Bill Laswell
Encyclopedia
Bill Laswell is an American bassist
, producer
and record label
owner.
Laswell ranks among the most prolific of modern musicians, being involved in hundreds of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. Laswell's music draws upon many different genres, most notably funk
, various world music
, jazz
, dub
and ambient
styles. He has also played or produced music from the noisier, more aggressive end of the rock spectrum, such as hardcore punk
and metal
.
According to music critic Chris Brazier, "Laswell’s pet concept is 'collision music' which involves bringing together musicians from wildly divergent but complementary spheres and seeing what comes out." The credo of one record label run by Laswell, and which typifies much of his work, is “Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted”. Though projects arranged by Laswell may be credited under the same name and often feature the same roster of musicians, the styles and themes explored on different albums can vary dramatically: Material
began as a noisy dance music
project, but subsequent releases have been centered around hip hop
, jazz
, or backing spoken word
readings by beat generation icon William S. Burroughs
. Similarly, most versions of Praxis
have featured guitarist Buckethead
, but have explored different permutations with each new album.
Though some artists have chafed against Laswell's distinctive recording and production style (most noticeably some of his for-hire production gigs including Motörhead, Swans
and White Zombie
) many other collaborations, such as with pianist Herbie Hancock
and singer Iggy Pop
have been lengthier and recurring. He has also worked extensively with his wife, Ethiopia
n singer Gigi
.
groups in and around Detroit, Michigan
as well as Ann Arbor. He often would see shows in Detroit that put together acts such as Iggy and the Stooges (he would work with Pop throughout his career starting in the mid ‘80s), MC5
and Funkadelic
(many of whose members are part of his stable of musicians).
Seeing these differing styles of music in his frequent trips to Detroit, as well as being rooted in the African-American music that he grew up immersed in have clearly had an influence on Laswell’s music. His exposure to jazz musicians like John Coltrane
, Albert Ayler
and particularly Miles Davis
’ electric experiments of the mid-1960s to mid-'70s, have also clearly had an impact on his thinking. Laswell’s refusal to pigeon-hole himself, his music, or even the people he works with is arguably his greatest asset as a musician and producer.
loft and became part of a group of musicians that would eventually become the first (and only even remotely consistent) incarnation of Material
.
Aside from Laswell’s first known recording on one side of a Michael Blaise and the Cheaters 7” called Scoring Power in 1978, Laswell and Material became the backing band for Daevid Allen
and New York Gong, appearing on some recordings and embarking on a small tour. Material, primarily consisting of Laswell, keyboardist Michael Beinhorn
and drummer Fred Maher
, also cut a number of 12” releases for Red Records and others. They were usually supplemented by guitarists, notably either Cliff Cultreri and occasionally Robert Quine
. Living in the East Village
also put Laswell at the center of a group of musicians both up and coming such as John Zorn
and established, such as Fred Frith
and Brian Eno
. His persistence in asking Eno to work with him paid off in the form of contributions to Eno and David Byrne’s
album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
as well as Eno’s own On Land. Brian Eno also contributed a song to the Material album, One Down.
(of later indie rock renown) and hooked up with Jean Karakos and his fledgling label Celluloid Records
. Under the Material moniker (now also a production unit consisting of Laswell and Beinhorn – Maher being long gone - and by 1984 consisting solely of Laswell) Laswell became the de facto house producer for Celluloid until the sale of the label in the later ‘80s. During this fruitful time in the early to mid 80s, Laswell was able to record some of his Material excursions (which ran the gamut from experimental jazz/funk to pop and R&B, featuring everyone from avant-jazz figures Henry Threadgill
and Sonny Sharrock
to Archie Shepp
and pop star Whitney Houston
) as well as projects such as Massacre, with Fred Frith and Fred Maher.
His association with Celluloid allowed some of his first forays into this so-called ‘collision music' - the term was coined for Laswell by the British writer Chris May, then editor of Black Music & Jazz Review and later a Celluloid staff member - and forays into world music. Recordings with The Golden Palominos
and production on albums by Shango
, Toure Kunda
and Fela Kuti
all appeared on the label. Celluloid also released a slew of 12” devoted to Hip-Hop, becoming a pre-cursor to the popularity the form enjoyed starting in the mid 80s. Fab 5 Freddy, Phase II
and Afrika Bambaataa
all appeared on the label. Criminally forgotten, Laswell also put together the very successful 12” World Destruction which paired PiL’s
John Lydon
with Afrika Bambaataa – years before the Run DMC/Aerosmith collaboration broke down the rock/hip-hop barrier. 1982 also saw Laswell’s solo debut, Baselines.
Also recording a Laswell-helmed solo album for Celluloid was Ginger Baker
whom Laswell coaxed out of semi-retirement, giving the drummer's career a new boost. He likewise brought Sonny Sharrock
out of semi-retirement and produced some of the guitarist's most acclaimed recordings starting with the solo LP Guitar.
's Future Shock album (1983); Laswell produced the album, played bass on all the songs, and co-wrote most of the material. Its track "Rockit
" has frequently been regarded as a pivotal moment in the influence of hip hop
and turntablism
(via Grand Mixer D.ST). The track was the first hit song to feature turntable scratching
. The collaboration has led to three other albums by Herbie Hancock
, as well as numerous Hancock appearances on Laswell productions through the early 2000s.
". The often lucrative pay-to-produce nature of some of these projects helped fund much of Laswell's work.
The remainder of the 80’s saw Laswell produce albums for people like Sly & Robbie (whom Laswell continues to work with) Mick Jagger
, PiL
, Motörhead, The Ramones, Iggy Pop
and Yoko Ono
. Many of these projects afforded Laswell the opportunity to bring in some of his normal working crew to record on more mainstream records. PiL's 1986 release Album (later CD) has no notes on who performed, but over time, various people have confirmed that no PiL personnel other than singer John Lydon
were involved, some of the musicians included drummers Tony Williams and Ginger Baker
, bassists Jonas Hellborg
, Laswell himself, guitarist Steve Vai
and others. Lydon claims that Miles Davis actually recorded parts for the album which were never used.
Laswell has stated in numerous interviews that he met with Davis a number of times and discussed working together, but busy schedules kept them from arranging such a recording before Davis’ death, though Laswell's chief engineer reports an unreleased Davis recording session from 1986.
1986 saw the formation of Last Exit
. Laswell and Sonny Sharrock
co-founded the metal and hardcore punk-flavored free jazz supergroup along with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson
and saxophone player Peter Brötzmann
. Aside from one album that Laswell cobbled together in-studio, the band was primarily a live one. The group showed up at gigs and played wild sets with no rehearsal. The first time the four members played together was on stage at their first show.
The later part of the ‘80s also saw Laswell completely sever ties with the Celluloid label, which has since been sold several times: the catalog’s various releases seem to be in constant reissue on one label or another. Many of the labels are known for poor practice in securing rights to recordings and are often rumored to not be paying royalties to anyone other than whomever is licensing the material to them.
), Chris Blackwell
, founder of Island Records
and longtime Laswell booster, gave Laswell the opportunity to begin a new label with the backing of Island Records
. Thus, Axiom Records was born.
Axiom played the ‘Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted’ credo to its fullest. With a sizable budget and minimal interference from Island executives, Laswell had the means to make arguably some of the most important music of his career. In addition to albums by Material that featured players ranging from Sly & Robbie, William S. Burroughs
, Wayne Shorter
, Bootsy Collins
and Bernie Worrell
, he produced and released albums by drummer and Ornette Coleman
acolyte Ronald Shannon Jackson
, Sonny Sharrock
(featuring Pharoah Sanders
and Elvin Jones
), Laswell main-stay Nicky Skopelitis
, Last Poets'
Umar Bin Hassan
and Ginger Baker
.
Axiom also released a slew of well-produced recordings from musicians around the world. Among the studio based albums, Palestinian oud
and violin
prodigy Simon Shaheen
recorded an album of music by Egyptian composer M.A. Wahab. Gambian virtuoso Foday Musa Suso
recorded an album of futuristic dance music featuring his electric Kora
and Turkish saz master Talip Ozkan recorded an album. The real coup was in the series of pristine field recording
s that Axiom allowed Laswell the ability to produce. A major-league budget and new, more portable recording technology gave rise to recordings by the Master Musicians of Jajouka (done in their village in the Rif Mountains), Mandinka and Fulani music (recorded at Suso’s family compound in the Gambia) and Gnawa music from Morocco
.
