black Saint | 1980 |
| Air Mail | Black Saint | 1981 |
| 80° Below '82 | Antilles | 1982 |
| Live at Montreal International Jazz Festival | Black Saint | 1984 |
| Air Show No. 1 | Black Saint | 1986 |
- 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.
- 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.
- Gold, Gerald (February 7, 1988). "Records Notes: A Recording Studio As Artists See It". The New York Times.
- 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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