''Air Lore'' is an album by the improvisational trio

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

featuring

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 ...

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 ...

, and Fred Hopkins performing compositions 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 ...

and

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 ...

. 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 Mosaic Records is an American jazz record company and label established in 1982 by Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie. It produces limited-edition box sets. The sets recordings are leased from the major record companies, usually for a three- or f ...

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review by Thom Jurek stated: "Through it all, this remains the album most Air fans love most, precisely because of all the joy and irreverence in the proceedings, which didn't update the old music, but brought it into focus for the revolutionary improvisational template that it is".Jurek, T.

AllMusic Review AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the data ...

accessed February 11, 2010. Bob Blumenthal in ''

The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' said, "if one Air album belongs in every collection it is ''Air Lore'', a 1979 performance of Scott Joplin rags and Jelly Roll Morton tunes that is currently unsurpassed as a statement of historical homage from the perspective of the frontiers".

Gary Giddins Gary Giddins (born 1948) is an American jazz critic and author. He wrote for ''The Village Voice'' from 1973; his "Weather Bird" column ended in 2003. In 1986, Gary Giddins and John Lewis created the American Jazz Orchestra which presented conc ...

considers ''Air Lore'' "Air's most remarkable achievement" and "a torrid and funny inquiry into ragtime and blues," calling it "Threadgill's key statement on the repertory mania and tradition-mongering that gripped jazz in the '70s and '80s and a forceful refutation of the academicism that too often sucks the life's blood out of classic jazz."

Track listing

# "

The Ragtime Dance "The Ragtime Dance" is a piece of ragtime music by Scott Joplin, first published in 1902. Publication history Although the piece was performed in Sedalia, Missouri on November 24, 1899, it wasn't published until 1902. John Stillwell Stark h ...

" (Scott Joplin) – 9:20 # "Buddy Bolden's Blues (Jelly Roll Morton) – 9:30 # "

King Porter Stomp "King Porter Stomp" is a jazz standard by pianist Jelly Roll Morton, first recorded in 1923. The composition is considered to be important in the development of jazz.Magee, Jeffrey. "'King Porter Stomp' and the Jazz Tradition", p.46, ''Current Musi ...

" (Jelly Roll Morton) – 3:52 # "Paille Street" (Henry Threadgill) – 2:20 # " Weeping Willow Rag" (Scott Joplin) – 11:31

Personnel

– alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute * Fred Hopkins – double bass *

– drums, percussion

References

{{Authority control 1979 albums Air (free jazz trio) albums Albums produced by Michael Cuscuna Novus Records albums