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 graduated 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 friend’s 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 eleven Robert Johnson songs, all set in a different music genre.[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 by undertaking a tour of Europe.[5] In addition 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] been a regular listen on radio 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, which was 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 also proved to be the base of her third album, which she self-released in 2009.[3] In 2010, Threadgill performed at the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival.

In recent times, Threadgill has explored other musical based interests that have see her spend time with the pianist Marc Cary, as well as getting involved in theater projects.[5]

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