First among many ensembles in different genres that have chosen the name
, this trio specializing in collective improvisation grew directly from the membership of
. Throughout 11 albums that appeared over a span of one dozen years this group operated in modes comparable to that of
's early trio realizations. Its inception occurred in 1971, when saxophonist
agreed to fulfill a request from the theater department at Chicago's Columbia College to devise modern arrangements based upon ragtime compositions of
in 1976).
Although they parted ways the following year, the cooperative unit reassembled in New York in 1975 and chose the elemental name
Air. This and their collective penchant for spontaneous creativity resulted in a string of exciting albums with titles like
Air Song,
Air Raid,
Live Air (combining material recorded at Studio Rivbea in New York City's Soho and at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor),
Air Time, and
Open Air Suite, which has the distinction of being one of the few record albums ever decorated with a painting of a baboon's big blue ass on the cover. Released in 1979,
Air Lore returned to the unit's initial itinerary of
Scott Joplin, now interspersed with melodies by
Jelly Roll Morton.
Following
Air Mail (which includes the sound of
Threadgill's own invention, the hubkaphone, an instrument made out of hubcaps) and
80 Degrees Below '82,
McCall left the group in 1982 to work with
Cecil Taylor and
Roscoe Mitchell. His replacement was
Pheeroan akLaff, a dynamic individual from Detroit who would ultimately be replaced by
Andrew Cyrille within months of the group's dissolution. Rechristened
New Air, the trio was recorded live at the 1983 Montreal Jazz Festival but made only one other album,
Air Show No. 1, in collaboration with vocalist
Cassandra Wilson. By the time this recording was made available in 1987,
Air had ceased to exist as
Threadgill emerged as a leader of his own larger ensembles, issuing records like
X-75, Vol. 1,
When Was That?, and
Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket and in the 21st centuryrecording and performing with his bands, Carry The Day and Zooid.
Steve McCall was felled by a stroke in May of 1989 and
Fred Hopkins passed away ten years later.
–
arwulf arwulf, Rovi