Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell is a man of endless talent. As an experimenter in all things music, he has served as an artist, producer and label head (Celluloid, Axiom, Nagual). Perhaps his crowning achievement is his ability to view music as boundary-less, where genre lines are blurred and the art of jam and composition are elevated to another plane.

Born on February 12, 1955, Laswell spent his formative years in the Midwest. He honed his penchant for funk at this time while living in Detroit, playing guitar at first and eventually the bass. In 1978 he moved to New York, where he formed the group Material. His experimental forays began to take shape with Material. Styles like jazz, hip-hop and worldbeat fused into the group’s work. Its debut, Temporary Music, came out in 1979.

The prolific Laswell simultaneously launched a solo career, He released his first solo album, 1982’s Baselines, on his own label, Celluloid. His reputation in the underground New York scene grew far and wide. He contributed to songs by David Byrne, John Zorn and Fred Frith, among others. Most notable among the masses was Laswell’s co-writing and production savvy on Herbie Hankcock’s surprise mega-hit, 1983’s “Rockit.” He garnered a Grammy for the follow-up album, Sound-System.

His bass skills were sought by many of the elite, and he spent the mid-‘80s guesting on records for luminaries like Mick Jagger, Peter Gabriel, Yoko Ono and Laurie Anderson. Meanwhile he produced several acts and became a member of the group Curlew.

In 1986 he also became a member of Last Exit. Despite his many involvements, he still managed to release his second solo effort in 1988, entitled Hear No Evil. One year later his other band, Material, released Seven Souls. Yet another project, the hip-hop infused Praxis, released Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) in 1992.

During the formative period of techno and ambient styles, Laswell created the label Axiom to explore this arena. The mid-‘90s were just as productive as the decade prior. He issued solo records on a yearly basis, exploring everything from jazz to DJ beats. His production work made impressions on wide-ranging artists, from Buckethead to DJ Spooky.

In the new millennium he forged a multi-album deal with Sanctuary, which led to his new label, Nagual. Laswell also began remixing reggae cuts from the legendary reggae label, Trojan, who were acquired by Sanctuary. The set, Dub Massive Chapters One & Two, was released in 2005.