{{Short description|American jazz band}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Kneebody | image = | image_size = | origin = New York City, New York<br/>Los Angeles, California | genre = {{hlist|Jazz|jazz fusion|jazz-funk}} | years_active = 2001–present | label = {{hlist|Colortone|Greenleaf|Winter & Winter|Low Electrical}} | website = {{URL|www.kneebody.com}} | current_members = Adam Benjamin<br/>Shane Endsley<br/>Ben Wendel<br/>Nate Wood | past_members = Kaveh Rastegar }}
'''Kneebody''' is an American jazz fusion band formed in 2001, consisting of Adam Benjamin on keyboards, Shane Endsley on trumpet, Ben Wendel on tenor saxophone, and Nate Wood on bass guitar and drums.
==History== Ben Wendel, Shane Endsley, Adam Benjamin, and Kaveh Rastegar met in the late 1990s as students at the Eastman School of Music. Benjamin later transferred to CalArts, 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, where they played a weekly residency.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/kneebody-brings-fresh-sound-to-san-francisco-jazz-fest-2007-kneebody-by-aaron-nicholas-arabian|title=Kneebody Brings Fresh Sound to San Francisco Jazz Fest 2007|work=All About Jazz|first=Aaron Nicholas|last=Arabian|date=December 16, 2007|access-date=May 30, 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>Aaron Cohen - Downbeat "Kneebody Creating a New Language"</ref>
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 declared it one of his favorite albums of 2007).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kneebody.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/PressKit1.pdf |title=Kneebody : Press Kit |publisher=Kneebody.com |access-date=2015-06-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422213606/http://kneebody.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/PressKit1.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-22 }}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/Kneebody/posts/10155674754421261|title=Kneebody|website=Facebook.com|language=en|access-date=2019-05-30}}</ref>
In May 2019 the band released the EP ''By Fire'', consisting of covers and guest-vocalists via the label Edition Records.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://editionrecords.com/releases/kneebody-by-fire/|title=Kneebody | By Fire | Edition Records|website=Editionrecords.com|access-date=2019-12-15}}</ref>
==Style and influences== According to Nate Chinen, writing in ''The New York Times'', Kneebody is "a resolutely un-pindownable band"<ref name="Chinen">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/arts/music/19knee.html|title=Tinges of Electro-Pop and Some Ives, Too|first=Nate|last=Chinen|date=February 18, 2010|access-date=December 5, 2011|work=The New York Times}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Chinen"/>
==Members== === Current === *Adam Benjamin – keyboards *Shane Endsley – trumpet *Ben Wendel – tenor saxophone *Nate Wood – bass guitar, drums
=== Former === * Kaveh Rastegar – bass
==Discography== ===Studio albums=== * ''Kneebody'' (Greenleaf, 2005) * ''Low Electrical Worker'' (Colortone, 2007) * ''Twelve Songs by Charles Ives'' with Theo Bleckmann (Winter & Winter, 2008) * ''You Can Have Your Moment'' (Winter & Winter, 2010) * ''The Line'' (Concord, 2013) * ''Kneedelus'' with Daedelus (Brainfeeder, 2015) * ''Anti-Hero'' (Motéma, 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== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite web|url=http://www.westword.com/music/kneebodys-kaveh-rastegar-recalls-the-bands-early-denver-roots-jamming-at-muddys-5673633|title=Kneebody's Kaveh Rastegar recalls the band's early Denver roots, jamming at Muddy's|work=Westword|first=Jon|last=Solomon|date=September 30, 2013|access-date=May 30, 2016}} * {{cite web|url=http://www.westword.com/music/kneebody-says-playing-with-daedelus-is-warm-chaos-7643613|title=Kneebody Says Playing With Daedelus Is "Warm Chaos"|work=Westword|first=Chris|last=Walker|date=February 26, 2016|access-date=May 30, 2016}}
==External links== * {{Official website|www.kneebody.com}} * [https://www.allaboutjazz.com/kneebody-arrives-kneebody-by-rex-butters Kneebody] at ''All About Jazz'' * {{AllMusic|id=mn0001359457|label=Kneebody}} * {{Discogs artist|Kneebody|Kneebody}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:American jazz fusion ensembles Category:Musical quintets Category:Motéma Music artists Category:Edition Records artists Category:Winter & Winter Records artists Category:Brainfeeder artists