The most successful project and one of the few still in print on Axiom – where the first release was produced, was Praxis
. Originally the moniker that an experimental Celluloid 12” by Laswell was released under in 1984, Praxis now became a full-fledged band, featuring enigmatic guitarist Buckethead
. The release, Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis)
featured Buckethead, drummer Brain
(whom Laswell worked with previously with the Limbomaniacs), Bernie Worrell
, Bootsy Collins
and Af Next Man Flip (Afrika Baby Bam
from the Jungle Brothers
). The album was a racous blend of funk grooves and metal riffs, overseen with many tracks co-written by Laswell. The project has spawned other releases, never with the same line-up twice, generally consisting of the core trio of Buckethead, Brain and Laswell supplemented by others.
1994/1995 saw a bit of a slow-down in Axiom’s output, but a number of genre-shattering 2CD compilation sets were released. Axiom Funk’s Funkcronomicon
saw previously released tracks by Praxis and Nicky Skopelitis paired with a host of tracks mainly featuring various members of the Parliament/Funkadelic crew. George Clinton
, Bootsy Collins
, Bernie Worrell
and the last recordings of Eddie Hazel
are featured prominently. The album also features contributions from Last Poets'
Umar Bin Hassan
and Abiodun Oyewole
as well as Torture (now Sensational
) and DXT
(formerly D.ST). Axiom Dub was another compilation featuring tracks in a new-skool dub style from Laswell along with The Orb
, Jah Wobble
, Sly & Robbie, Mad Professor
, Techno Animal, the WordSound crew, WE and others. Laswell also remixed the whole of the Axiom catalog into a 2 disc ambient mix called Axiom Ambient, subtley blending seemingly disparate tracks from the catalog into a seamless in the mix translation. Laswell released some of the music recorded in those sessions as a sample library for other musicians to use as raw material when making recordings, on a CD he titled Sample Material - International Free Zone.
The ‘90s also saw a number of other labels owned by or thoroughly associated with Laswell, come and go. The most prolific of these was Subharmonic, conceived by laswell and ex-Celluloid A&R Robert Soares. Though not owned by Laswell, the label was essentially a release house for his projects, most of which fell into the ambient or ambient-dub categories. The label also licensed a few releases from European labels for American re-release, notably Psychonavigation (with Pete Namlook
) and Cymatic Scan (with Tetsu Inoue
) from Pete Namlook's FAX label, and Somnific Flux (with Mick Harris
– there as MJ Harris) and Cold Summer (by Lull – a Mick Harris
project) from the Sentrax label. Other collaborators included Jonah Sharp and Terre Thaemlitz
. The label also released albums from Painkiller
, Praxis
and Laswell’s new project, Divination, an ambient dub project (first appearing almost as a project title, and then an umbrella moniker for releases of ambient compilations). Additionally, a sub-label called Strata was created containing five releases mostly in what could be deemed a more experimental dub/noise/ambient vein. Each of these releases (Death Cube K, Cypher 7, Azonic and two under his alias Automaton) came housed in a solid black jewel case with the name of the project and album title printed on the front.
Three other very short-lived labels were also created around the time of the demise of the Subharmonic deal. Meta, which was intended to be a spoken word
label, and SubMeta. Submeta managed four releases before folding. Meta (co-created by Janet Rienstra) released only one album, Baptism of Solitude, - of Paul Bowles
reading excerpts from his work over soundscapes by Laswell. Meta would appear periodically again, distributed by other labels, over the next few years until it came back in full as its own entity as a spiritual/yogic label run by Janet Rienstra, though Laswell still heavily figures in Meta’s output. Black Arc was also created as an associated label of Rykodisc
, focusing on ‘Black Rock, Cyber Funk and Future Blues’, according to a released sampler. The label featured a number of P-Funk
alumni on most of the albums, as well as releasing albums by Parliament/Funkadelic members Bootsy Collins
(under his Zillatron moniker), Bernie Worrell (Japan-only), Mutiny
(Jerome Brailey) and Billy Bass.
's Dreams of Freedom on Axiom and Miles Davis
’ Panthalassa. The first contained airy, ambient dub translations of some of Marley’s Island catalog, largely sans Marley’s voice. Chris Blackwell, largely the man responsible for bringing Marley to the masses in the ‘70s requested the album as part of a planned series of remix albums by various producers who were rooted in the reggae/dub tradition. Blackwell’s departure from Island killed any further albums.
For Panthalassa, Laswell took the tapes from Miles’ ‘electric period’ and re-imagined them. The impetus for the project being that the original releases were just mixes made by Teo Macero from long in studio sessions. Nothing originally released was necessarily exactly what was done in the studio, but rather a cut-up and remix to begin with. Needless to say, critic and fan responses varied wildly with Laswell and Macero conducting a public feud in the media.
The late ‘90s saw two other major changes. As noted before, Chris Blackwell (who had sold Island to Polygram some years before, but retained an active role running the label) left Island Records. Although he took the Axiom imprint with him to his new Palm Pictures
label, the back catalog stayed with Island. Many of the albums are now out of print, efforts to obtain master recordings and new distribution has been unsuccessful. The other change came in the form of studio space. Laswell, seeing that Greenpoint had turned into a sort of hangout, living space and catch all for hanger-ons moved his studio to a new space in West Orange, New Jersey, now calling it Orange Music or alternatively, Orange Music Sound Studios.
slowly moving into film and away from music with the changing landscape of the industry, Laswell lost a major supporter of his more high-concept albums as well as the Axiom imprint. Under Palm’s umbrella, though, four highly regarded albums and a DVD set were released. Of those releases there was a DVD set, a studio release and a live 2-disc set from Tabla Beat Science
. Tabla Beat Science
is a project that revolves somewhat around the tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain
, son of the late Alla Rakha. The studio release also featured Karsh Kale
, Trilok Gurtu, Ustad Sultan Khan
and Talvin Singh
. This very popular and well received grouping has become a primarily live project playing everywhere from the US to Beirut to Japan over the years. The core of Laswell, Kale, Kahn and Hussain are usually supplemented by other musicians, which have included at various times Gigi
, DJ Disk
, Serj Tankian
from System of a Down
, Sussan Deyhim
, visual artists Petulia Mattioli and others. 2001 saw the release of the album Life Space Death with Japanese trumpeter Toshinori Kondo
, Laswell on bass, guitar and keyboards and words by His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama, interviewed by Kondo.
At the request of Chris Blackwell, 2001 also had Laswell overseeing Ethiopian singer Gigi’s debut release for Palm Pictures. Supplementing Gigi’s multilingual, Ethiopian rooted vocals with a vast array of well respected musicians such as Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Laswell himself, they created a strong release that was very well-received. Laswell and Gigi also became romantically involved and were later married. She has figured in a number of his releases and concerts over the years, and he has produced further outings by Gigi such as her Abyssinia Infinite grouping and her second solo release for Palm, Gold & Wax.
1999 also saw the first release on Laswell’s new label, called Innerythmic (Eraldo Bernocchi
and Toshinori Kondo
’s Charged project). After a brief inactive period, the label re-started again in earnest in 2001, releasing over the next few years a slew of innovative albums from the likes Nicky Skopelitis
/Raoul Bjorkenheim
, James Blood Ulmer, Shin Terai
and Gonervill among others. Innerhythmic also released a live Praxis recording and re-issued some of the Black Arc releases from the ‘90s including Zillatron, The Last Poets
Holy Terror and Buddy Miles
’ Hell & Back. The label tends to go through extended periods of inactivity but still releases albums here and there, the next planned release being a studio recording featuring Raoul Björkenheim
, Bill Laswell and Morgan Ågren
anticipated in the summer of 2011 according to Björkenheim's website.
