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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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Play This!

Kneebody: Kneebodi

Read "Kneebody: Kneebodi" reviewed 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. ...

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Play This!

Kneebody: The Trip

Read "Kneebody: The Trip" reviewed 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... ...

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Radio & Podcasts

New music from Fusio Group, Kneebody, ARC Trio and Alexander Flood

Read "New music from Fusio Group, Kneebody, ARC Trio and Alexander Flood" reviewed 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 ...

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Album Review

Kneebody: Chapters

Read "Chapters" reviewed 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 ...

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Album Review

Kneebody: Chapters

Read "Chapters" reviewed by Mike Jacobs


Chapters--the title of Kneebody's 2019 release--has a certain appropriateness, as it definitely marks several new ones for the band. One being that lyric-oriented songs account for nearly half of the material on the album. Technically, vocals are nothing new to Kneebody. The band included one track with vocals on their 2002 proto-Kneebody album Wendel. Its 2009 collaborative effort with Theo Bleckmann, Twelve Songs of Charles Ives (Winter and Winter, 2008) was nominated for a Grammy and indeed their recent EP ...

Live Review

Kneebody al Blue Note di Milano

Read "Kneebody al Blue Note di Milano" reviewed by Claudio Bonomi


Kneebody Blue Note Milano 22.05.2019 Tante le ragioni per vedere in azione i Kneebody, band americana di jazz elettrico alla ribalta ormai da quasi vent'anni (i primi concerti risalgono al 2001, quando i componenti frequentavano da studenti la prestigiosa Eastman School of Music a Rochester, New York). Primo, perché la loro uscita milanese coincideva con il debutto, almeno in Europa, dell'inedita formazione a quartetto a causa dell'uscita di scena del bassista ...

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In Pictures

Kneebody at Blue Note in Milan

Read "Kneebody at Blue Note in Milan" reviewed by Roberto Cifarelli


Photos from the May 22nd Kneebody concert at Blue Note Milan featuring Shane Endsley, Ben Wendel, Adam Benjamin and Nate Wood. ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: Kneebody, a tribute to Scott Joplin, "Sculptures in Sound," and more

Jazz this week: Kneebody, a tribute to Scott Joplin, "Sculptures in Sound," and more

Source: 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 ...

Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Kneebody offers fusion "For The Fallen"

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Kneebody offers fusion "For The Fallen"

Source: 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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Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Six from Kneebody

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Six from Kneebody

Source: 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 Music—trumpeter 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 ...

Education

Aguilar Amplification Announces Master Class With Kaveh Rastegar Of Kneebody

Aguilar Amplification Announces Master Class With Kaveh Rastegar Of Kneebody

Source: 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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Opinion

Kneebody + Busdriver: Why Horns Matter

Kneebody + Busdriver: Why Horns Matter

Source: 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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Interview

Kneebody Present a Democratic Collective's Mix of Jazz and Rock

Kneebody Present a Democratic Collective's Mix of Jazz and Rock

Source: 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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Radio

The Jazz Session #194: Shane Endsley of Kneebody

The Jazz Session #194: Shane Endsley of Kneebody

Source: 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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Recording

Trumpeter/Composer Shane Endsley and the Music Band Live at the Jazz Gallery August 13th and 14th

Trumpeter/Composer Shane Endsley and the Music Band Live at the Jazz Gallery August 13th and 14th

Source: 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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Performance / Tour

Tinges of Electro-Pop and Some Ives, Too

Tinges of Electro-Pop and Some Ives, Too

Source: 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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Performance / Tour

Shogun Warrior Featuring Kneebody Members

Shogun Warrior Featuring Kneebody Members

Source: All About Jazz

Shogun Warrior, a monthly staple at NoHo's famed Baked Potato for the last seven years, will be joining forces with Ben Wendel and Nate Wood of Kneebody, on Sunday, October 5th. Jeff Babko, keyboardist for Shogun, and Jimmy Johnson (Allan Holdsworth, Flim & the BBs), often Shogun's bassist, with John Daversa on trumpet, welcome Ben Wendel (saxophone) and Nate Wood (drums) for what promises to be a very special one-time event. “When our founder Mike Elizondo called to tell me ...

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Chapters

Edition Records
2019

buy

Anti-Hero

Motéma Music
2017

buy

Kneedelus

Brainfeeder
2015

buy

The Line

Concord Music Group
2013

buy

You Can Have Your...

Winter & Winter Records
2010

buy

Low Electrical Worker

Colortone Media
2007

buy

Videos

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