Last updated: 10 hours ago
Formed by James Siegfried (aka <a href="spotify:artist:1S3lM6GSUG4lkSQD0Q2fKD">James Chance</a>) in the late '70s, the Contortions were a collision of punk and harmolodic jazz that, along with <a href="spotify:artist:5RISqKCcrhGITX2TQAPGPL">Bill Laswell</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:7yegFhKemMedsme3entsAW">Material</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1f1FGHLhOigcRYNI5pcHuh">James Blood Ulmer</a>, constituted New York's no wave scene. <a href="spotify:artist:1S3lM6GSUG4lkSQD0Q2fKD">Chance</a>'s awareness of cutting-edge jazz -- and a defiantly original saxophone style, an unholy combination of <a href="spotify:artist:2ebK4ueGwhVaXUm060m1BS">Captain Beefheart</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4RAQZfFgR7NPAWjKwUpEeC">Maceo Parker</a> -- injected his music with a brittle energy that was unmatched. The Contortions -- comprising <a href="spotify:artist:1S3lM6GSUG4lkSQD0Q2fKD">Chance</a>, Pat Place (guitar), Jody Harris (guitar), Adele Bertei (keyboards), George Scott III (bass), and Don Christensen (drums) -- debuted in 1978 on No New York, a seminal sampler chronicling the city's no wave movement. The band's experimental fusion of punk, free jazz, and funk was exemplified on the startling Buy, issued on the then-fashionable <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ze%22">Ze</a> label. Three live sets, released following the Contortions' demise, chronicled their memorable in-concert power. A later version of the band, <a href="spotify:artist:6UY2yCOBXcmlI0BEbo2emE">James White and the Blacks</a>, fostered <a href="spotify:artist:0semRMW6Bzf0X8cI7AYTpN">Defunkt</a> as a separate entity, kick-starting the black rock movement that begat <a href="spotify:artist:6Uhp7WA6sjm5ZL6Xz561de">Living Colour</a>. Heroin problems prevented <a href="spotify:artist:1S3lM6GSUG4lkSQD0Q2fKD">James Chance</a> from reaching a large audience, but his spiky, beautiful music remains as a testament that jazz chops do not necessarily make for tedious rock music. <a href="spotify:artist:1S3lM6GSUG4lkSQD0Q2fKD">Chance</a> died on June 18, 2024, at the age of 71.
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