Though touching on the realm of drum and bass
in the ‘90s with his Oscillations releases and the compilation Tetragramaton: Submerged - conceived along with Soares - the last few years have seen Laswell step up his work in this area with Soares as a collaborator in concept/A&R for drum & bass artist development. Starting with Brutal Calling, a hard drum 'n' bass release with Ohm Resistance label owner Submerged
(Kurt Gluck), a series of releases and live dates have cropped up. Laswell’s new project in this vein is Method of Defiance (the actual Method of Defiance name and the original idea of a futurist, cyborg d&b driven group consisting of laptops breakbeat artists, electric instrumentalists and trumpeter graham haynes was conceived by Soares). The first release focused on the core of Laswell and Submerged once again, entitled "The only way to go is down", featuring photos of Soares on front and back covers and on the disc itself, with contributions from Toshinori Kondo
and drummer Guy Licata. The second release under the moniker, though, was more of a compilation style project, though still focusing on drum 'n' bass. Inamorata stretched the concept out, pairing Laswell’s bass with a different combination of respected jazz and world musicians and drum 'n' bass producers linked to Soares on each track. Artists including Herbie Hancock
, John Zorn
, Pharoah Sanders
, Nils Petter Molvaer, Toshinori Kondo
and Buckethead
were paired with drum 'n' bass producers including Amit
, Paradox
, Submerged
, Future Prophecies, Karsh Kale
, Evol Intent
, SPL, Outrage, Fanu, and Corrupt Souls
. To that end, laswell´s last collaboration with Soares was a full-on recording with Finnish drum 'n' bass maestro Fanu on Ohm Resistance and Karl Records, entitled Lodge, which includes contributions from Molvaer and Bernie Worrell amongst others. After collaborating with Laswell for 15 years, Soares left the crew in 2008. The concept of the group has once again morphed into a full band concept. In 2009, Rare Noise Records released 'Live in Nihon', which showcased this new direction/grouping. The group now consisted of Laswell, Guy Licata, Dr. Israel, Toshinori Kondo
and Bernie Worrell
.
Along with frequent live dates around the world with Method of Defiance, Material, Painkiller
and the reformed in the late ‘90s Massacre (with This Heat
's Charles Hayward
now in the drum chair) Laswell still makes numerous trips to Japan each year for various recordings and live dates, including his ongoing Tokyo Rotation mini-festivals at the Shinjuku Pit-Inn, which is now a yearly occurrence. In addition to Tokyo Rotation being an actual mini-festival, the moniker has been used as a sort of umbrella to include general operations revolving around activities in Japan, as witnessed by the usage of 'Tokyo Rotation Presents' in relation to the website's announcement of other gigs outside the Pit Inn shows as well being noted on Method of Defiance's release Nihon.
, in partnership with Giacomo Bruzzo of Rare Noise. The label is centered around the activities of the principles of the now-solidified Method of Defiance lineup, and is intended to be one of Laswell's main creative vehicles moving forward, being seen as the successor to his Axiom label.
The label kicked off with the release of three albums toward the end of 2010: two from Method of Defiance - Jahbulon (a reggae/dancehall/vocal affair featuring Hawk and Dr. Israel) and the instrumental album Incunabula, which features Herbie Hancock
on one track and DJ Krush
throughout. The third release was a new live album from Gigi w/Material entitled Mesgana Ethiopia. In 2011, the label released an album by Praxis
(a US/European version of the Profanation album, with bonus tracks), as well as a new collaboration with Lee 'Scratch' Perry featuring Gigi, Dr. Israel, Hawk, Sly Dunbar
, Bernie Worrell
, TV on the Radio
's Tunde Adebimpe
and more, in May in the US. A remix album focusing on Method of Defiance tracks from Jahbulon and Incunabula, with new mixes by Mad Professor
, Laswell, Scientist
and more, is slated for October release.
, Jonas Hellborg
and Bootsy Collins
; guitarists Buckethead
and Nicky Skopelitis
; keyboardists Jeff Bova
and Bernie Worrell
; and percussionists Aïyb Dieng
and Karsh Kale
. Laswell has also frequently worked with musicians from the sprawling P-funk
camp.
In addition, Laswell has relied on the expertise of a small number of engineers over the years. Robert Musso
(a producer, musician and label-owner in his own right) has been Laswell's chief engineer for close to 25 years. Oz Fritz has occasionally filled the role as well over almost the same time period, though (particularly in the last few years after a move to the West Coast) Fritz is usually Laswell's live engineer of choice, known for his stellar live mixing technique. In addition, a small core of assistants have come through over time, the most recent mainstay being James Dellatacoma.
Over the years, Laswell has also been an in demand remixer and purveyor of what is usually noted as ‘mix translation’. Remixes (released and unreleased) have been done for artists including Sting, Nine Inch Nails
, Almamegretta
, Scorn
, Ozzy Osbourne
, Tori Amos
. In addition he is often hired for his skills at the board doing straight mixes of albums. In recent years he has done much work in this area for various projects on John Zorn
's Tzadik
record label.
In 2005, Laswell was invited to appear on the PBS series Soundstage. The show featured a host of the musicians he has played with over the years including incarnations of his Praxis
and Tabla Beat Science
projects. In addition to some of the core performers from these projects, Pharoah Sanders
, Foday Musa Suso
, Bootsy Collins
and Catfish Collins
and many others participated. Though Laswell mixed the show in 5.1, to date no DVD or official recording has been released. The hour-long aired version (part of a much longer show) has popped up on file-sharing sites.
Laswell has also participated on a collaboration with Sony Creative Software on a box set Loop Library called "The Bill Laswell Collection". A link of all Bill's work with Sony Media software is available here.
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
, producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
owner.
Laswell ranks among the most prolific of modern musicians, being involved in hundreds of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. Laswell's music draws upon many different genres, most notably funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, various world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
and ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
styles. He has also played or produced music from the noisier, more aggressive end of the rock spectrum, such as hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
and metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
.
According to music critic Chris Brazier, "Laswell’s pet concept is 'collision music' which involves bringing together musicians from wildly divergent but complementary spheres and seeing what comes out." The credo of one record label run by Laswell, and which typifies much of his work, is “Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted”. Though projects arranged by Laswell may be credited under the same name and often feature the same roster of musicians, the styles and themes explored on different albums can vary dramatically: Material
Material (band)
For the rock band of the same name, see The MaterialMaterial is a musical group formed in 1979 and led by bass guitarist Bill Laswell.-1978-82: The band:...
began as a noisy dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
project, but subsequent releases have been centered around hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, or backing spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
readings by beat generation icon William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
. Similarly, most versions of Praxis
Praxis (band)
Praxis was the name of an ever-changing musical project, led by prolific producer Bill Laswell. Praxis combine elements of different musical genres such as funk, jazz, hip-hop and heavy metal into highly improvised music...
have featured guitarist Buckethead
Buckethead
Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
, but have explored different permutations with each new album.
Though some artists have chafed against Laswell's distinctive recording and production style (most noticeably some of his for-hire production gigs including Motörhead, Swans
Swans (band)
Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...
and White Zombie
White Zombie
White Zombie was a Grammy Award-nominated American heavy metal band. Based in New York City, White Zombie was originally a noise rock band. White Zombie are better-known for their later heavy metal-oriented sound...
) many other collaborations, such as with pianist Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
and singer Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
have been lengthier and recurring. He has also worked extensively with his wife, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
n singer Gigi
Gigi (singer)
Ejigayehu Shibabaw, or Gigi as she is popularly known, is one of the most successful contemporary Ethiopian singers worldwide. Coming from an ancient tradition of song originating in the Ethiopian Church, she has brought the music of Ethiopia to wider appreciation and developed it in combination...
.
Beginnings
Though starting out as a guitar player, he soon switched to bass. Laswell got his earliest professional experience as a bassist with funkFunk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
groups in and around Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
as well as Ann Arbor. He often would see shows in Detroit that put together acts such as Iggy and the Stooges (he would work with Pop throughout his career starting in the mid ‘80s), MC5
MC5
The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
and Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
(many of whose members are part of his stable of musicians).
Seeing these differing styles of music in his frequent trips to Detroit, as well as being rooted in the African-American music that he grew up immersed in have clearly had an influence on Laswell’s music. His exposure to jazz musicians like John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
and particularly Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
’ electric experiments of the mid-1960s to mid-'70s, have also clearly had an impact on his thinking. Laswell’s refusal to pigeon-hole himself, his music, or even the people he works with is arguably his greatest asset as a musician and producer.
Move to New York
In the late 1970s Laswell made the move to New York city, immersing himself in the thriving New York scene. He moved into famed producer Giorgio Gomelsky’sGiorgio Gomelsky
Giorgio Gomelsky is a filmmaker, impresario, music manager, songwriter and record producer. He owned the Crawdaddy Club where The Rolling Stones were house band, and he was involved with their early management. He hired The Yardbirds as a replacement and managed them. He was also their...
loft and became part of a group of musicians that would eventually become the first (and only even remotely consistent) incarnation of Material
Material (band)
For the rock band of the same name, see The MaterialMaterial is a musical group formed in 1979 and led by bass guitarist Bill Laswell.-1978-82: The band:...
.
