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Air was a free jazz
Free jazz

Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s.Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and '50s....
 trio founded in 1971 by saxophone
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
 player Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill

Henry Threadgill is an United States composer, saxophonist and flautist....
, double bass
Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
ist Fred Hopkins
Fred Hopkins

Fred Hopkins was a Chicago double bassist who played a major role in the development of the avant-garde jazz. He was a member of the avant garde jazz trio Air and David Murray 's Low Class Conspiracy; he frequently worked with the cello Diedre Murray....
 and drum
Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion instrument group, technically classified as a membranophone.. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound....
mer Steve McCall
Steve McCall (drummer)

Steve McCall was an American jazz drummer.McCall was born in Chicago and began his career there in the 1950s. One of his early gigs was playing behind blues singer Lucky Carmichael....
. They combined radical free improvisation with a strong sense of tune and equal emphasis on each instrument in the group.

They began when Threadgill was asked by Columbia College
Columbia College Chicago

Columbia College Chicago is the largest arts and communications college in the United States. Founded in 1890, the school is located in the Chicago Loop#South Loop of Chicago, Illinois....
 in Chicago, Illinois to arrange a number of Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin was an United States musician and composer of ragtime music. He remains the best-known ragtime figure and is regarded as one of the three most important composers of Classic Rag, along with James Scott and Joseph Lamb....
 songs. Joplin was so strongly associated with piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
 that the musicians enjoyed the challenge of performing his trademark songs without piano.






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Air was a free jazz
Free jazz

Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s.Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and '50s....
 trio founded in 1971 by saxophone
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
 player Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill

Henry Threadgill is an United States composer, saxophonist and flautist....
, double bass
Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
ist Fred Hopkins
Fred Hopkins

Fred Hopkins was a Chicago double bassist who played a major role in the development of the avant-garde jazz. He was a member of the avant garde jazz trio Air and David Murray 's Low Class Conspiracy; he frequently worked with the cello Diedre Murray....
 and drum
Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion instrument group, technically classified as a membranophone.. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound....
mer Steve McCall
Steve McCall (drummer)

Steve McCall was an American jazz drummer.McCall was born in Chicago and began his career there in the 1950s. One of his early gigs was playing behind blues singer Lucky Carmichael....
. They combined radical free improvisation with a strong sense of tune and equal emphasis on each instrument in the group.

They began when Threadgill was asked by Columbia College
Columbia College Chicago

Columbia College Chicago is the largest arts and communications college in the United States. Founded in 1890, the school is located in the Chicago Loop#South Loop of Chicago, Illinois....
 in Chicago, Illinois to arrange a number of Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin was an United States musician and composer of ragtime music. He remains the best-known ragtime figure and is regarded as one of the three most important composers of Classic Rag, along with James Scott and Joseph Lamb....
 songs. Joplin was so strongly associated with piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
 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 improvisation.

The group recorded some twelve albums, among them Air Lore from 1979 on the Arista/Novus label of Arista Records
Arista Records

Arista Records is an United States record label. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operates under the RCA Records....
, which is a recording of improvisations over more Scott Joplin songs as well as selections by Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton

Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton was an United States ragtime pianist, bandleader and composer.Widely recognized as a pivotal figure in early jazz, Morton claimed, in self-promotional hyperbole, to have invented jazz outright in 1902....
 and a Henry Threadgill original. It remains a classic. Other albums of note are Air Time from 1977, and 80 Degrees Below 82 from 1982. The Penguin Guide to Jazz
The Penguin Guide to Jazz

The Penguin Guide to Jazz is a non-fiction book that is an encyclopedic referencing of jazz recordings on compact disc which are currently available in Europe or the United States....
 included Air Song and Air Time in its suggested "Core Collection."

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

Andrew Charles Cyrille is an avant-garde jazz drummer.Cyrille was born in Brooklyn, New York into a family with a mother from Haiti. He began studying science at St....
 performed as part of the trio. They released two CD's with drummer Pheeroan Aklaff
Pheeroan akLaff

Pheeroan akLaff is an American jazz drummer....
 as "New Air" (on Black Saint).

Discography


Title Release date Label
Air Song 1975 India Navigation
India Navigation

India Navigation was an American independent record label that was active from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Founded by corporate lawyer Bob Cummins, the label specialized in jazz music, particularly avant-garde jazz....
Live Air 1976 Black Saint
[Air Raid 1976 Why Not
Air Time 1977 Nessa
Open Air Suite 1978 Arista/Novus
Suisse Air (Live at Montreux 1978) 1978 Arista/Novus
Air Lore 1979 Arista/Novus
Air Mail 1980 Black Saint
80 ° Below '82 1982 Antilles


By "New Air":

Title Release date Label
Live At Montreal 1983 Black Saint
Air Show No. 1
(featuring Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She has won two Grammy Awards....
) 		1986 Black Saint