Jazz Articles about The Muffins

The Muffins: Baker's Dozen

by Mark Sullivan
January 4, 2023

The Muffins were a Washington, D.C. area progressive rock band who were active from 1974-81 and then again (with their best-known line-up still intact) from 1993-2015. It is rare for any group to reform after more than a decade apart, and still rarer for them to resume their creative life rather than indulge in nostalgia. But this was not just any band: progressive rock pioneer Fred Frith declared them “the finest progressive band that America produced," and they served as ...

The Muffins: Double Negative

by John Kelman
October 18, 2004

When the Muffins, with their own take on music influenced by the British Canterbury Scene and Rock In Opposition bands like Henry Cow, reformed after nearly twenty years and released Bandwidth (Cuneiform, '02), expectations were high. But in the truly progressive tradition, they proved you can't go home again, nor should you want to.

Sure, the broad textures were there, thanks mainly to the multi-instrumental wizardry of Thomas Frasier Scott and Dave Newhouse, who both play a wide ...

The Muffins: Bandwidth

by Glenn Astarita
June 1, 2002

Not only does this superb release represent the band’s first studio production in over two decades, “The Muffins” have gotten back into the biz in a huge and noticeably prominent way! Emanating from the Washington D.C. area, “The Muffins’” adroitly absorbed the finer attributes of the oft-fabled British Canterbury scene along with elements of modern/free form jazz during its tenure back in the 70s. In fact, the great improvising guitarist/composer Fred Frith once stated “The Muffins” were “the finest progressive ...