Aside from Laswell’s first known recording on one side of a Michael Blaise and the Cheaters 7” called Scoring Power in 1978, Laswell and Material became the backing band for Daevid Allen
Daevid Allen
Daevid Allen , sometimes credited as Divided Alien, an Australian poet, guitarist, singer, composer and performance artist is co-founder of psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine and Gong .-Biography:In 1960, inspired by the Beat Generation writers he had discovered...
and New York Gong, appearing on some recordings and embarking on a small tour. Material, primarily consisting of Laswell, keyboardist Michael Beinhorn
Michael Beinhorn
Michael Beinhorn is an American musician and record producer.Beinhorn started his professional career as a musician, playing keyboards in Bill Laswell's Material during the 1980s...
and drummer Fred Maher
Fred Maher
Fred Maher is an American drummer, programmer and record producer.He was a member of Massacre , Material, Scritti Politti, Lou Reed, and is best known as the producer of I'm Talking's album Bear Witness , Lou Reed's album New York , Matthew Sweet's album Girlfriend , and Information Society's self...
, also cut a number of 12” releases for Red Records and others. They were usually supplemented by guitarists, notably either Cliff Cultreri and occasionally Robert Quine
Robert Quine
Robert Wolfe Quine was an American guitarist, known for his innovative guitar solos.A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown in comparison...
. Living in the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
also put Laswell at the center of a group of musicians both up and coming such as John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
and established, such as Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
and Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
. His persistence in asking Eno to work with him paid off in the form of contributions to Eno and David Byrne’s
David Byrne (musician)
David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography,...
album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (album)
The album was recorded entirely with analogue technology, before the advent of digital sequencing and MIDI. The sampled voices were synchronized with the instrumental tracks via trial and error, a practice that was often frustrating, but which also produced several happy accidents.Also according to...
as well as Eno’s own On Land. Brian Eno also contributed a song to the Material album, One Down.
Celluloid Records
Within a few years of moving to New York, Laswell soon founded a recording studio with producer/engineer Martin BisiMartin bisi
Martin Bisi is an American producer and songwriter.He is known for recording important records by Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn, Material, Bill Laswell, Helmet, Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie, Boredoms, Angels of Light and Herbie Hancock's Grammy-winning song Rockit,In 1979, Martin Bisi...
(of later indie rock renown) and hooked up with Jean Karakos and his fledgling label Celluloid Records
Celluloid Records
Celluloid Records, a French/American record label, founded by Jean Georgakarakos operated from 1976 to 1989 in New York, and produced a series of eclectic and ground-breaking releases, particularly in the early to late 1980s, largely under the auspices of de facto in-house producer Bill...
. Under the Material moniker (now also a production unit consisting of Laswell and Beinhorn – Maher being long gone - and by 1984 consisting solely of Laswell) Laswell became the de facto house producer for Celluloid until the sale of the label in the later ‘80s. During this fruitful time in the early to mid 80s, Laswell was able to record some of his Material excursions (which ran the gamut from experimental jazz/funk to pop and R&B, featuring everyone from avant-jazz figures Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres....
and Sonny Sharrock
Sonny Sharrock
Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. He was once married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he sometimes recorded and performed....
to Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
and pop star Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
) as well as projects such as Massacre, with Fred Frith and Fred Maher.
His association with Celluloid allowed some of his first forays into this so-called ‘collision music' - the term was coined for Laswell by the British writer Chris May, then editor of Black Music & Jazz Review and later a Celluloid staff member - and forays into world music. Recordings with The Golden Palominos
The Golden Palominos
The Golden Palominos was an American musical group headed by drummer and composer Anton Fier, first formed in 1981. Aside from Fier, the Palominos membership was wildly elastic, with only bassist Bill Laswell and guitarist Nicky Skopelitis appearing on every album.While the Palominos' records...
and production on albums by Shango
Shango
In the Yorùbá religion, Sàngó is perhaps one of the most popular Orisha; also known as the god of fire, lightning and thunder...
, Toure Kunda
Touré Kunda
Touré Kunda is a Senegalese musical group whose 20-year career encompasses recordings in six languages and collaborations with well-known musicians such as Carlos Santana...
and Fela Kuti
Fela Kuti
Fela Anikulapo Kuti , or simply Fela , was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.-Biography:...
all appeared on the label. Celluloid also released a slew of 12” devoted to Hip-Hop, becoming a pre-cursor to the popularity the form enjoyed starting in the mid 80s. Fab 5 Freddy, Phase II
Blaze (band)
Blaze is a house-music group formed in 1984 in New Jersey, USA.-Career:It was formed by Josh Milan, Kevin Hedge, and Chris Herbert, when Herbert introduced Milan, a member of his church choir, to Hedge, his childhood friend...
and Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa is an American DJ from the South Bronx, New York who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the three originators of break-beat deejaying, and is respectfully known as the "Grandfather" and the Amen Ra of Universal...
all appeared on the label. Criminally forgotten, Laswell also put together the very successful 12” World Destruction which paired PiL’s
Public Image Ltd.
Public Image Ltd are an English post-punk band formed by vocalist John Lydon , guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble, with frequent subsequent personnel changes. Lydon is the sole constant member of the band....
John Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...
with Afrika Bambaataa – years before the Run DMC/Aerosmith collaboration broke down the rock/hip-hop barrier. 1982 also saw Laswell’s solo debut, Baselines.
Also recording a Laswell-helmed solo album for Celluloid was Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
whom Laswell coaxed out of semi-retirement, giving the drummer's career a new boost. He likewise brought Sonny Sharrock
Sonny Sharrock
Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. He was once married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he sometimes recorded and performed....
out of semi-retirement and produced some of the guitarist's most acclaimed recordings starting with the solo LP Guitar.
Breakthrough
Laswell's artistic and commercial breakthrough came via jazz icon Herbie HancockHerbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
's Future Shock album (1983); Laswell produced the album, played bass on all the songs, and co-wrote most of the material. Its track "Rockit
Rockit
"Rockit" is a song recorded by Herbie Hancock. It was released as a single from his 1983 album Future Shock. The song was written by Hancock, bass guitarist Bill Laswell, and synthesizer/drum machine programmer Michael Beinhorn.-History:...
" has frequently been regarded as a pivotal moment in the influence of hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and turntablism
Turntablism
Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
(via Grand Mixer D.ST). The track was the first hit song to feature turntable scratching
Scratching
Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...
. The collaboration has led to three other albums by Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, as well as numerous Hancock appearances on Laswell productions through the early 2000s.
Post-Celluloid '80s
Concurrent to and post-Celluloid, Laswell became a hot producer in demand, due to the success of Hancock's "RockitRockit
"Rockit" is a song recorded by Herbie Hancock. It was released as a single from his 1983 album Future Shock. The song was written by Hancock, bass guitarist Bill Laswell, and synthesizer/drum machine programmer Michael Beinhorn.-History:...
". The often lucrative pay-to-produce nature of some of these projects helped fund much of Laswell's work.
The remainder of the 80’s saw Laswell produce albums for people like Sly & Robbie (whom Laswell continues to work with) Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
, PiL
PIL
PIL may refer to:* Private International Law* Carlos Miguel Jiménez Airport , in Pilar, Paraguay* Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport , in Port Isabel, Texas...
, Motörhead, The Ramones, Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
and Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
. Many of these projects afforded Laswell the opportunity to bring in some of his normal working crew to record on more mainstream records. PiL's 1986 release Album (later CD) has no notes on who performed, but over time, various people have confirmed that no PiL personnel other than singer John Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...
were involved, some of the musicians included drummers Tony Williams and Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
, bassists Jonas Hellborg
Jonas Hellborg
Jonas Hellborg is a Swedish bass guitarist. He has collaborated with John McLaughlin, Ustad Sultan Khan, Fazal Qureshi, Bill Laswell, Shawn Lane, Jens Johansson, Michael Shrieve, V. Selvaganesh, Mattias IA Eklundh and Buckethead....
, Laswell himself, guitarist Steve Vai
Steve Vai
Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....
and others. Lydon claims that Miles Davis actually recorded parts for the album which were never used.
Laswell has stated in numerous interviews that he met with Davis a number of times and discussed working together, but busy schedules kept them from arranging such a recording before Davis’ death, though Laswell's chief engineer reports an unreleased Davis recording session from 1986.
1986 saw the formation of Last Exit
Last Exit (Free jazz band)
Last Exit was a free jazz supergroup composed of electric guitarist Sonny Sharrock, drummer/occasional vocalist Ronald Shannon Jackson, saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, and bass guitarist Bill Laswell. They were active from 1986 to the early 1990s, releasing primarily live albums recorded in Europe...
