Kneebody
Adam Benjamin, keyboards
Shane Endsley, trumpet
Kaveh Rastegar, bass
Ben Wendel, saxophone
Nate Wood, drums
A young up-and-coming jazz quintet, Kneebody is forging out a path directly on that line between popular music and jazz improvisation, with exciting, beautiful results. Eschewing the soloistic histrionics and other ego-driven tendencies young artists sometimes get caught in, Kneebody focuses on an ensemble sound, constantly blurring the line between composed and improvised music.
Kneebody uses a series of musical cues, rhythmic or melodic signposts, to signal a change of direction:a key change, tempo shift, or the end of a solo. This leads to a freshness in their music, keeping band members as well as the audience on their toes at all times. That doesn’t mean, however, that this music is exhausting to listen to. Years of playing together have widened the stylistic palette of the ensemble, and there are nights where literally anything seems possible: Adam Benjamin’s distorted Fender Rhodes might just turn into a rock guitar; the rhythm section will be playing funk one bar, metal the next; the weaving lines created by trumpeter Shane Endsley and saxophonist Ben Wendel sound mercilessly tight and out of control at the same time.
“…the group has carved out a sound completely its own, taking the improvisational spirit that jazz fans love and mixing it with an arresting, multi-faceted aesthetic at once refreshing and challenging.” -All About Jazz
