Pyeng Threadgill

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Pyeng Threadgill

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1977|11|14}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| instrument = Vocals

| genre = Blues, soul blues, jazz

| occupation = Singer, songwriter, record producer

| years_active = 2000s–present

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Pyeng Dubra Threadgill (born November 14, 1977){{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues – A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger Publishers| location= Santa Barbara| pages=263 | isbn= 978-0313344237}} 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.

Early life and education

Threadgill was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/716800-Pyeng-Threadgill |title=Pyeng Threadgill Discography |website=Discogs.com |date= |access-date=2017-03-09}}

Career

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.{{cite web|author=Thom Jurek |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/sweet-home-pyeng-threadgill-sings-robert-johnson-mw0000330351 |title=Sweet Home: Pyeng Threadgill Sings Robert Johnson – Pyeng Threadgill | Songs, Reviews, Credits |website=AllMusic |date= |access-date=2017-03-09}} Threadgill stated at the time that "I wanted each song to be different; otherwise what would be the point?"{{cite web|url=https://jazztimes.com/departments/hearsay/pyeng-threadgill/|author=John Murph|title=Pyeng Threadgill|website=Jazztimes.com|access-date=2017-03-09}} A year later, her second album Of The Air, included a cover of the Cure's "Close to Me".{{cite web|url=https://www.last.fm/music/Pyeng+Threadgill/+wiki |title=Pyeng Threadgill's Biography — Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and photos |website=Last.fm |date= |access-date=2017-03-09}} She followed the release with a tour of Europe. She performed regularly at various New York venues before relocating to Berkeley, California.

Threadgill has headlined the Fillmore Jazz Festival's Ellis Street stage,{{cite web|author=Neva Chonin |url=http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/REVIEW-Singer-Pyeng-Threadgill-bridges-classic-2493430.php |title=REVIEW / Singer Pyeng Threadgill bridges classic, contemporary jazz with an easy subtlety |website=SFGate |date=2006-07-04 |access-date=2017-03-09}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.mmmusicagency.com/pyeng-threadgill.html|title=Pyeng Threadgill at the Maurice Montoya Music Agency|website=Mmmusicagency.com|access-date=2017-03-09}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://pillsburyhouseandtheatre.org/nov-22-pyeng-threadgill/ |title=November 22 / Pyeng Threadgill – Pillsbury House Theatre |website=Pillsburyhouseandtheatre.org |date= |access-date=2017-03-09}}

Discography

=Albums=

Year \|\| Title \|\| Record label
class="wikitable sortable"
2004	Sweet Home: Pyeng Threadgill Sings Robert Johnson	style="text-align:center;"\|Random Chance Records
2005	Of The Air	style="text-align:center;"\|Random Chance Records
2009	Portholes to a Love & Other Short Stories	style="text-align:center;"\|Stray Dog Music

{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/sweet-home-pyeng-threadgill-sings-robert-johnson-mw0000330351/releases |title=Sweet Home: Pyeng Threadgill Sings Robert Johnson – Pyeng Threadgill | Releases |website=AllMusic |date= |access-date=2017-03-09}}{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Pyeng-Threadgill-Of-The-Air/release/6156966 |title=Pyeng Threadgill – Of The Air (CD, Album) |website=Discogs.com |date= |access-date=2017-03-09}}