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Bill Laswell

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Bill Laswell is an American bass guitarist, producer and label owner, born on 12 February 1955 in Salem, Illinois. His family moved often and eventually settled in Michigan, where the music scene in the 1960s and 1970s was broad, from Motown to Detroit's young punk and rock circuit. Laswell taught himself to play bass and looked for an unusual approach: he wanted to use the bass to create soundscapes, not merely to carry the rhythm. He played in R&B and funk bands and saw concerts by Iggy and the Stooges, MC5 and Funkadelic. He also listened to John Coltrane, Albert Ayler and Miles Davis.

Music and breakthrough

In the late 1970s he moved to New York, where he joined the group that became the first version of Material. Material accompanied Daevid Allen and New York Gong. Laswell worked with Brian Eno, Fred Frith, John Zorn, Ginger Baker and Peter Brötzmann, and became house producer at Celluloid Records. There he recorded experimental music that mixed jazz, funk, pop and R&B, with Sonny Sharrock, Archie Shepp and Henry Threadgill, among others. He has been involved in thousands of recordings and made albums such as Baselines in 1983, Low Life in 1987 and Silent Recoil: Dub System One in 1995. His band Praxis often featured the guitarist Buckethead.

Influence

Laswell is known for his idea of collision music: bringing together musicians from very different worlds and seeing what comes out. His music draws on funk, world music, jazz, dub and ambient. In this way he is an important link between the New York avant-garde, dub and world music.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a piece from Silent Recoil: Dub System One from 1995 and focus on the bass. Notice how heavy and deep it sounds, and how the other sounds float around it like echoes.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists