Defunkt

Danceable jazz

Defunkt was founded in New York in 1978 by the trombonist and singer Joseph Bowie with members of the horn section of James Chance's band James White and the Blacks, starting as danceable jazz in the No Wave underground. Trouser Press describes a seven-piece band led by the singing trombonist, blending funk with avant-garde jazz. Bowie was born in St. Louis, took up trombone at eleven, joined the Black Artist Group at fifteen, studying with Julius Hemphill, Hamiett Bluiett and Oliver Lake, and at nineteen moved to Paris, where in 1973 he co-organized the Human Arts Ensemble; he later worked with Charlie Haden's Liberation Orchestra, David Murray and Count Basie. Early contributors included the saxophonist Byron Bowie, the bassist Melvin Gibbs and the guitarist Vernon Reid, later of Living Colour.

The debut Defunkt (Hannibal HNBL 1301, 1980) was popular in Eastern Europe and Japan; The Razor's Edge came out as a maxi-single in 1981, and Thermonuclear Sweat (1982), produced by Joe Boyd and recorded at Olympic in London and Vanguard and Electric Lady in New York, followed, with Vernon Reid on six tracks. In the early 1980s Bowie says they opened for Prince in Minneapolis, toured with the Clash and Talking Heads and played with Nina Hagen and Grace Jones. He disbanded the group in 1983 for lack of mainstream success and retreated to St. Croix, returned to New York in 1986 and reformed with several singers and a large horn section for In America (1988, Antilles New Directions), which Trouser Press called brilliant, a dynamic rock-funk-jazz concoction.

Later records include Heroes (1990), Live at the Knitting Factory (1991), Crisis (1992), A Blues Tribute to Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix (1994), One World (1995), Journey (2004) and Live at Channel Zero (ESP-Disk, 2016), recorded in Ljubljana in 2015, where Bowie said the club gave the strongest concert of the tour. Bowie is the only constant member and tours Europe regularly; setlist.fm shows 70 setlists, with 2026 dates in Zoetermeer on May 16 and Amsterdam's Bimhuis on July 3. AllMusic called their work some of the most adventurous sounds of the last quarter of the 20th century.