John Tchicai

丹麦爵士乐萨克斯演奏家、作曲家、乐队领队。生于1936年4月28日。16岁开始学习中音萨克斯及单簧管，后就读于哥本哈根音乐学院。1962年赫尔辛基世界表年联节上崭露头角。同年又在华沙爵士音乐节演出。不久赴纽约。很快成为该市最著名的爵士音乐家及60年代最重要的中音萨克斯手。曾参与组织纽约现代音乐五人团及纽约艺术四重奏组并随该团赴欧洲旅行演出，灌制了很多唱片。1966年返回丹麦。继续与欧洲许多著我爵士乐队合作演出。1970年以来其创作吸收了一些朝鲜、印度和非洲等地的音乐以及欧美最新的艺术音乐。 by Steve Huey Saxophonist John Tchicai is 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 Denmarks 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 Coltranes 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 Dorges 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 Californias 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.