Kneebody is an American band formed in 2001, consisting of Adam Benjamin on keyboards, Shane Endsley on trumpet,

Ben Wendel Ben Wendel (born February 20, 1976) is a Canadian jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, ...

on tenor saxophone, and

Nate Wood Nate Wood (born October 3, 1979) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist. He has performed with Wayne Krantz, Kneebody, Tigran Hamasyan, Louis Cole, The Calling, and Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders. Background Nate learned to p ...

on bass guitar and drums.

History

Ben Wendel, Shane Endsley, Adam Benjamin, and

Kaveh Rastegar Kaveh Rastegar is a Persian-American record producer, composer, and bass guitarist. He is best known for his work with John Legend, Sia, Bruno Mars, and Sting and Kneebody. He has two Grammy nominations. For over twenty years, Kaveh Rastegar ...

met in the late 1990s as students at the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

. Benjamin later transferred to

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the ...

, where he met Nate Wood. After graduating Eastman, Wendel and Rastegar moved to Los Angeles, and the band got its start at the Temple Bar and The Vic in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, where they played a weekly residency. The name of the band was a nonsense word invented by Wendel's girlfriend, so that the band had no clear leader and no clear musical connotations. In 2005, the band's self-titled debut album was released on Dave Douglas' Greenleaf Music label. In 2007, they released their next album, ''Low Electrical Worker'', to further critical acclaim (

Joshua Redman Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman (1931–2006). Life and career Joshua Redman was born in Berkeley, California, to jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman a ...

declared it one of his favorite albums of 2007). In February 2019, it was announced that Rastegar would be leaving the group to focus on other projects, with Wood taking on bass along with playing drums. In May 2019 the band released the EP ''By Fire'', consisting of covers and guest-vocalists via the label

Edition Records Edition Records is an independent record label that was founded in 2008 by pianist Dave Stapleton and photographer Tim Dickeson.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Kneebody is "a resolutely un-pindownable band" acclaimed for their eclectic style, which "uses a common jazz instrumentation to make a somewhat less common amalgam of urban-signifying genres, from electro-pop to punk-rock to hip-hop."

Members

Current

* Adam Benjamin - keyboards * Shane Endsley -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Former

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Kneebody'' (Greenleaf, 2005) * ''Low Electrical Worker'' (Colortone, 2007) * ''Twelve Songs by Charles Ives'' with

Theo Bleckmann Theodor Raoul Bleckmann (born 28 May 1966) is a German singer and composer. Biography Bleckmann was born in Dortmund, West Germany. He planned to be an ice skater before becoming a vocalist. In 1989 he moved to New York City and recorded his ...

(Winter & Winter, 2008) * ''You Can Have Your Moment'' (Winter & Winter, 2010) * ''The Line'' (Concord, 2013) * ''Kneedelus'' with Daedelus (

Brainfeeder Brainfeeder is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California, founded by Flying Lotus in 2008, focusing on electronic music and instrumental hip hop. It has signed artists such as Ras G, Samiyam, The Gaslamp Killer, Thundercat, ...

, 2015) * ''Anti-Hero'' (Motema, 2017) * ''Chapters'' (Edition, 2019) * ''Reach'' (GroundUp, 2025)

Live albums

* ''Kneebody Live: Volume One'' (2007) * ''Kneebody Live: Volume Two: Live in Italy'' (2009) * ''Kneebody Live: Volume Three: Live in Paris'' (2011) * ''Kneebody Live Fall Tour 2003'' (2021) * ''Live at Le Crescent'' (Edition 2022)

EPs

* ''By Fire'' (2019)

References

External links

*
Kneebody
at ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'' * * {{Authority control American jazz fusion ensembles Musical quintets Motéma Music artists Edition Records artists Winter & Winter Records artists Brainfeeder artists