John Tchicai

Saxophonist John Tchicai (1936-2012) was born in Copenhagen to a Congolese father and Danish mother. He grew up in Aarhus and studied saxophone at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory. A 1962 performance at the World Youth Festival in Helsinki brought him to the attention of Archie Shepp. Tchichai moved to New York the following year, and together they formed the New York Contemporary Five with Bill Dixon and then Don Cherry. The group recorded a live album at Jazzhus Montmartre in 1963. He joined another important, but short-lived group the following year – the New York Art Quartet with Roswell Rudd and Milford Graves. He also worked with Albert Ayler and appeared on John Coltrane’s ‘Ascension’ in 1965.

By 1966, Tchicai was back in Denmark, and inspired by the Ascension sessions, he formed his own 17-piece ensemble, the Cadentia Nova Danica. Throughout the 1970s, Tchichai focussed on teaching, though he released one of his best albums in 1977, ‘Real Tchicai’ on Steeplechase with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Pierre Dørge. In 1984, he was touring and recording with Cecil Taylor’s Orchestra Of Two Continents, a band featuring Enrico Rava, Tomasz Stanko, Gunter Hampel and Willam Parker, among others. He was a member of Dørge’s New Jungle Orchestra in the early 1980s.

Tchicai was active in the States and in Europe until shortly before his death in 2012. One of his last great recordings was an album of Monk tunes, back with Nils Winther’s Copenhagen-based Steeplechase label.

Key Recordings:
New York Contemporary Five (Delmark 1963) with Archie Shepp
Real Tchichai (Steeplechase 1977)