One of the finest drummers in free jazz,
Steve McCall was a subtle improviser who could keep a pulse going without actually stating the beat. He played early on with Lucky Carmichael, a blues singer.
McCall met
Muhal Richard Abrams in 1961 and became a founding member of the AACM in 1965. Based in Chicago,
McCall played with hard bop groups, but made more of an impact performing with top avant-garde players, including
Anthony Braxton,
Leroy Jenkins,
Joseph Jarman,
Roscoe Mitchell, and
Leo Smith.
McCall was in Paris during 1967-1970, playing and recording with
Braxton,
Marion Brown, and
Gunter Hampel. He returned to Chicago in 1970, was on a session with
Dexter Gordon and
Gene Ammons, and was in the trio Reflection with
Henry Threadgill and
Fred Hopkins. After another year in Europe,
McCall went to New York in 1975, where he reunited with
Threadgill and
Hopkins and they formed the successful avant-garde group
Air.
McCall was with
Air until the early '80s, also recording with
Chico Freeman,
Arthur Blythe, and
David Murray.
McCall played with
Cecil Taylor's Unit in 1985 and performed regularly with
Roscoe Mitchell's Quartet up until his death from a stroke. Although he was on a lot of important sessions (including dates with
Joseph Jarman,
Fred Anderson, and
Murray's octet),
Steve McCall never led an album of his own. In the late '90s, Chicago label Okka Disk released a 1980 duo recording of
McCall and
Anderson entitled Vintage Duets. ~ Scott Yanow