. Laswell and Sonny Sharrock
Sonny Sharrock
Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. He was once married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he sometimes recorded and performed....
co-founded the metal and hardcore punk-flavored free jazz supergroup along with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson
Ronald Shannon Jackson
Ronald Shannon Jackson is an American jazz drummer. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas.Jackson is notable for his unusual approach to his instrument, which draws as much inspiration from military and parade bands as from traditional jazz drumming.He is the only person to have recorded and performed...
and saxophone player Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann is a German artist and free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.Brötzmann is among the most important European free jazz musicians. His rough, lyrical timbre is easily recognized on his many recordings.-Early life:...
. Aside from one album that Laswell cobbled together in-studio, the band was primarily a live one. The group showed up at gigs and played wild sets with no rehearsal. The first time the four members played together was on stage at their first show.
The later part of the ‘80s also saw Laswell completely sever ties with the Celluloid label, which has since been sold several times: the catalog’s various releases seem to be in constant reissue on one label or another. Many of the labels are known for poor practice in securing rights to recordings and are often rumored to not be paying royalties to anyone other than whomever is licensing the material to them.
Greenpoint Studios, Axiom Records and the '90s
1990 marked a watershed year in Laswell’s control and ability to produce high-quality recordings controlled by himself. In addition to purchasing his own studio (Greenpoint Studio in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
), Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
, founder of Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
and longtime Laswell booster, gave Laswell the opportunity to begin a new label with the backing of Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
. Thus, Axiom Records was born.
Axiom played the ‘Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted’ credo to its fullest. With a sizable budget and minimal interference from Island executives, Laswell had the means to make arguably some of the most important music of his career. In addition to albums by Material that featured players ranging from Sly & Robbie, William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
, Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
, Bootsy Collins
Bootsy Collins
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...
and Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
, he produced and released albums by drummer and Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
acolyte Ronald Shannon Jackson
Ronald Shannon Jackson
Ronald Shannon Jackson is an American jazz drummer. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas.Jackson is notable for his unusual approach to his instrument, which draws as much inspiration from military and parade bands as from traditional jazz drumming.He is the only person to have recorded and performed...
, Sonny Sharrock
Sonny Sharrock
Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. He was once married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he sometimes recorded and performed....
(featuring Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
and Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
), Laswell main-stay Nicky Skopelitis
Nicky Skopelitis
Nicky Skopelitis is an American guitarist and composer from Greek heritage. He is best known as a guitarist, but also performs on banjo, oud, lute, keyboards and other instruments....
, Last Poets'
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
Umar Bin Hassan
Umar Bin Hassan
Umar Bin Hassan is an African-American poet associated with The Last Poets. He sold his younger sister's record player to purchase a bus ticket to New York City, where he joined the Last Poets...
and Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
.
Axiom also released a slew of well-produced recordings from musicians around the world. Among the studio based albums, Palestinian oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
prodigy Simon Shaheen
Simon Shaheen
Simon Shaheen is a Palestinian-American oud and violin virtuoso and composer....
recorded an album of music by Egyptian composer M.A. Wahab. Gambian virtuoso Foday Musa Suso
Foday Musa Suso
Foday Musa Suso is a musician and composer from the West African nation of Gambia. He is a member of the Mandinka ethnic group, and is a jali...
recorded an album of futuristic dance music featuring his electric Kora
Kora (instrument)
The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa.-Description:A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge. It does not fit well into any one category of western instruments and would have to be...
and Turkish saz master Talip Ozkan recorded an album. The real coup was in the series of pristine field recording
Field recording
Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside of a recording studio. The recording is typically recorded in the same channel format as the desired result, for instance, stereo recording equipment will yield a stereo product...
s that Axiom allowed Laswell the ability to produce. A major-league budget and new, more portable recording technology gave rise to recordings by the Master Musicians of Jajouka (done in their village in the Rif Mountains), Mandinka and Fulani music (recorded at Suso’s family compound in the Gambia) and Gnawa music from Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
.
The most successful project and one of the few still in print on Axiom – where the first release was produced, was Praxis
Praxis (band)
Praxis was the name of an ever-changing musical project, led by prolific producer Bill Laswell. Praxis combine elements of different musical genres such as funk, jazz, hip-hop and heavy metal into highly improvised music...
. Originally the moniker that an experimental Celluloid 12” by Laswell was released under in 1984, Praxis now became a full-fledged band, featuring enigmatic guitarist Buckethead
Buckethead
Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
. The release, Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis)
Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis)
Note: Track 8 starts out with the Giant Robot theme, that is also featured on Buckethead's Bucketheadland album. The track also contains a version of one of the many themes Akira Ifukube wrote for Toho production's Godzilla films.-Personnel:...
featured Buckethead, drummer Brain
Bryan Mantia
Bryan "Brain" Mantia is a contemporary rock drummer. He has played with bands like Primus, Guns N' Roses, Praxis and Godflesh, and with other popular performers such as Tom Waits, Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins and Buckethead...
(whom Laswell worked with previously with the Limbomaniacs), Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
, Bootsy Collins
Bootsy Collins
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...
and Af Next Man Flip (Afrika Baby Bam
Afrika Baby Bam
Nathaniel Hall better known by his stage name Afrika Baby Bam, is an American hip hop artist, born in Brooklyn, New York, and was part of the hip-hop group the Jungle Brothers. He was named in honor of Afrika Bambaataa. Afrika Baby Bam is known to constantly reinvent himself as an artist both...
from the Jungle Brothers
Jungle Brothers
The Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop group that pioneered the fusion of jazz and hip-hop and also became the first hip-hop group to use a house-music producer. The group began performing in the mid-1980s and released its first album, Straight Out the Jungle, in July 1988...
). The album was a racous blend of funk grooves and metal riffs, overseen with many tracks co-written by Laswell. The project has spawned other releases, never with the same line-up twice, generally consisting of the core trio of Buckethead, Brain and Laswell supplemented by others.
1994/1995 saw a bit of a slow-down in Axiom’s output, but a number of genre-shattering 2CD compilation sets were released. Axiom Funk’s Funkcronomicon
Funkcronomicon
Funkcronomicon is a 1995 various artists collection of tracks produced by Bill Laswell under the name Axiom Funk, after Laswell's associated record label. It is a 2-CD set that was released by Island Records...
saw previously released tracks by Praxis and Nicky Skopelitis paired with a host of tracks mainly featuring various members of the Parliament/Funkadelic crew. George Clinton
George Clinton (funk musician)
George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
, Bootsy Collins
Bootsy Collins
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...
, Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
and the last recordings of Eddie Hazel
Eddie Hazel
Edward Earl "Eddie" Hazel was a guitarist in early funk music in the United States who played lead guitar with Parliament-Funkadelic...
are featured prominently. The album also features contributions from Last Poets'
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
Umar Bin Hassan
Umar Bin Hassan
Umar Bin Hassan is an African-American poet associated with The Last Poets. He sold his younger sister's record player to purchase a bus ticket to New York City, where he joined the Last Poets...
and Abiodun Oyewole
Abiodun Oyewole
Abiodun Oyewole , is a poet, teacher and founding member of the American music and spoken-word group The Last Poets that developed into what is considered the first ever hip hop group....
as well as Torture (now Sensational
Sensational
Sensational is a hip-hop performer from New York. He worked with the Jungle Brothers under the name Torture before going solo. He was featured on the cover of The Wire magazine in December 2009. A film about him entitled The Rise and Fall and Rise of Sensational was released in 2011....
) and DXT
Grand Mixer DXT
Grand Mixer DXT is an American turntablist. He was formely known as Grand Mixer D.ST. "D.ST" is a reference to Manhattan, New York City's Delancey Street on the Lower East Side...
(formerly D.ST). Axiom Dub was another compilation featuring tracks in a new-skool dub style from Laswell along with The Orb
The Orb
Throughout 1989, the Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of its musical work came toward the end of the year when the group recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1...
, Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two albums...
, Sly & Robbie, Mad Professor
Mad Professor
Mad Professor is a dub music producer and engineer known for his original productions and remix work. He is considered one of the leading producers of dub music’s second generation and was instrumental in transitioning dub into the digital age. He is a prolific producer, contributing to or...
