John Martin Tchicai (28 April 1936 – 8 October 2012) was a Danish free jazz saxophonist and composer.

Biography

Tchicai was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to a Danish mother and a Congolese father. The family moved to Aarhus, where he studied violin when young, and in his mid-teens began playing clarinet and alto saxophone, focusing on the latter. By the late 1950s, he was travelling around northern Europe, playing with many musicians. In 1962, he met trumpeter Bill Dixon and saxophonist Archie Shepp at a festival in Helsinki. At their suggestion, he moved to New York City the following year, and went on to participate in the October Revolution in Jazz and join the New York Contemporary Five and the New York Art Quartet. He also played on a number of influential free jazz recordings, including Shepp's Four for Trane, Albert Ayler's New York Eye and Ear Control, John Coltrane's Ascension, and the Jazz Composer's Orchestra's Communication. Following his work in New York, Tchicai returned to Denmark in 1966, and shortly thereafter focused most of his time on music education. He formed the small orchestra Cadentia Nova Danica with Danish and other European musicians; this group collaborated with Musica Elettronica Viva and performed in multi-media events. Tchicai was a founding member of Amsterdam's Instant Composers Pool in 1968, and in 1969 took part in the recording of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions. On 30 August 1975 Tchicai's appearance at the Willisau Jazz Festival was recorded and released later that year as Willi the Pig. On this record, he plays with Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer. Tchicai returned to a regular gigging and recording schedule in the late 1970s. In the early 1980s, he switched to the tenor saxophone as his primary instrument. In 1990, he was awarded a lifetime grant from the Danish Ministry of Culture. Tchicai and his wife relocated to Davis, California, in 1991, where he led several ensembles. He was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1997. He was a member of Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith's "Yo Miles" band, a loose aggregation of musicians exploring Miles Davis's electric period. Since 2001 he had been living near Perpignan in southern France. On 11 June 2012 he suffered a brain hemorrhage in an airport in Barcelona, Spain. He was recovering and had canceled all appearances when he died in a Perpignan hospital on 8 October 2012, aged 76. 2021 saw the publication of a biography titled "A Chaos with Some Kind of Order", written by Margriet Naber, Tchicai's former wife and collaborator for 20 years, and published by Ear Heart Mind Media. Writer Richard Williams called the book an "intimate and valuable account of (Tchicai's) life and work".

Discography

As leader / co-leader

As sideman

With Albert Ayler With the Berlin Jazz Workshop Orchestra With the Binder Quintet With Willem Breuker and Johan van der Keuken With Brotherhood of Breath With the Brus Trio With Burnin' Red Ivanhoe With Curtis Clark With John Coltrane With Peter Danstrup With Dell – Westergaard – Lillinger With Pierre Dørge With Johnny Dyani With John Ehlis With The Engines With Garrison Fewell's Variable Density Sound Orchestra With Charles Gayle With George Gruntz With Paul Hemmings With The Instant Composers Pool With The Jazz Composer's Orchestra With Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith With Adam Lane With John Lennon and Yoko Ono With Jorgen Leth With New York Art Quartet With New York Contemporary Five With Giancarlo Nicolai With the Open Orchestra With Francisco Mondragon Rio With Rent Romus With Archie Shepp With Katrine Suwalski and Another World With Cecil Taylor With Triot With Wiebelfetzer With Yggdrasil With De Zes Winden (The Six Winds)

Gallery