Material

Material is a musical group formed in 1979 and led by bass guitarist Bill Laswell.

Early Material was centered around Laswell, guitarist Robert Quine, keyboardist Michael Beinhorn and drummer Fred Maher. There were frequent guest stars, and the music was primarily instrumental. The music was often funky--a few singles were popular in New York City dance clubs--but decidedly experimental.

1982's One Down marked a change towards relatively more accessible mainstream "funk and disco tunes delivered with a minimum of weirdness." "Memories" was Whitney Houston's first recording as a featured vocalist.

Herbie Hancock hired Laswell and many of his Material collaborators for his 1983 album Future Shock and its important single "Rockit".

Laswell has since used the Material name for a variety of projects featuring his usual revolving-door cast of talented musicians. Notable was 1989's Seven Souls, featuring William S. Burroughs reading portions of his novel The Western Lands.