Bill Laswell
USA, 1978–now
American bassist and producer who grew up in a Black neighbourhood of Detroit and built a career out of refusing to stay in one genre. With Material and on thousands of records since, he put post-punk energy against funk, fusion and Jamaican dub, and produced Herbie Hancock's 'Rockit', Motorhead, Public Image Ltd and Mick Jagger. His reconstruction of Miles Davis's 1969-74 tapes as Panthalassa is a producer treating a back catalogue as raw material.
MusicRoots documents 4 artists who influenced Bill Laswell and 1 artist Bill Laswell influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.
Who influenced Bill Laswell?
- Miles Davis — Electric Miles, and not as a listener only: Laswell later took the 1969-74 tapes apart and rebuilt them as Panthalassa.
- Parliament-Funkadelic — Detroit, where he grew up. The bass sits where Funkadelic put it — carrying the song rather than following the drums.
- Ornette Coleman — The permission to abandon the form entirely, which is what separates Material from a funk band.
- Jimi Hendrix — Named in the same adolescence — the electric instrument treated as a sound source rather than a guitar.
Which artists did Bill Laswell influence?
- Robert Miles — The dub and ambient direction Miles took after Dreamland runs straight through Laswell, who later played on his records.