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Kneebody
Sixteen years in and the genre-bending electric jazz collective Kneebody is stronger than ever. On the heels of their recent groundbreaking collaboration with electronic musician Daedelus, the band returned to the studio refreshed and armed with a slate of road-tested tunes for their ninth studio album. Kneebody makes their Motéma Music debut on March 3 with the release of Anti-Hero, the pulsating result of that creative rebirth, featuring an assured set of churning backbeats and unrestrained exploration.
When Kneebody first convened in the year 2001, they were five twenty-somethings gigging around Los Angeles’ vast pockets of nightlife. Trumpeter Shane Endsley and saxophonist Ben Wendel formed the frontline, telepathic and complimentary, while keyboardist Adam Benjamin, bassist Kaveh Rastegar and drummer Nate Wood formed the rhythm section.
These five artists, all bandleaders in their own right, have become first-call musicians not only for their jazz contemporaries, but also for mainstream icons such as John Legend, De La Soul, Snoop Dogg and Pearl Jam to name a few. Yet throughout the years, Kneebody has always remained their artistic home.
It is the goal of the band to not be confined to any genre. Though they exist in an instrumental jazz world, their influences and abilities cover an enormous swath of genres from chamber pop to hard-driving electronic-based productions.
“I’ve often joked that our band is almost infamous at this point for being extremely hard to describe,” says Wendel. “I’ve always been proud of that. The music we’re doing is always new but the band itself is not new. Kneebody has always been our creative home. It’s always been the ground for us.”
The band opens with the ethereal “For The Fallen” composed by Endsley. The spiraling meditation is ominous. Endsley and Wendel weave in and out over Benjamin’s humming keyboards, never getting too comfortable, while Wood supplies a pounding backbeat for the self-titled track. Inspired by the expanding outlets for protest and specifically the 2014 battle for net neutrality, Endsley wrote the tune with a sense of empowerment. “There’s this revolution in this age that can come from our living rooms. You can launch an uprising from a coffee shop,” he marvels.
Wendel’s “Drum Battle”, which originally appeared on the band’s 2015 Daedelus collaboration Kneedelus, is a high-energy workout understandably powered by Wood’s hard-rocking kit. Benjamin takes a soaring solo on the tune that bends in and out of centuries, conjuring an electric squall squarely in the here and now.
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Kneebody: Everywhere From There To There

by Mike Jacobs
From the group's self-titled 2005 debut, Everywhere From There to There" is a gem that features a rare acoustic piano appearance. All of the Kneebody hallmarks--as well as a healthy dose of bodaciousness--are in force. Enjoy. ...
Continue ReadingKneebody, Joe Lovano, Marcin Wasilewski, XY Quartet & More

by Ludovico Granvassu
In case the first new album of Kneebody in six years was not enough to make you immediately click play, a playlist replete with imaginative music should do the trick.Enjoy the show!Playlist Ben Allison Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Kneebody Repeat After Me" Reach (GroundUp) 0:16 Host talks 4:09 Jazz Is Dead, Hyldon Jenipapo Robot" 23--Hyldon (Jazz Is Dead) 5:58 Host talks 8:52 XY Quartet Algotar Bengotar" LeXYcon (nusica.org) 10:14 Frank ...
Continue ReadingKneebody: Dr. Beauchef, Penguin Dentist

by Mike Jacobs
If you hadn't already become acquainted with Kneebody in 2005, this track--even without the quirky idiosyncratic title--plainly announced to the music world what unique conceptual paradigm-busters the young collective promised to be. ...
Continue ReadingKneebody: Kneebodi

by Mike Jacobs
They may have initially gone by saxophonist Ben Wendel's surname but even without the dead giveaway of a title, there's really no mistaking this album's lead track as the opening salvo from a protean, yet already brilliant, Kneebody. An unmistakable harbinger of so much creative innovation to come from this band. ...
Continue ReadingKneebody: The Trip

