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James Chance aka James White aka James Black, born James Siegfried in Milwaukee, is a No Wave saxophonist who has been playing a combination of improvisational jazz-like music and punk in the New York music scene since the late 1970s, in such bands as Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, James Chance and the Contortions, James White and the Blacks, James Chance & the Sardonic Symphonics, and James Chance and Terminal Velocity.
While he was professionally and romantically linked with No Wave musical luminary Lydia Lunch the duo created seminal No Wave group Teenage Jesus & The Jerks; then after Chance quit the group in 1978 due to professional differences, the pair collaborated on the album 'Off White' (released by 'James White and the Blacks' with 'Stella Rico').
Chance's stage and musical persona were finalized by romantic partner and agent Anya Philips, whose death from cancer in 1981 coincided with Chance's withdrawal from public visibility for over a decade, before reappearing in the mid-1990s.
Chance (and his followers) differed from some of his No Wave compatriots by possessing and demanding from his band a certain level of musical aptitude and talent. His music is frequently described as combining the freeform playing of Ornette Coleman with the solid funk rhythm of James Brown.
Chance was noted for engaging in physical confrontations, from pushing contests to fisticuffs, with his audience, including rock critic Robert Christgau [1] (http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1820&name=James+Chance+and+the+Contortions). This practice is reported to have somewhat diminished after a series of lawsuits and physical injuries.
Discography
- No New York (compilation Antilles 1978)
- Buy the Contortions (ZE-Arista 1979)
- Theme from Grutzi Elvis (EP ZE 1979)
- Off White (ZE-Buddah 1979)
- Second Chance (ZE-PVC 1980)
- Live aux Bains Douches (Fr. Invisible 1980)
- Live in New York (tape ROIR 1981)
- Sax Maniac (Animal 1982)
- The Flaming Demonics (ZE-Island 1983)
- Soul Exorcism (tape ROIR 1991)
- Lost Chance (ROIR 1995)
- White Cannibal (ROIR 2000)
- Christmas with Satan (single Tiger Style 2002)
- Irresistible Impulse (retrospective Tiger Style 2003)
- Sax Education (2004)
External links
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