Air was a

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

trio founded by saxophone player

Henry Threadgill Henry Threadgill (born February 15, 1944) 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 h ...

, double bassist

Fred Hopkins Fred Hopkins (October 11, 1947 – January 7, 1999) 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 Ste ...

, and drummer

Steve McCall Stephen Harold McCall (born 15 October 1960) is an English retired footballer who now works as a scout for Carlisle United. A defensive midfielder during his playing days, McCall built a reputation as a cultured midfield player, with immacul ...

in 1971.

Career

Threadgill was asked by Columbia College in Chicago to arrange a number of

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin (November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the ...

songs. 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 ''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 includ ...

'' contains improvizations over songs by Scott Joplin as well as selections by

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe ( Lemott, later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American blues and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz ...

. Air broke up and reformed several times, and after McCall's death,

Andrew Cyrille Andrew Charles Cyrille (born November 10, 1939) is an American avant-garde jazz drummer. Throughout his career, he has performed both as a leader and a sideman in the bands of Walt Dickerson and Cecil Taylor, among others. AllMusic biographer ...

performed as part of the trio. They released two albums with drummer Pheeroan Aklaff as New Air on

Black Saint Records Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz. History Black S ...

Discography

References

Free jazz ensembles Jazz ensembles from Illinois Antilles Records artists India Navigation artists Novus Records artists Nessa Records artists Avant-garde jazz ensembles Musical groups established in 1971 {{US-jazz-band-stub