Material: Американская экспериментальная группа 1979-1999 гг.

American band
the 21st century rock band

Material was an American band formed in 1979 and operating until 1999, led by producer and bassist Bill Laswell. The group began in 1978 coalescing at Giorgio Gomelsky's Zu House in Manhattan with at its core Laswell, Michael Beinhorn, Fred Maher, Cliff Cultreri and Kramer, acting as a house band for visiting European musicians, such as Daevid Allen. Laswell, Beinhorn, Maher and Cultreri evolved as Material in 1979 first releasing the Temporary Music EP, followed by two more albums (Memory Serves and One Down) with an ever revolving list of contributors, including singers such as Nona Hendryx, Bernard Fowler and Whitney Houston. From 1982, the name would be used by Laswell and Beinhorn for many projects, including Herbie Hancock's Future Shock album and "Rockit" single, Timezone's "World Destruction" single, and from 1985 onward solely by Laswell such as on Sly and Robbie's Rhythm Killers and Public Image Ltd.'s Album. Laswell would continue with the name as a front for his own projects up until 1999, releasing four more studio albums (Seven Souls, The Third Power, Hallucination Engine and Intonarumori).

In 1978, having received a substantial royalty payment for his work with The Yardbirds, Georgian music entrepreneur Giorgio Gomelsky relocated to New York City in an attempt to open up the American market to the European progressive jazz rock bands he was working with, such as Gong, Henry Cow and Magma. He established the Zu Club in Manhattan and after meeting 24 year old bass player Bill Laswell, encouraged him to form a band. Three young friends, Michael Beinhorn (17, synthesizer), Martin Bisi (17, engineering) and Fred Maher (14, drums), responded to Laswell's advert in The Village Voice and the band began rehearsing in the club's basement. They were joined by guitartist Cliff Cultreri and then by organist Mark Kramer, who had befriended Gomelsky while attending a Captain Beefheart concert. The band became known as the "Zu Band" until Gomelsky hooked them up with former Gong frontman Daevid Allen for a performance at his Zu Manifestival at the Zu Club on October 8, 1978, for which they became "New York Gong". They were joined at this performance by saxophonist George Bishop and drummer Chris Cutler who were working on Allen's N'Existe Pas album, guitarist Michael Lawrence deputised for Cultreri, while Fred Frith guested on some pieces. Allen returned in March 1979 and the group of Laswell, Beinhorn, Maher, Cultreri and Kramer were joined by drummer Stu Martin and alto saxophonist Don Davis, a friend of Kramer. followed by a September and October tour of France, after which Allen and the band amicably parted company when they "discovered they couldn't stand the European way of life". refn|Kramer would work again with Allen, recording the albums Who's Afraid? (1992) and Hit Men (1996) with Bill Bacon, as well as performing live as Brainville and recording The Children's Crusade (1998). The group would play around New York as a three piece with a revolving list of “front men” such as guitarists Sonny Sharrock and Fred Frith, saxophonists Byard Lancaster and Henry Threadgill or cornetist Olu Dara. Laswell explained "We have a lot of directions to pursue, we do get involved in quite a few projects, and we like bringing different people into Material. It's healthy for us as players, and it's a way of exposing good musicians to new audiences. But even though we're fluid, we definitely are a band. And since whatever we play tends to have a strong pulse to it, I'd say we're a rock band Playing with really strong musicians does change our playing, we improvise and play off one another. We may sound somewhat different, depending on who's playing with us, but to me that's an advantage." The first full album as Material, Memory Serves, was instrumental and featured strong jazz leanings with contributions from Sharrock, Frith, Dara, Threadgill and violinist Billy Bang. They started working with singers and their music became more melodic and funkier. Their next single "Ciquiri" (included on the American Songs EP) which featured guitarist Robert Quine, became popular in New York City dance clubs. The 1981 "Bustin' Out" single was released as an extended club mix peaking at number two on the dance charts. On "Busting Out", they were fronted by singer Nona Hendryx with support from guitarist Ronnie Drayton. This line up also recorded "It's a Holiday" for a split single with Cristina. By 1982's One Down, drummer Fred Maher had left the band (he subsequently became a core member of the second incarnation of Scritti Politti), and they embraced a multitude of singers including Nona Hendryx, B. J. Nelson, R. Bernard Fowler and Whitney Houston (in one of her first recordings). Houston's performance was a cover version of Hugh Hopper's "Memories", which also featured a lead break by saxophonist Archie Shepp. Critic Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called her contribution "one of the most gorgeous ballads you've ever heard". As an indication of the direction the band headed for, Chic's guitarist Nile Rodgers was involved alongside Frith and Drayton, but perhaps more significantly, was one of the first appearances of longtime Laswell collaborator Nicky Skopelitis on guitar.

Bill Laswell and Michael Beinhorn settled into a duo and began working with other musicians, producing, writing and performing, with Martin Bisi continuing occasionally as the engineer. They worked initially in the electro genre, but quickly moved into the fields of hip hop and rap, collaborating with turntablist D. St and rappers PHASE 2 and Fab Five Freddy. A chance meeting between Laswell and Herbie Hancock at Elektra Records, in which the latter expressed interest in making music in the vein of Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Gals", led to a collaboration that brought forth the Future Shock album and the hit single "Rockit". On 5 April 2005, Laswell performed a 2 hour concert at WTTW Studios, Chicago with three incarnations of his groups: Tabla Beat Science (with Zakir Hussein, Ustad Sultan Khan, DJ Disk, Karsh Kale, Selim Merchant and Nils Petter Molvaer), Material (with Pharoah Sanders, Foday Musa Suso, Hamid Drake, Aïyb Dieng and Abegasu Shiota) and Praxis (with Buckethead, Brian "Brain" Mantia and Toshinori Kondo), with Bootsy Collins performing MC duties at its climax. An hour long edit was broadcast on the Soundstage series on 13 July 2006.