, Techno Animal, the WordSound crew, WE and others. Laswell also remixed the whole of the Axiom catalog into a 2 disc ambient mix called Axiom Ambient, subtley blending seemingly disparate tracks from the catalog into a seamless in the mix translation. Laswell released some of the music recorded in those sessions as a sample library for other musicians to use as raw material when making recordings, on a CD he titled Sample Material - International Free Zone.
The ‘90s also saw a number of other labels owned by or thoroughly associated with Laswell, come and go. The most prolific of these was Subharmonic, conceived by laswell and ex-Celluloid A&R Robert Soares. Though not owned by Laswell, the label was essentially a release house for his projects, most of which fell into the ambient or ambient-dub categories. The label also licensed a few releases from European labels for American re-release, notably Psychonavigation (with Pete Namlook
Pete Namlook
Pete Namlook is an ambient and electronic-music producer and composer. In 1992, he founded the German record label FAX +49-69/450464, which he oversees...
) and Cymatic Scan (with Tetsu Inoue
Tetsu Inoue
Tetsu Inoue is a producer of electronic music. His style could be described as ambient with a heavy minimalist influence. He has lived in Japan, San Francisco, and New York, and has collaborated with musicians such as Pete Namlook, Bill Laswell, Andrew Deutsch, Jonah Sharp, and Taylor Deupree.His...
) from Pete Namlook's FAX label, and Somnific Flux (with Mick Harris
Mick Harris
Mick Harris commonly known and credited both as Mick Harris or occasionally M.J. Harris, is an English musician....
– there as MJ Harris) and Cold Summer (by Lull – a Mick Harris
Mick Harris
Mick Harris commonly known and credited both as Mick Harris or occasionally M.J. Harris, is an English musician....
project) from the Sentrax label. Other collaborators included Jonah Sharp and Terre Thaemlitz
Terre Thaemlitz
Terre Thaemlitz is a musician, public speaker, and owner of the record label. His work critically combines themes of identity politics - including gender, sexuality, class, linguistics, ethnicity and race - with an ongoing critique of the socio-economics of commercial media production...
. The label also released albums from Painkiller
Painkiller (band)
Painkiller is a band originally formed in 1991. Their style can be described as a mix of avant-garde jazz and grindcore; later albums also incorporated elements of ambient and dub....
, Praxis
Praxis (band)
Praxis was the name of an ever-changing musical project, led by prolific producer Bill Laswell. Praxis combine elements of different musical genres such as funk, jazz, hip-hop and heavy metal into highly improvised music...
and Laswell’s new project, Divination, an ambient dub project (first appearing almost as a project title, and then an umbrella moniker for releases of ambient compilations). Additionally, a sub-label called Strata was created containing five releases mostly in what could be deemed a more experimental dub/noise/ambient vein. Each of these releases (Death Cube K, Cypher 7, Azonic and two under his alias Automaton) came housed in a solid black jewel case with the name of the project and album title printed on the front.
Three other very short-lived labels were also created around the time of the demise of the Subharmonic deal. Meta, which was intended to be a spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
label, and SubMeta. Submeta managed four releases before folding. Meta (co-created by Janet Rienstra) released only one album, Baptism of Solitude, - of Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles
Paul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator.Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia before making various trips to Paris...
reading excerpts from his work over soundscapes by Laswell. Meta would appear periodically again, distributed by other labels, over the next few years until it came back in full as its own entity as a spiritual/yogic label run by Janet Rienstra, though Laswell still heavily figures in Meta’s output. Black Arc was also created as an associated label of Rykodisc
Rykodisc
Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...
, focusing on ‘Black Rock, Cyber Funk and Future Blues’, according to a released sampler. The label featured a number of P-Funk
P-Funk
P-Funk is a shorthand term for the repertoire and performers associated with George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic collective and the distinctive style of funk music they performed...
alumni on most of the albums, as well as releasing albums by Parliament/Funkadelic members Bootsy Collins
Bootsy Collins
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...
(under his Zillatron moniker), Bernie Worrell (Japan-only), Mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
(Jerome Brailey) and Billy Bass.
Late '90s
Always one to be courting controversy due to his alleged radical treatment of music, Laswell released two albums of remixes from dead artists – Bob MarleyBob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
's Dreams of Freedom on Axiom and Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
’ Panthalassa. The first contained airy, ambient dub translations of some of Marley’s Island catalog, largely sans Marley’s voice. Chris Blackwell, largely the man responsible for bringing Marley to the masses in the ‘70s requested the album as part of a planned series of remix albums by various producers who were rooted in the reggae/dub tradition. Blackwell’s departure from Island killed any further albums.
For Panthalassa, Laswell took the tapes from Miles’ ‘electric period’ and re-imagined them. The impetus for the project being that the original releases were just mixes made by Teo Macero from long in studio sessions. Nothing originally released was necessarily exactly what was done in the studio, but rather a cut-up and remix to begin with. Needless to say, critic and fan responses varied wildly with Laswell and Macero conducting a public feud in the media.
The late ‘90s saw two other major changes. As noted before, Chris Blackwell (who had sold Island to Polygram some years before, but retained an active role running the label) left Island Records. Although he took the Axiom imprint with him to his new Palm Pictures
Palm Pictures
Palm Pictures is a US-based entertainment company owned and run by Chris Blackwell. Palm Pictures produces, acquires and distributes innovative music and film projects with a particular focus on the DVD format...
label, the back catalog stayed with Island. Many of the albums are now out of print, efforts to obtain master recordings and new distribution has been unsuccessful. The other change came in the form of studio space. Laswell, seeing that Greenpoint had turned into a sort of hangout, living space and catch all for hanger-ons moved his studio to a new space in West Orange, New Jersey, now calling it Orange Music or alternatively, Orange Music Sound Studios.
21st century
With Palm PicturesPalm Pictures
Palm Pictures is a US-based entertainment company owned and run by Chris Blackwell. Palm Pictures produces, acquires and distributes innovative music and film projects with a particular focus on the DVD format...
slowly moving into film and away from music with the changing landscape of the industry, Laswell lost a major supporter of his more high-concept albums as well as the Axiom imprint. Under Palm’s umbrella, though, four highly regarded albums and a DVD set were released. Of those releases there was a DVD set, a studio release and a live 2-disc set from Tabla Beat Science
Tabla Beat Science
Tabla Beat Science is a musical group founded in 1999 by Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell. Its style consists of a mixture of Hindustani music, Asian Underground, ambient music, drum and bass and electronica. Laswell met with Karsh Kale , and they later teamed up with Talvin Singh and Trilok Gurtu...
. Tabla Beat Science
Tabla Beat Science
Tabla Beat Science is a musical group founded in 1999 by Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell. Its style consists of a mixture of Hindustani music, Asian Underground, ambient music, drum and bass and electronica. Laswell met with Karsh Kale , and they later teamed up with Talvin Singh and Trilok Gurtu...
is a project that revolves somewhat around the tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain
Zakir Hussain (musician)
Zakir Hussain , , is an Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer.-Early life:Hussain was born in Mumbai, India to the legendary tabla player Alla Rakha. He attended St...
, son of the late Alla Rakha. The studio release also featured Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale is an Indian American musician, producer and composer, and is considered one of the pioneering figures in defining the Asian Underground genre by mixing disparate genres of music such as Indian classical and folk with electronica, rock, pop and ambient music...
, Trilok Gurtu, Ustad Sultan Khan
Ustad Sultan Khan
Ustad Sultan Khan was an Indian sarangi player and singer who performed Hindustani classical music. He was one of the members of the Indian fusion group Tabla Beat Science, with Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell...
and Talvin Singh
Talvin Singh
Talvin Singh Matharoo , is a producer and composer and tabla player, known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music and drum and bass...
. This very popular and well received grouping has become a primarily live project playing everywhere from the US to Beirut to Japan over the years. The core of Laswell, Kale, Kahn and Hussain are usually supplemented by other musicians, which have included at various times Gigi
Gigi
Gigi is a 1944 novella by French writer Colette. The plot focuses on a young Parisian girl being groomed for a career as a courtesan and her relationship with the wealthy cultured man named Gaston who falls in love with her and eventually marries her....
, DJ Disk
DJ Disk
DJ Disk is a San Francisco Bay Area turntablist of Panamanian, Colombian, and Nicaraguan descent. Born Luis Quintanilla on October 7, 1970, in San Francisco, Disk began scratching and mixing vinyl at a young age...
, Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer–songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, playwright, record producer, poet, and political activist...
from System of a Down
System of a Down
System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California. The band was formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian , Daron Malakian , Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan...
