Kneebody
Kneebody
mixes up contemporary influences from hip hop, funk and rock with
an
advanced knowledge of jazz acquired while four of the five (Ben Wendel,
saxophone,
flute, bassoon; Shane Endsley, trumpet, pedals; Adam Benjamin, keyboards
and Kaveh Rastegar, electric / acoustic bass, pedals) were students
at the Eastman
School in Rochester, NY (Nate Wood, drums, is an alumni of the California
Institute
of the Arts). Their material, composed by the group, begins as structured
pieces
that are learned as written, but then rapidly deviate from script:
during performance,
any member of the group can call from a series of cues that will instigate
a change
of key, orchestration, tempo, or other aspects—even starting
a wholly different
song! These cues, which the band terms “secret handshakes,” are
embedded in
the music, and are at the disposal of each player at any time, which
is also intrinsic to
the philosophy of the band, says Kneebody member Ben Wendel: “…anyone
in the
band can be the leader, we’re 100% democratic,” contrasting
with some traditional
jazz ensembles where the leader is essentially in charge of what happens
onstage.
Audiences may not realize that what appears to be an almost extra sensory
ability of
the band to change direction on a dime is in fact the implementation
of a cue called
by one of the band members, buried imperceptibly within the music itself.
Concord
Jazz artist, pianist Taylor Eigsti, describes
the group as “ just about the most tightly-locked group of
five musicians I have ever
heard.” This onstage coherence is reflected offstage as well,
says Ben—“we want
to be a jazz group that’s together for a long period of time,
work together for five or
ten years like the Keith Jarrett Trio or Miles did, which is uncommon
now. When
people hear Kneebody, they’ve heard a band—more like in the
rock world, we’re
friends with rapport and history.”
Kneebody has just released their second CD, “Low Electrical Worker,” and
played
two prestigious European festivals (Munich’s Modern Art Museum
and the North
Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam) prior to their Stanford date.
To read a concert review of Kneebody's Stanford Jazz Festival performance written by Richard Scheinin for the San Jose Mercury News, click here for our "Media Archives" page.
To find out more about Kneebody, go to kneebody.com |
