John Tchicai
Saxophonist John Tchicai was best known for his time in New York during the height of the '60s free jazz explosion, but he actually spent the majority of his career advancing the cause of avant-garde jazz in Northern Europe. Tchicai was born April 28, 1936, in Copenhagen to a Danish mother and Congolese father; he began playing violin at age ten, switched to both clarinet and alto sax at 16, and focused on the latter at Denmark's Conservatory of Music. In the late '50s, Tchicai began making the rounds of the North European jazz scene, which was quick to pick up on the early innovations of the American avant-garde. In 1963, he moved to New York City to immerse himself in the epicenter of free jazz. He hooked up with Archie Shepp and Don Cherry, eventually co-founding the New York Contemporary Five with them; he was also a founding member of the New York Art Quartet with Roswell Rudd and Milford Graves. Tchicai also recorded with Albert Ayler (on New York Eye and Ear Control), the Jazz Composers Guild, and John Lennon (Life with the Lions), and -- most importantly -- appeared on John Coltrane's legendary free jazz landmark Ascension. After a whirlwind three years, Tchicai returned to Denmark in 1966 and founded a large workshop ensemble called Cadentia Nova Danica, which he led until 1971. Shortly thereafter, he cut back on performing to concentrate on teaching full-time. In 1977, he returned to the studio, leading a fairly steady series of recording dates into the '80s, when he switched to tenor sax and joined Pierre Dorge's New Jungle Orchestra. In 1990, Tchicai received a lifetime grant for jazz performance from the Danish Ministry of Culture; and the following year he relocated to California's Bay Area, where he and his keyboardist wife Margriet founded John Tchicai & the Archetypes and the John Tchicai Unit, which both recorded during the '90s. After the turn of the millennium he returned to Europe and moved to Southern France; in June 2012 Tchicai suffered a brain hemorrhage, and although he reportedly began physiotherapy, he died in Perpignan, France in October of that year. John Tchicai was 76 years old.
© Steve Huey /TiVo
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Witchdoctor's Son
Jazz - Released by SteepleChase on 1 jan. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Afrodisiaca
John Tchicai, Cadentia Nova Danica
Jazz - Released by MPS on 29 jul. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nutcracker
Jeppe Skovbakke, Stefan Pasborg, John Tchicai
Free jazz & Avant-garde jazz - Released by ILK Music on 14 jun. 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Angel Wing
Jeppe Skovbakke, Stefan Pasborg, John Tchicai
Free jazz & Avant-garde jazz - Released by ILK Music on 3 jul. 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Dell Westergaard Lillinger feat. John Tchicai
Jazz - Released by Jazzwerkstatt on 1 jan. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Big Chief Dreaming
Paolino Dalla Porta, Tino Tracanna, Garrison Fewell, John Tchicai, Massimo Manzi
Jazz - Released by Soul Note on 1 jan. 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandpa's Spells
Moderne jazz - Released by Storyville Records on 20 mrt. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ball at Louisiana (Live)
Jazz - Released by SteepleChase on 1 jan. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lake/Tchicai/Osgood/Westergaard
Jazz - Released by Passin Thru on 18 apr. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Musical Monsters
Don Cherry, Irène Schweizer, John Tchicai, Léon Francioli, Pierre Favre
Jazz - Released by Intakt Records on 26 aug. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blues In Green Yellow Red
Moderne jazz - Released by Ninth World Music - VME on 25 jan. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Blue Giant
Jeppe Skovbakke, Stefan Pasborg, John Tchicai
Free jazz & Avant-garde jazz - Released by ILK Music on 3 jul. 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Men from Windy Land
Jazz - Released by Labirinti Sonori on 1 jul. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cassava Balls
Hartmut Geerken, John Tchicai, Famoudou Don Moye
Jazz - Released by The Golden Years of Jazz on 2 nov. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moonstone Journey
OK NOK … KONGO, Thomas Agergaard, John Tchicai
Jazz - Released by Gateway Music on 22 jan. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Cadentia Nova Danica
Alternative en Indie - Released by 1201 MUSIC on 30 sep. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
New Jungle Orchestra
Pierre Dørge, New Jungle Orchestra
Jazz - Released by SteepleChase on 1 jan. 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Barefoot Dance
Free jazz & Avant-garde jazz - Released by Futura Marge - Atypeek Music on 27 nov. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo