Last Exit (Free jazz band)

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This article is about the free jazz band, Last Exit, for the Newcastle band and other uses, see the page Last Exit

Last Exit was a free jazz supergroup composed of bass guitarist Bill Laswell, electric guitarist Sonny Sharrock, drummer/occasional vocalist Ronald Shannon Jackson, and saxophonist Peter Brotzmann. They were active in the late 1980s and early 1990s; Sharrock's death in 1994 closed the book on Last Exit, though touring had not commenced for several years before his passing. Before his death, Sharrock noted in a 1993 interview that nearly every single Last Exit performance was possibly recorded. [1]

Last Exit was remarkable for their musical ferocity, matched by confrontational attitudes. Greg Kot writes that they broght a level of "volume and violence that makes most rock bands sound tame."[2]

Their music was largely impovised; John Dugan writes "Granted, one person's free improvisation is another's tuneless chaos, but Last Exit, due primarily to the skill of its individuals, only infrequently fell off the precipice into the netherworld of arty wanking ... The playing is intricate, wildly adventurous, frequently funny, and, perhaps most important, a tribute to musical democracy in action."[3]

Far louder than most jazz bands (even than most free jazz groups) Last Exit found a modest following among some more open-minded heavy metal fans. The band released five live albums, one of which contains guest appearances from Herbie Hancock and Akira Sakata. Most of their albums were released under the Enemy Records label, but the band's sole studio effort, Iron Path, was released on Virgin Records. Enhanced by Laswell's typical studio atmopherics, Iron Path found the band somewhat more restrained, containing less of their blistering live sound, and focusing more on studio textures and experiments.

Most of their albums have been out of print for years; however, in 2005, Atavistic's Unheard Music Series reissued the long out of print Köln album, making it available to the public once more. [4] The material heard on Köln was actually recorded in Germany on February 12, 1986, four days before the Paris concert that was recorded for the release issued as their self-titled debut album. In addition, there is also speculation that the Downtown Music Gallery, a New York based store, will reissue Headfirst into the Flames: Live in Europe on a specialty label it is planning to start [5] - it is listed as "forthcoming" on their website. [6]