Kneebody is an American band formed in 2001, consisting of Adam Benjamin on keyboards,

Shane Endsley Shane Endsley is an American trumpeter, drummer, and composer. He is a founding member of Kneebody, as well as an active leader and sideman with other New York City jazz musicians, as well as with pop and rock musicians such as Ani DiFranco and Pe ...

on trumpet,

Ben Wendel Ben Wendel is a grammy nominated jazz saxophonist, bassoonist, and pianist who is a founding member of the band Kneebody. He has worked with Snoop Dogg, Ignacio Berroa, Daedelus, Taylor Eigsti, Gerald Clayton, and Tigran Hamasyan Career Wendel ...

on tenor saxophone, and Nate Wood on bass guitar and drums.

History

Ben Wendel, Shane Endsley, Adam Benjamin, and Kaveh Rastegar met in the late 1990s as students at the Eastman School of Music. Benjamin later transferred to CalArts, where he met Nate Wood. After graduating Eastman, Wendel and Rastegar moved to Los Angeles, and the band got its start at the Temple Bar and The Vic in Santa Monica, California, where they played a weekly residency. The name of the band was a nonsense word invented by Wendel's girlfriend, so that the band had no clear leader and no clear musical connotations. In 2005, the band's self-titled debut album was released on Dave Douglas'

Greenleaf Music Greenleaf Music is an independent music company directed by American trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas. In addition to recordings on CD, vinyl, and digital formats, Greenleaf Music houses sheet music and podcasts, as well as supporting tours by ...

label. In 2007, they released their next album, ''Low Electrical Worker'', to further critical acclaim ( Joshua Redman declared it one of his favorite albums of 2007). In February 2019, it was announced that Rastegar would be leaving the group to focus on other projects, with Wood taking on bass along with playing drums. In May 2019 the band released the EP ''By Fire'', consisting of covers and guest-vocalists via the label Edition Records.

Style and influences

According to Nate Chinen, writing in '' The New York Times'', Kneebody is "a resolutely un-pindownable band" acclaimed for their eclectic style, which "uses a common jazz instrumentation to make a somewhat less common amalgam of urban-signifying genres, from electro-pop to punk-rock to hip-hop."

Members

Current

* Adam Benjamin -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

- trumpet *

- tenor sax * Nate Wood -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Former

Kaveh Rastegar Kaveh Rastegar is a Persian-American Grammy-nominated songwriter, record producer, composer, and bass guitarist. Rastegar was born in Montreal and raised in Denver, Colorado. He currently resides in the Los Angeles/Pasadena area with his fiancé ...

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Kneebody'' (Greeanleaf, 2005) * ''Low Electrical Worker'' (Colortone, 2007) * ''Twelve Songs by Charles Ives'' with

Theo Bleckmann Theodor Raoul Bleckmann (born 28 May 1966) is a German singer and composer. Biography Bleckmann was born in Dortmund, West Germany. He planned to be an ice skater before becoming a vocalist. In 1989 he moved to New York City and recorded his ...

(Winter & Winter, 2008) * ''You Can Have Your Moment'' (Winter & Winter, 2010) * ''The Line'' (Concord, 2013) * ''Kneedelus'' with Daedelus (Brainfeeder, 2015) * ''Anti-Hero'' (Motema, 2017) * ''Chapters'' (Edition, 2019)

Live albums

* ''Kneebody Live: Volume One'' (2007) * ''Kneebody Live: Volume Two: Live in Italy'' (2009) * ''Kneebody Live: Volume Three: Live in Paris'' (2011) * ''Kneebody Live Fall Tour 2003'' (2021) * ''Live at Le Crescent'' (Edition 2022)

EPs

* ''By Fire'' (2019)

References

External links

*
Kneebody
at '' All About Jazz'' * * {{Authority control American jazz ensembles Jazz fusion ensembles Musical quintets Motéma Music artists Edition Records artists Winter & Winter Records artists Brainfeeder artists