Born in Copenhagen in 1936, Tchicai moved to New York in 1963 for a three year stint that saw him join Archie Shepp's New York Contemporary Five start up the New York Art Quartet and perform on seminal free jazz recordings by John Coltrane (Ascension) and Albert Ayler (New York Eye and Ear Control). Back in Denmark he continued to perform and record including work with Cadentia Nova Danica, Instant Composers Pool, MEV, John Lennon (!), Irene Schweizer, Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith.
Tchicai passed away in 2012 at the age of 76.
"Tchicai has an acute sense of space and a tight control of harmonics, switching from rich overtone to flat cadence within a single note." Mike Hobart, The Financial Times