, Sussan Deyhim
Sussan Deyhim
Sussan Deyhim is an Iranian singer, composer and dancer.Born in Tehran, her career began as a dancer with Iran's Pars National Ballet company...
, visual artists Petulia Mattioli and others. 2001 saw the release of the album Life Space Death with Japanese trumpeter Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....
, Laswell on bass, guitar and keyboards and words by His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama, interviewed by Kondo.
At the request of Chris Blackwell, 2001 also had Laswell overseeing Ethiopian singer Gigi’s debut release for Palm Pictures. Supplementing Gigi’s multilingual, Ethiopian rooted vocals with a vast array of well respected musicians such as Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Laswell himself, they created a strong release that was very well-received. Laswell and Gigi also became romantically involved and were later married. She has figured in a number of his releases and concerts over the years, and he has produced further outings by Gigi such as her Abyssinia Infinite grouping and her second solo release for Palm, Gold & Wax.
1999 also saw the first release on Laswell’s new label, called Innerythmic (Eraldo Bernocchi
Eraldo Bernocchi
Eraldo Bernocchi is an Italian musician, producer and sound designer.-History:Bernocchi's musical career started around 1977 at the age of 14, when Eraldo started playing guitar with independent punk bands. In short order though, he found that he felt the medium was too limited and he started...
and Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....
’s Charged project). After a brief inactive period, the label re-started again in earnest in 2001, releasing over the next few years a slew of innovative albums from the likes Nicky Skopelitis
Nicky Skopelitis
Nicky Skopelitis is an American guitarist and composer from Greek heritage. He is best known as a guitarist, but also performs on banjo, oud, lute, keyboards and other instruments....
/Raoul Bjorkenheim
Raoul Bjorkenheim
Raoul Björkenheim is an American jazz guitarist. He was born to Finnish parents. His mother is actress/singer Taina Elg . He lived in the USA until he was 15 years old, when his family returned to Finland...
, James Blood Ulmer, Shin Terai
Shin Terai
Shin Terai is a Japanese musician and producer most known for his work with Bill Laswell and Buckethead. On his albums he combines ambient and electronic music with dub and avant-garde jazz.- Biography :...
and Gonervill among others. Innerhythmic also released a live Praxis recording and re-issued some of the Black Arc releases from the ‘90s including Zillatron, The Last Poets
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
Holy Terror and Buddy Miles
Buddy Miles
George Allen Miles, Jr. , known as Buddy Miles, was an American rock and funk drummer, most known as a founding member of The Electric Flag in 1967, then as a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys from 1969 through to January 1970.-Early life:George Allen Miles was born in Omaha, Nebraska on...
’ Hell & Back. The label tends to go through extended periods of inactivity but still releases albums here and there, the next planned release being a studio recording featuring Raoul Björkenheim
Raoul Bjorkenheim
Raoul Björkenheim is an American jazz guitarist. He was born to Finnish parents. His mother is actress/singer Taina Elg . He lived in the USA until he was 15 years old, when his family returned to Finland...
, Bill Laswell and Morgan Ågren
Morgan Ågren
Morgan Ågren is a Swedish drummer who plays with the progressive rock band Kaipa.A native of Umeå, Norrland, Morgan Ågren was spotted as an outstanding talent at a young age as he began performing publicly at age seven, and eventually joined forces with Mats Öberg in 1981.They later formed...
anticipated in the summer of 2011 according to Björkenheim's website.
Though touching on the realm of drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
in the ‘90s with his Oscillations releases and the compilation Tetragramaton: Submerged - conceived along with Soares - the last few years have seen Laswell step up his work in this area with Soares as a collaborator in concept/A&R for drum & bass artist development. Starting with Brutal Calling, a hard drum 'n' bass release with Ohm Resistance label owner Submerged
Submerged (DJ)
Submerged is a Brooklyn-based DJ, bassist, founder of Ohm Resistance and co-founder of Obliterati, American avant garde drum and bass and experimental music labels, and a prolific multi-genre electronic music producer, first notable for his work with Grammy Award-winning bassist and producer Bill...
(Kurt Gluck), a series of releases and live dates have cropped up. Laswell’s new project in this vein is Method of Defiance (the actual Method of Defiance name and the original idea of a futurist, cyborg d&b driven group consisting of laptops breakbeat artists, electric instrumentalists and trumpeter graham haynes was conceived by Soares). The first release focused on the core of Laswell and Submerged once again, entitled "The only way to go is down", featuring photos of Soares on front and back covers and on the disc itself, with contributions from Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....
and drummer Guy Licata. The second release under the moniker, though, was more of a compilation style project, though still focusing on drum 'n' bass. Inamorata stretched the concept out, pairing Laswell’s bass with a different combination of respected jazz and world musicians and drum 'n' bass producers linked to Soares on each track. Artists including Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
, Nils Petter Molvaer, Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....
and Buckethead
Buckethead
Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
were paired with drum 'n' bass producers including Amit
Amit
Amit is a common male name. It is common in India, Nepal, Israel, Pakistan, Iran, Middle East, and Bangladesh.In Nepali, Sanskrit, Hindi, and Bengali, Amit means infinite or immeasurable or boundless. It is the wordstem root of the Amitabha Buddha and one of the 108 names of Hindu God Shri Ganesha...
, Paradox
Paradox (artist)
Paradox is the pseudonym of Dev Pandya, a producer from the UK who has in recent years championed a new sub-genre of drum & bass known as drumfunk, which focuses on either finding obscure breakbeats or re-sampling much used drum & bass breakbeats from their original source and transforming them...
, Submerged
Submerged (DJ)
Submerged is a Brooklyn-based DJ, bassist, founder of Ohm Resistance and co-founder of Obliterati, American avant garde drum and bass and experimental music labels, and a prolific multi-genre electronic music producer, first notable for his work with Grammy Award-winning bassist and producer Bill...
, Future Prophecies, Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale is an Indian American musician, producer and composer, and is considered one of the pioneering figures in defining the Asian Underground genre by mixing disparate genres of music such as Indian classical and folk with electronica, rock, pop and ambient music...
, Evol Intent
Evol Intent
Evol Intent is a hardstep drum and bass group formed in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. in 2000. The group is composed of The Enemy , Knick , and Gigantor ....
, SPL, Outrage, Fanu, and Corrupt Souls
Corrupt Souls
Corrupt Souls was a drum and bass group from Washington D.C, United States. The members were Telemetrik and Impulse . Alvarado has gone on to release a solo album in 2008 titled "My Lightyear" on Black Sun Empire Recordings....
. To that end, laswell´s last collaboration with Soares was a full-on recording with Finnish drum 'n' bass maestro Fanu on Ohm Resistance and Karl Records, entitled Lodge, which includes contributions from Molvaer and Bernie Worrell amongst others. After collaborating with Laswell for 15 years, Soares left the crew in 2008. The concept of the group has once again morphed into a full band concept. In 2009, Rare Noise Records released 'Live in Nihon', which showcased this new direction/grouping. The group now consisted of Laswell, Guy Licata, Dr. Israel, Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....
and Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
.
Along with frequent live dates around the world with Method of Defiance, Material, Painkiller
Painkiller (band)
Painkiller is a band originally formed in 1991. Their style can be described as a mix of avant-garde jazz and grindcore; later albums also incorporated elements of ambient and dub....
and the reformed in the late ‘90s Massacre (with This Heat
This Heat
This Heat were a British experimental music group formed in early 1976 in Camberwell, London by multi-instrumentalists Charles Bullen , Charles Hayward and Gareth Williams .This Heat were active in the ascendancy of British progressive rock and punk rock, but stood apart...
's Charles Hayward
Charles Hayward
Sir Charles Hayward was the 25th mayor of Victoria, British Columbia, from 1900–1902. He had one of the more unusual professions: Starting off as a carpenter, he went into the business of making coffins and turned that into a very successful funeral business, one which remains today...
now in the drum chair) Laswell still makes numerous trips to Japan each year for various recordings and live dates, including his ongoing Tokyo Rotation mini-festivals at the Shinjuku Pit-Inn, which is now a yearly occurrence. In addition to Tokyo Rotation being an actual mini-festival, the moniker has been used as a sort of umbrella to include general operations revolving around activities in Japan, as witnessed by the usage of 'Tokyo Rotation Presents' in relation to the website's announcement of other gigs outside the Pit Inn shows as well being noted on Method of Defiance's release Nihon.
