Amoebic Ensemble (or The Amoebics) was an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

band in the 1990s, from

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, headed by

Alec K. Redfearn Alec K Redfearn is a musician and composer based in Providence, Rhode Island. He has composed music for dance, theater, and film. His primary instrument is the accordion. Most notable is his body of compositional work for The Eyesores, a genre-be ...

, who wrote the music and arrangements for the group, and played

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

.McLennan, Scott. "Two cutting-edge approaches to music on display", ''

Telegram & Gazette The ''Telegram & Gazette'' (and ''Sunday Telegram'') is the only daily newspaper of Worcester, Massachusetts. The paper, headquartered at 100 Front Street and known locally as ''the Telegram'' or the ''T & G'', offers coverage of all of Worceste ...

'', 1994-03-17, p. C5. The band emerged from the remnants of Redfearn's former band, Space Heater. Although the band members referred most often to their style as

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

,Smith, Andy. "Sonic strangeness from the Amoebic Ensemble", ''

The Providence Journal ''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...

'', 1998-01-01, p. D3. their music has been characterized as

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

, and as

punk jazz Punk jazz is a genre of music that combines elements of jazz, especially improvisation, with the instrumentation and performance style of punk rock. The term was first used to describe James Chance and the Contortions' 1979 album ''Buy''. Punk ...

.McLennan, Scott. "Yes, it's "avant-garde,' but it's still wholesome", ''

'', 1994-03-10, p. C5. Their music has also been compared to that of

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

.McLennan, Scott. "Juggling Suns makes fresh tracks along the jam-band trail", ''

'', 1998-01-22, p. C3. Their album ''Amoebiasis'', although recorded in

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

in late 1996 and early 1997, was released on the French record label Stupeur et Trompette! The people who ran the label also organized the ''Mouvement Internationale des Musiques Innovatrices'' experimental music festival, and took notice when Amoebic Ensemble performed there in 1996. The album was produced by Tom Buckland, except for "Lay Down in the Road", which was produced by Joe Auger. Subsequent to ''Amoebiasiss release, primarily as a result of members being busy in other music projects, percussionists Paige Van Antwerp and Jonathan Thomas, as well as trumpeter Shawn Wallace all left the band. Gerry Heroux took over as trumpeter, and Mark Pedini joined on drums. Matthew Everett changed from bouzouki and mandolin to electric guitar instead.

Members

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Shawn Wallace –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

Jonathan Thomas Jonathan Thomas (born 27 December 1982, in Pembroke) is a Welsh rugby union coach and former player, he played mainly at flanker having also played at number eight and lock. He was previously head coach of Worcester Warriors. On January 17t ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* Matthew Everett –

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

* Laura Gulley –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

* Steve Jobe –

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vio ...

* Paige Van Antwerp –

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 ...

Discography

Limbic Rage

#"Chapter 11" - 3:11 #"Birdfight" - 1:06 #"Limbic Rage" - 2:20 #"The Circus Has Been Cancelled" - 2:50 #"Tango" - 3:35 #"Gimme a Buck or I'll Touch You" - 5:54 #"Boilermaker" - 3:52 #"Repetitive Motion Sickness" - 2:20 #"Three-Ring Bathtub" - 3:24 #"What I Did Last Summer" - 2:58 #"Scratch" - 6:08 #"Owls Are Actually Very Stupid" - 2:39 #"Tertullian Dance" - 2:26 #"Mayday in the Tunnel / Waxing Neuralgic" - 9:00

Amoebiasis

#Wire Up - 1:20 #Big Head Of A Tom - 1:57 #Amoebiasis - 5:24 #Devil's Picnic - 3:08 #Ubu U - 5:00 #Why Are We Whispering? - 2:13 #Downtown - 5:35 #Palindrome - 1:30 #Who's That Glamourpuss? - 1:42 #Lelonia - 2:07 #Lay Down In The Road - 6:41

References

{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1992