ArtistInfo

Air

Band, 1971-1986 US
Jazz

Air was a Chicago-based free jazz trio founded in 1971 by saxophone player, Henry Threadgill, double bassist, Fred Hopkins, and drummer, Steve McCall. 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 in Chicago, Illinois, to arrange a number of Scott Joplin 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 improvisation.

Members

	Henry Threadgill fl, as *1944 US
	Fred Hopkins b 1947-1999 US
	Steve McCall perc, dr 1933-1989 US
	Pheeroan Aklaff dr, perc *1955 US