M.O.D. Technologies
In 2010, Laswell created his newest label, M.O.D. TechnologiesM.O.D. Technologies
M.O.D. Technologies is an independent record label based in New York City, intended to be the modern evolution of producer and bassist Bill Laswell's Axiom label. It was founded in 2010 by Laswell and long-time associate John Brown in part to provide a creative outlet for the group Method of...
, in partnership with Giacomo Bruzzo of Rare Noise. The label is centered around the activities of the principles of the now-solidified Method of Defiance lineup, and is intended to be one of Laswell's main creative vehicles moving forward, being seen as the successor to his Axiom label.
The label kicked off with the release of three albums toward the end of 2010: two from Method of Defiance - Jahbulon (a reggae/dancehall/vocal affair featuring Hawk and Dr. Israel) and the instrumental album Incunabula, which features Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
on one track and DJ Krush
DJ Krush
, better known as DJ Krush, is a producer and DJ. He is known for his atmospheric instrumental production which incorporates sound elements from nature and extensive use of jazz and soul samples.-Biography:...
throughout. The third release was a new live album from Gigi w/Material entitled Mesgana Ethiopia. In 2011, the label released an album by Praxis
Praxis (band)
Praxis was the name of an ever-changing musical project, led by prolific producer Bill Laswell. Praxis combine elements of different musical genres such as funk, jazz, hip-hop and heavy metal into highly improvised music...
(a US/European version of the Profanation album, with bonus tracks), as well as a new collaboration with Lee 'Scratch' Perry featuring Gigi, Dr. Israel, Hawk, Sly Dunbar
Sly Dunbar
Lowell "Sly" Fillmore Dunbar is a drummer.-Biography:Dunbar, whose nickname was reportedly given for his passion for Sly & the Family Stone, launched his musical career while still in his adolescence, playing with a local group, The Yardbrooms, at the age of fifteen...
, Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
, TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....
's Tunde Adebimpe
Tunde Adebimpe
Babatunde Omoroga "Tunde" Adebimpe is an American musician, actor, and director best known as the lead singer of the Brooklyn-based band TV on the Radio. His vocal method often involves improvisation, the use of effects and repeating sampled loops....
and more, in May in the US. A remix album focusing on Method of Defiance tracks from Jahbulon and Incunabula, with new mixes by Mad Professor
Mad Professor
Mad Professor is a dub music producer and engineer known for his original productions and remix work. He is considered one of the leading producers of dub music’s second generation and was instrumental in transitioning dub into the digital age. He is a prolific producer, contributing to or...
, Laswell, Scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
and more, is slated for October release.
Frequent collaborators
Even though many Laswell-produced albums have featured dozens of musicians, he tends to work with a small group of collaborators who appear on most of his recordings. Such musicians include bassists Jah WobbleJah Wobble
Jah Wobble is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two albums...
, Jonas Hellborg
Jonas Hellborg
Jonas Hellborg is a Swedish bass guitarist. He has collaborated with John McLaughlin, Ustad Sultan Khan, Fazal Qureshi, Bill Laswell, Shawn Lane, Jens Johansson, Michael Shrieve, V. Selvaganesh, Mattias IA Eklundh and Buckethead....
and Bootsy Collins
Bootsy Collins
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...
; guitarists Buckethead
Buckethead
Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
and Nicky Skopelitis
Nicky Skopelitis
Nicky Skopelitis is an American guitarist and composer from Greek heritage. He is best known as a guitarist, but also performs on banjo, oud, lute, keyboards and other instruments....
; keyboardists Jeff Bova
Jeff Bova
Jeff Bova is an American Grammy Award winning keyboardist, composer, arranger and record producer. He has been active in music industry since the mid-1970s, contributing to dozens of recordings by significant mainstream artists like Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Blondie, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker,...
and Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
; and percussionists Aïyb Dieng
Aïyb Dieng
Aïyb Dieng is a Senegalese drummer and percussionist specializing in hand drums. He has recorded one solo album , and has worked with a wide range of musicians but is perhaps best known for his long-term association with prolific bassist/producer Bill Laswell.-Biography:He was born and raised in...
and Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale is an Indian American musician, producer and composer, and is considered one of the pioneering figures in defining the Asian Underground genre by mixing disparate genres of music such as Indian classical and folk with electronica, rock, pop and ambient music...
. Laswell has also frequently worked with musicians from the sprawling P-funk
P-Funk
P-Funk is a shorthand term for the repertoire and performers associated with George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic collective and the distinctive style of funk music they performed...
camp.
In addition, Laswell has relied on the expertise of a small number of engineers over the years. Robert Musso
Robert Musso
Robert Musso is a New York City-based guitarist, composer, engineer, and producer. He is the founder of the independent record label MuWorks as well as the recently launched MussoMusic.com...
(a producer, musician and label-owner in his own right) has been Laswell's chief engineer for close to 25 years. Oz Fritz has occasionally filled the role as well over almost the same time period, though (particularly in the last few years after a move to the West Coast) Fritz is usually Laswell's live engineer of choice, known for his stellar live mixing technique. In addition, a small core of assistants have come through over time, the most recent mainstay being James Dellatacoma.
Over the years, Laswell has also been an in demand remixer and purveyor of what is usually noted as ‘mix translation’. Remixes (released and unreleased) have been done for artists including Sting, Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
, Almamegretta
Almamegretta
Almamegretta are a SKA /rap/dub/world/reggae group from Naples, Italy. Their lyrics are in Napoletano. Their music became quite successful, leading to remix work for Massive Attack. Adrian Sherwood also remixed their album "Sanacore".-History:...
, Scorn
Scorn (band)
Scorn was an English electronic music project. The group was formed in the early 1990s as a side project of former Napalm Death members Mick Harris and Nic Bullen...
, Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
, Tori Amos
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
. In addition he is often hired for his skills at the board doing straight mixes of albums. In recent years he has done much work in this area for various projects on John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
's Tzadik
Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...
record label.
In 2005, Laswell was invited to appear on the PBS series Soundstage. The show featured a host of the musicians he has played with over the years including incarnations of his Praxis
Praxis (band)
Praxis was the name of an ever-changing musical project, led by prolific producer Bill Laswell. Praxis combine elements of different musical genres such as funk, jazz, hip-hop and heavy metal into highly improvised music...
and Tabla Beat Science
Tabla Beat Science
Tabla Beat Science is a musical group founded in 1999 by Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell. Its style consists of a mixture of Hindustani music, Asian Underground, ambient music, drum and bass and electronica. Laswell met with Karsh Kale , and they later teamed up with Talvin Singh and Trilok Gurtu...
projects. In addition to some of the core performers from these projects, Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
, Foday Musa Suso
Foday Musa Suso
Foday Musa Suso is a musician and composer from the West African nation of Gambia. He is a member of the Mandinka ethnic group, and is a jali...
, Bootsy Collins
Bootsy Collins
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...
and Catfish Collins
Catfish Collins
Phelps "Catfish" Collins was a rhythm guitarist known mostly for his work in the P-Funk collective. Although frequently overshadowed by his younger brother, Bootsy Collins, Catfish played on many important and influential records by Parliament, Funkadelic, and Bootsy's Rubber Band.In 1968, the...
and many others participated. Though Laswell mixed the show in 5.1, to date no DVD or official recording has been released. The hour-long aired version (part of a much longer show) has popped up on file-sharing sites.
Laswell has also participated on a collaboration with Sony Creative Software on a box set Loop Library called "The Bill Laswell Collection". A link of all Bill's work with Sony Media software is available here.
External links
- Official M.O.D. Technologies site
- Official M.O.D. Technologies Facebook site
- Official M.O.D. Technologies MySpace page
- Official Method of Defiance site
- Official Tokyo Rotation site
- Official MySpace page
- discography at silent-watcher.net
- discography at turning-groove.de
- Sacred Dub fan site/community site, includes podcasts
- Last.FM: Bill Laswell pages
- Innerhythmic.com (record label)
- 2011 Innerviews interview
- 1999 Innerviews interview
- Method of Defiance "Inamorata" review by Mark Jenkins, The Washington Post, December 21, 2007
- Bill Laswell Interview by The Wire Magazine. December, 1994
- Part 1 of Interview with Directors of Destroy All Rational Thought DVD - which celebrates the work of Brion Gysin and William Burroughs. Contains music/text by Bill Laswell
- Part 2 of Interview with Directors of Destroy All Rational Thought DVD - which celebrates the work of Brion Gysin and William Burroughs. Contains music/text by Bill Laswell