by Mike Jacobs
If there are jazz earworms, this one's so intoxicating it might indeed be suspected of originating in a bottle of Mezcal--were it not so infectiously upbeat, that is. From their album Chapters (Edition, 2019), The Trip" features the classic five-man Kneebody complement of Ben Wendel, Shane Endsley, Kaveh Rastegar, Adam Benjamin and Nate Wood plus the added mojo of Gerald Clayton on piano. A great, wild ride... ...
Continue ReadingNew music from Fusio Group, Kneebody, ARC Trio and Alexander Flood

by Len Davis
New music from Hungary's Fusio Group, Kneebody's Live at Le Crescent, Eric Escanes, ARC Trio & John Daversa Big Band, and Australian drummer Alexander FloodPlaylist Fusio Group Winter Flowers" from XXX (Self Produced) 00:00 Kneebody Spectra" from Live at Le Crescent (Edition) 11:31 Eric Escanes Santi" from Santi (La Reserve) 23:04 ARC Trio & John Daversa Big Band Falling" from ARCEOLOGY-The music of MSM Schmidt (Blue Canoe) 34:38 Alexander Flood Kantra" from The Space Between (Mack Avenue) 46:15 ...
Continue ReadingKneebody: Chapters

by Emmanuel Di Tommaso
Chapters è il nono disco in studio degli americani Kneebody, il quartetto fondato nel 2001 fra le aule della Eastman School of Music di Rochester dagli allora studenti Adam Benjamin, Ben Wendel, Shane Endsley e Kaveh Rastegar, a cui si aggiunse successivamente Nate Wood. A tre anni dal solido Anti-Hero, un disco rassicurante nella misura in cui i Kneebody facevano esattamente ciò che sanno fare senza particolari stravolgimenti, questo album pubblicato dalla Edition Records riserva numerose sorprese. Ormai riconosciuti da ...
Continue ReadingJazz this week: Kneebody, a tribute to Scott Joplin, "Sculptures in Sound," and more

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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis offers a century-spanning variety of sounds, ranging from a tribute to legendary composer who helped lay the foundation for jazz to a group offering their own contemporary version of a musical melting pot. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, March 29 The eclectic electro-acoustic fusion quintet Kneebody performs for the first of four nights continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. The group is touring in support ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Kneebody offers fusion "For The Fallen"

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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Today, StLJN's video spotlight shines on the group Kneebody, who will be returning to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, March 29 through Saturday, April 1 at Jazz at the Bistro. Formed in 2001 in Los Angeles by four former students at the Eastman School of Music- keyboardist Adam Benjamin, trumpeter Shane Endsley, bassist Kaveh Rastegar, and saxophonist Ben Wendel- plus drummer Nate Wood, Kneebody has a hard-to-pigeonhole sound that might be called contemporary fusion, an evolution from 1970s/80s-style fusion in ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Six from Kneebody

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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, our video showcase features some clips from Kneebody, who will be making their St. Louis debut this coming Wednesday, March 18 through Saturday, March 21 at Jazz at the Bistro. Formed in 2001, Kneebody includes four former students at the Eastman School of Musictrumpeter Shane Endsley, saxophonist Ben Wendel, bassist Kaveh Rastegar and keyboard player Adam Benjamin - plus drummer Nate Wood, who met Benjamin when the keyboardist transferred to CalArts. After graduating from Eastman, the other members ...
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Aguilar Amplification Announces Master Class With Kaveh Rastegar Of Kneebody

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Marco Passarelli
Aguilar Amplification, maker of high-quality bass amplifiers, speaker cabinets and accessories for bassists is pleased to announce an Artist Series Master Class with Kaveh Rastegar of jazz/improve group Kneebody. Kaveh’s special guest for this clinic will be Kneebody drummer Nate Wood. Since 2001, Kneebody has created a large audience for their brand of modern Jazz which tests the boundaries of the idiom by incorporating the energy of rock, the sophisticated ensemble playing of a chamber orchestra and the sonic landscapes ...
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Kneebody + Busdriver: Why Horns Matter

