| Pyeng Threadgill | |
| Birth Date: | 14 November 1977 |
| Birth Place: | New York City, United States |
| Instrument: | Vocals |
| Genre: | Blues, soul blues, jazz |
| Occupation: | Singer, songwriter, record producer |
| Years Active: | 2000s–present |
Pyeng Dubra Threadgill (born November 14, 1977)[1] is an American blues, jazz and soul blues singer, songwriter and record producer. Her father is the bandleader and composer, Henry Threadgill, and her mother is Christina Jones, a dancer and choreographer. Threadgill has released three albums, beginning in 2004 with Sweet Home: Pyeng Threadgill Sings Robert Johnson.
Threadgill was born in the Lower East Side of New York City, United States, to parents Henry Threadgill and Christina Jones, a founding member of the dance group Urban Bush Women. She attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music studying classical music and graduating with a BA in Music. Keen on a career as a singer, she was cast in her teenage years in avant-garde dance and theater. Threadgill stated, "I remember one of my close friends and I used to make a game of seeing who could write a song fastest." She was awarded the Mellon Fellowship to study music in Brazil.[2]
In 2004, Threadgill obtained her first recording contract and released her debut album, Sweet Home: Pyeng Threadgill Sings Robert Johnson, via the independent record label, Random Chance Records. The album contained covers of 11 Robert Johnson songs, all set in different musical genres.[3] Threadgill stated at the time that "I wanted each song to be different; otherwise what would be the point?"[4] A year later, her second album Of The Air, included a cover of the Cure's "Close to Me".[5] She followed the release with a tour of Europe. She performed regularly at various New York venues before relocating to Berkeley, California.[5]
Threadgill has headlined the Fillmore Jazz Festival's Ellis Street stage,[6] and appeared at the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Detroit Institute of The Arts, and the Sun Side Jazz Club in Paris, France. In 2006, Threadgill was a featured player in a documentary film starring Youssou N'Dour, entitled Retour à Gorée and directed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud.
After several years of performing and raising her daughter, Threadgill wrote and developed a work based on short stories by authors including Jamaica Kincaid and Bruno Schulz. The song cycle, entitled Portholes to a Love & Other Short Stories, led to her being granted a 2008 Fellowship in music composition through the New York Foundation for the Arts. It became the basis of her third album, self-released in 2009.[7] In 2010, Threadgill performed at the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival.
Since then, Threadgill has explored other musical-based interests including work with the pianist Marc Cary, as well as theater projects.[8]
| Year | Title | Record label | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Sweet Home: Pyeng Threadgill Sings Robert Johnson | Random Chance Records | |
| 2005 | Of The Air | Random Chance Records | |
| 2009 | Portholes to a Love & Other Short Stories | Stray Dog Music |