Steve McCall

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Steve McCall was an American jazz drummer. He was born in Chicago in 1933 and as a child had the chance to drum along in the annual Bud Billiken Parade. As a teenager he studied music theory and Latin American and classical percussion. After his time in the air force he returned to Chicago in 1954, bought his first drum kit and took lessons with Charles Specs Wright in Philadelphia. In 1961 he became friends with the pianist Muhal Richard Abrams and played in his Experimental Band. In 1965 he was one of the founders of the AACM, the Chicago organisation for innovative jazz, where he was at first treasurer.

Music and breakthrough

In 1967 he moved to Amsterdam, as the first AACM member in Europe, and played with Don Byas and Dexter Gordon. In Paris he worked with Anthony Braxton, Leo Smith and Leroy Jenkins, and he was a link between the first European free jazz musicians and the AACM, including Willem Breuker, the Instant Composers Pool and John Surman. In 1970 he formed the Creative Construction Company with Braxton, Smith, Jenkins, Abrams and Richard Davis.

Influence

In 1975 he formed the trio Air in New York with Henry Threadgill and Fred Hopkins, which recorded eleven albums. He also played with Cecil Taylor, David Murray and Roscoe Mitchell. McCall never recorded a session of his own as leader. On Vintage Duets, recorded in 1980 and released in 1994, he shares top billing with the saxophonist Fred Anderson. He died in 1989. According to The Penguin Guide to Jazz he combined forward drive with outbursts of complete rhythmic anarchy, and Threadgill said that his treatment of space gave him freedom.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1974Us
• 1996Vintage Duets: Chicago 1-11-80

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• After Hours: Session 3^NL Reader