Free Radicals is an American band from Houston, Texas, that combines elements of several genres:

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

, hip-hop, African, and Indian music.

History

The Free Radicals live band includes six or seven members. On recordings — ''The Rising Tide Sinks All'' (1998), ''Our Lady of Eternal Sunny Delights'' (2000), ''Aerial Bombardment'' (2004), and ''The Freedom Fence'' (2012) — Free Radicals invites a group of 50 or more musicians and vocalists into the studio. Drummer Nick Cooper founded the group in 1996, with a goal of specializing in improvised music. In 2000, ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' wrote, "The horn-heavy, continually evolving collective Free Radicals produces a wildly eclectic fusion that has as many influences as there are items in the Houston, Texas, pawnshop in which they honed their sound during all-night jam sessions." In 2010, ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

'' wrote that the artwork and message about underwater oil-leaks, oil-wars, and bank-crashes on the band's first CD was like a "premonition waiting to become true." Free Radicals frequent collaborators and guest musicians include Al Pagliuso, Dan Cooper, Harry Sheppard, Gloria Edwards, Nelson Mills III, Subhendu Chakraborty, and Karina Nistal. The Free Radicals perform many concerts, marches, and fundraisers for anti-authoritarian and radical groups like

food not bombs Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, sharing free vegan and vegetarian food with others. The group believes that corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance ...

, peace festivals, and charity events including a continuous 24-hour concert in November 1999 to raise money for Kid Care, a health program for children. They have protested against

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, and participated in marches for immigrant rights and for a Houston janitor's union.

Awards and honors

Free Radicals has won the following 21 awards in Houston : * 1998: Best Jazz, Best Unsigned Band * 1999: Best Jazz, Best Funk, Best Drummer * 2001: Best Jazz * 2002: Best Jazz * 2003: Best Jazz * 2004: Best CD by Local Musicians * 2008: Best Jazz * 2009: Best Jazz, Best Drummer * 2010: Best Jazz, * 2011: Best Jazz, * 2012: Best CD "The Freedom Fence", Best Song "Ben Taub Blues", Best Jazz * 2013: Best Jazz * 2014: Best Jazz * 2015: Best Jazz * 2020: #1 Best Local Album 2020: "White Power Outage"

Discography

* 1998: ''The Rising Tide Sinks All'' * 2000: ''Our Lady of Eternal Sunny Delights'' * 2004: ''Aerial Bombardment'' * 2012: ''The Freedom Fence'' * 2015: ''Freedom of Movement'' * 2017: ''Outside the Comfort Zone'' * 2018: ''No State Solution'' (with

DJ Sun Andre J. E. Sam-Sin (born January 19, 1966), known professionally as DJ SUN, is a Dutch-born American record producer and DJ. He is one of the most prolific musicians in Houston, having secured his position as the top-ranked DJ and as the owner/op ...

) (compilation/remix album) * 2020: ''White Power Outage, Vol. 1'' * 2022: ''White Power Outage, Vol. 2''

Notes

References

Band member list
* Houston Press articles
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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Free Radicals American funk musical groups Modern big bands American disco groups Klezmer groups Rocksteady musical groups Salsa music groups American hip hop groups Jam bands Musical groups from Houston American reggae musical groups American ska musical groups American world music groups American brass bands Musical groups established in 1996