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Inverted Garden by Eric Benson
One of my favorite thought-experiments of late comes from some Darcy James Argue-quilled Secret Society program notes: What if every time you turned on the radio, everyone from T-Pain to Rihanna to Katy Perry was backed by a big band? What if Animal Collective and Vampire Weekend and MGMT all had 13-piece horn sections? What if the Rock Band video game came with a whole bunch of trumpet and saxophone and trombone controllers?" Yeah, what if? I love horns, their ...
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Kneebody Present a Democratic Collective's Mix of Jazz and Rock

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All About Jazz @ Spinner
Jazz is traditionally a music of names and hierarchy. This goes back to great bandleaders like Ellington and Basie, but also applies to many smaller groups today where you get the Vijay Iyer Trio, David S. Ware Quartet, Wayne Shorter Quartet, or even simpler tags like Sonny Rollins or Herbie Hancock. Nonetheless, there have been notable exceptions to this premise of leadership with groups such as the Modern Jazz Quartet, Weather Report, the Bad Plus and Kneebody. Kneebody is a ...
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The Jazz Session #194: Shane Endsley of Kneebody

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AAJ Staff
For more than a decade, Kneebody has been making music thats hard to classify and harder to resist. Their new album is You Can Have Your Moment (Winter & Winter, 2010). In this interview, trumpeter Shane Endsley talks about the bands different approach to recording the new album; the complex series of musical cues the band uses to arrange music live onstage; and how the combination of Theo Bleckmann and Charles Ives led to a recording relationship with the Winter ...
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Trumpeter/Composer Shane Endsley and the Music Band Live at the Jazz Gallery August 13th and 14th

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Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
Sets at 9:00 & 10:30 PM, TKTS are $20 ($10 for members) This performance is in preparation for Endsley and The Music Band to enter into the studio to document this music for a first quarter 2011 release on a new record label formed by the critically acclaimed band co-led by Endsley--Kneebody The Music Band is: Shane EndsleyTrumpet and provider of paper containing circles and lines, i.e. compositions Craig Taborn piano Matt Brewer bass Ted Poor drums
Shane ...
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Tinges of Electro-Pop and Some Ives, Too

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Michael Ricci
Among the ways to pin down Kneebody, a resolutely unpin-downable band, a few come rooted in plain fact. The group uses a common jazz instrumentation trumpet, saxophone, rhythm section to make a somewhat less common amalgam of urban-signifying genres, from electro-pop to punk-rock to hip-hop. Four of its five members met in the late 1990s at the Eastman School of Music. Its most recent album, Twelve Songs by Charles Ives (Winter & Winter), featuring the vocalist Theo Bleckmann, was nominated ...
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Kneebody + the Suite Unraveling + Uri Gurvich 4tet at Public Assembly in October

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All About Jazz
HEPCAT Music presents the 7th installment of the what is jazz" series Real. Live. Music. at Public Assembly (formerly Galapagos Art Space) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Wednesday, October 15th. The show will feature a triple bill with Kneebody, The Suite Unraveling, and the Uri Gurvich Quartet. INFO TICKETS hepcat presents Real. Live. Music. #7 three bands, one cover. KNEEBODY Shane Endsley - ...
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Ben Bryden
saxophoneZack Teran
bassEran Har Even
guitarDevin Reilly
composer / conductorNovas Trio
band / ensemble / orchestraYuto Mitomi
saxophone, tenorSimon Petermann
tromboneWack Cheddar
band / ensemble / orchestraBonzo Squad
band / ensemble / orchestraMonique Chao
band / ensemble / orchestraPhotos
Concerts

Kneebody
Solar MythPhiladelphia, PA
Tickets
Music
Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson
Chapters
Edition Records
2019
Anti-Hero
Motéma Music
2017
Kneedelus
Brainfeeder
2015
The Line
Concord Music Group
2013
You Can Have Your...
Winter & Winter Records
2010
Low Electrical Worker
Colortone Media
2007