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 Jan 1, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Afrodisiaca
John Tchicai, Cadentia Nova Danica
Jazz - Released by MPS on Jul 29, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nutcracker
Jeppe Skovbakke, Stefan Pasborg, John Tchicai
Free Jazz & Avant-Garde - Released by ILK Music on Jun 14, 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Angel Wing
Jeppe Skovbakke, Stefan Pasborg, John Tchicai
Free Jazz & Avant-Garde - Released by ILK Music on Jul 3, 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Dell Westergaard Lillinger feat. John Tchicai
Jazz - Released by Jazzwerkstatt on Jan 1, 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 Jan 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandpa's Spells
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Storyville Records on Mar 20, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ball at Louisiana (Live)
Jazz - Released by SteepleChase on Jan 1, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lake/Tchicai/Osgood/Westergaard
Jazz - Released by Passin Thru on Apr 18, 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 Aug 26, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blues In Green Yellow Red
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Ninth World Music - VME on Jan 25, 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 - Released by ILK Music on Jul 3, 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cassava Balls
Hartmut Geerken, John Tchicai, Famoudou Don Moye
Jazz - Released by The Golden Years of Jazz on Nov 2, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moonstone Journey
OK NOK … KONGO, Thomas Agergaard, John Tchicai
Jazz - Released by Gateway Music on Jan 22, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Cadentia Nova Danica
Alternative & Indie - Released by 1201 MUSIC on Sep 30, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
New Jungle Orchestra
Pierre Dørge, New Jungle Orchestra
Jazz - Released by SteepleChase on Jan 1, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Barefoot Dance
Free Jazz & Avant-Garde - Released by Futura Marge - Atypeek Music on Nov 27, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ensō : John Tchicai Lunar Quartet Live in Ferrara
Jazz - Released by Tonos Records on Mar 28, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo