Early years Laswell began performing as a bass guitarist in R&B and funk bands in Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and saw shows that combined genres, such as Iggy and the Stooges,
MC5, and
Funkadelic. He was also influenced by jazz musicians
John Coltrane,
Albert Ayler, and
Miles Davis. The live jazz performances and experimental rock acts of Michigan's music festivals encouraged him towards musical experimentation and non-traditional forms, including African drumming, Indian ragas, and Middle Eastern maqams. Later, he was intrigued by the avant-garde and experimental movements of the 1970s, including the works of minimalist composers and electronic music pioneers. He began experimenting with effects pedals and early recording techniques, reflecting his broader artistic philosophy, that music could transcend traditional categorizations and connect diverse cultural and sonic elements.
New York and Material In the late 1970s Laswell moved to New York City, He started a recording studio with
Martin Bisi and met Jean Karakos, owner of
Celluloid Records. Under the Material name Laswell became the
de facto house producer for Celluloid until the label was sold in the 1980s. He recorded music that was experimental, combining jazz, funk, pop, and R&B, by musicians such as
Whitney Houston,
Sonny Sharrock,
Archie Shepp,
Henry Threadgill, and the band
Massacre with Fred Frith and Fred Maher. His association with Celluloid allowed his first forays into "collision music", a term coined by British writer Chris May of
Black Music & Jazz Review. Recordings with
the Golden Palominos and production on albums by
Shango,
Toure Kunda, and
Fela Kuti appeared on the label. Celluloid was an early advocate of hip hop, producing albums by
Fab 5 Freddy,
GrandMixer D.ST,
Phase II, and
Afrika Bambaataa. The album
World Destruction paired
John Lydon with Afrika Bambaataa years before
Aerosmith and
Run–D.M.C. collaborated on their rock/hip hop version of "Walk This Way". In 1982, Laswell released
Baselines, his solo debut album. A year later, he had a breakthrough with "Rockit", a song he co-wrote and produced for Herbie Hancock's album
Future Shock.
Running Axiom Island Records founder
Chris Blackwell gave him the opportunity to begin a label in 1990, thus forming
Axiom Records. In addition to albums by Material that included Sly and Robbie, William S. Burroughs,
Bootsy Collins,
Wayne Shorter, and
Bernie Worrell, he produced and released albums by Ginger Baker, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Sonny Sharrock,
Nicky Skopelitis, and
Umar Bin Hassan. Among the studio-based albums, Palestinian
oud and violinist
Simon Shaheen recorded an album of music by Egyptian composer
Mohammed Abdel Wahab. Gambian virtuoso
Foday Musa Suso recorded an album of dance music with his electric
Kora, and Turkish
saz master Talip Oezkan recorded an album.
Master Musicians of Jajouka recorded an album in their village in the
Rif Mountains. There were albums by
Mandinka and
Fulani recorded at Suso's family compound in
Gambia and
Gnawa music from Morocco. Praxis featured guitarist Buckethead on
Transmutation with Bootsy Collins,
Bryan Mantia, Bernie Worrell, and
Afrika Baby Bam from the
Jungle Brothers. The album blended funk grooves and heavy metal riffs with many tracks co-written by Laswell.
Funkcronomicon included previously released tracks by Praxis and Skopelitis and tracks with members of Parliament-Funkadelic.
George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, and the last recordings of
Eddie Hazel are featured prominently. The album includes
DXT, Umar Bin Hassan,
Abiodun Oyewole and Torture. Laswell remixed the Axiom catalog for
Axiom Ambient, blending seemingly disparate tracks, releasing some of the music for
Sample Material – International Free Zone, a
sample library for other musicians to use as material.
Other labels Subharmonic, conceived by Laswell and ex-Celluloid A&R Robert Soares, though not owned by Laswell, was essentially a vehicle for his projects, most in the ambient or ambient-dub categories. The label licensed a few releases from European labels for American re-release, notably
Psychonavigation with
Pete Namlook and
Cymatic Scan with
Tetsu Inoue from Pete Namlook's FAX label;
Somnific Flux with
Mick Harris and
Cold Summer by
Lull from the Sentrax label. Other collaborators included
Jonah Sharp and
Terre Thaemlitz. The label also released albums by
Painkiller, Praxis, and Divination, an ambient dub project by Laswell. A sub-label called Strata was created with five releases in a more experimental dub/noise/ambient vein. Each of these releases (Death Cube K, Cypher 7, Azonic, and two under his alias Automaton) came in a black jewel case with the name of the project and album title printed on the front. Three other short-lived labels were created after the demise of the Subharmonic deal. One was Meta, which was intended to be a
spoken word label. The second label, Submeta, managed four releases before folding. Meta, formed with Janet Rienstra, released only one album,
Baptism of Solitude with novelist
Paul Bowles reading excerpts from his work over soundscapes by Laswell. Meta would appear periodically, distributed by other labels, over the next few years until it returned as a spiritual/yogic label run by Rienstra. The third label, Black Arc, was an associated label of
Rykodisc focusing on "Black Rock, Cyber Funk, and Future Blues", according to a sampler. The label featured members of P-Funk on most of the albums and released albums by Bootsy Collins (under the name "Zillatron"), Bernie Worrell (Japan-only), Mutiny (
Jerome Brailey), and
Billy Bass.
Charged (1999) by
Eraldo Bernocchi and
Toshinori Kondo was released by Laswell's label Innerythmic. After a brief inactive period, the label restarted in 2001, releasing over the next few years and albums by Nicky Skopelitis,
Raoul Björkenheim,
James Blood Ulmer,
Shin Terai, and Gonervill. Innerhythmic also released a live recording by Praxis and reissued Black Arc albums from the 1990, including Zillatron, The Last Poets'
Holy Terror and
Buddy Miles'
Hell & Back. Laswell moved his studio to
West Orange, New Jersey and called it Orange Music Sound Studios. Under Palm's umbrella, though, four albums and a DVD set were released, including a studio album and a live 2-disc set from
Tabla Beat Science centered on
tabla virtuoso
Zakir Hussain, son of
Alla Rakha. The album included
Karsh Kale,
Trilok Gurtu,
Ustad Sultan Khan, and
Talvin Singh. This group has performed in the US, Lebanon, and Japan. Laswell, Kale, Kahn, and Hussain are usually supplemented by other musicians, which have included
Gigi,
DJ Disk,
Serj Tankian from
System of a Down,
Sussan Deyhim, and artist Petulia Mattioli. In 2001
Life Space Death was released with Japanese trumpeter
Toshinori Kondo, Laswell on bass, guitar, and keyboards, and words by the
14th Dalai Lama interviewed by Kondo. At the request of Blackwell, Laswell oversaw the debut album by Ethiopian singer Gigi for Palm Pictures with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Laswell. He also produced
Abyssinia Infinite and
Gold & Wax. Laswell has stated in interviews that he met with Miles Davis a number of times and discussed working together, but busy schedules kept them from arranging such a recording before Davis' death. He remixed some of Davis's music for
Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-1974 (Axiom, 1998). In November 2018, he performed in
Dave Douglas Uplift band at the
London Jazz Festival. Laswell suffered health problems which required hospitalization in December 2022 and prolonged recovery, which jeopardized his tenure of Orange Music Studio. Prior to his health problems, Laswell had been recording as a duo with his long-time on-and-off collaborator Zorn releasing the albums
The Cleansing (2022) and
Memoria (2023) on Zorn's
Tzadik label. His first venture during his health recovery in 2024 was a new Painkiller album titled
Samsara with Zorn and original drummer Harris, although for this recording Harris' percussion is electronic and Zorn then Laswell layered up their contributions separately.
Collaborators Laswell works frequently with a small group of collaborators. These include bassists
Jah Wobble,
Josh Werner,
Jonas Hellborg, and
Bootsy Collins; guitarists
Buckethead and Nicky Skopelitis; keyboardists
Jeff Bova and Bernie Worrell; percussionists
Aïyb Dieng and Karsh Kale, and musicians from P-Funk.
Robert Musso has been his chief engineer for over twenty years. Oz Fritz has occasionally filled the role. Fritz is usually Laswell's live engineer of choice, known for live mixing technique. Remixes have been done for
Sting,
Nine Inch Nails,
Almamegretta,
Scorn,
Ozzy Osbourne, and
Tori Amos. He has done much work for John Zorn's
Tzadik Records. In 2005, Laswell was invited to appear on the PBS series
Soundstage. The show featured musicians he has played with over the years, including members of Praxis and Tabla Beat Science, Pharoah Sanders, Foday Musa Suso, Bootsy Collins, and
Catfish Collins. Laswell worked with Sony Creative Software on a box set loop library called
The Bill Laswell Collection. He has also worked with
Eraldo Bernocchi and
Mick Harris on a project called
Equations of Eternity, which is an ambient music project started in 1995 by Eraldo. Since its members live in separate parts of the world (Mick Harris in England; Bill Laswell in the US; and Eraldo Bernocchi in Italy), the project has been predominantly studio-based, with its members recording music in their respective countries. ==Discography==