Pyeng Threadgill

Threadgill was born in the Lower East Side of New York, New York, United States, to parents Henry Threadgill and Christina Jones, a founding member of the dance group Urban Bush Women.[2] She attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music studying classical music and graduating with a BA in Music.[3][4] 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."[5] She was awarded the Mellon Fellowship to study music in Brazil.[4]

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.[5] The album contained covers of 11 Robert Johnson songs, all set in different musical genres.[2] Threadgill stated at the time that “I wanted each song to be different; otherwise what would be the point?”[6] A year later, her second album Of The Air, included a cover of the Cure's "Close to Me".[7] She followed the release with a tour of Europe.[5] She performed regularly at various New York venues before relocating to Berkeley, California.[7]

Threadgill has headlined the Fillmore Jazz Festival's Ellis Street stage,[8] 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.[3]

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.[5] It became the basis of her third album, self-released in 2009.[3] 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.[5]

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