Bassist, producer and label owner; Bill Laswell, ranks as one of the worlds most prolific musicians, involved in literally hundreds of recordings, having worked with artists from all over the globe drawing on many different genres albeit more noticably Funk, Dub, Jazz and World Music.
After moving into Girogio Gomelsky's New York loft apartment in the 1970's Laswell became part of a group of musicians that would become the initial incarnation of the group 'Material' where he emersed himself in the East Village scene and became friends with Brian Eno. So much so, that after much persistance Laswell convinced Eno to let him contribute to Eno & Byrne's seminal 1981 release - 'My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts'.
After setting up a recording studio it didnt take Laswell long to become the in house producer for then fledgling label - Celluloid, where he was to record some of his 'Material' releases until his major breakthough in 1983 when he played bass and co-wrote all the tracks on Herbie Hancock's 'Future Shock' which is widely regarded as being a catalsyt for the Hip Hop movement, especially the track 'Rockit', which was the first hit song to feature turntable scratching.
Taken from his first solo LP 'Baselines', 'Upright Man' has to be one of the most infectious grooves Laswell has ever concieved. Featuring some mindblowing bass playing with sampled recordings of a sermon as it's lead vocal joined with a combination of Michael Beinhorn's acid drentched synths, the undescribable contribution of Fred Frith and irate percussion of Martin Bisi making 'Upright Man' one of my favourite Laswell masterpeices.
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