The Defunkt Music Website

Byron Bowie, Conducter - Big Band in action - Don Glasgo, Associate Conductor

In 1996 Joseph Bowie started formulating the fusion of the great tradition of Big Band music of the 30's and 40's with the popular dance rhythms and grooves of the 70's, 80's and 90's. the development of the Big Band idiom has been lost in nostalgia. Joseph's interests was interested in continuing the evolution of the Big Band sound, but including rhythms and grooves of generations not familiar with the "hay-day" of Big Band music. In Defunkt's recording "One world" (1996 Dureco Records-Netherlands), Joseph with the help of brother and renowned Big Band arranger, Byron Bowie, began to shape this new concept with a "funky" Defunkt rhythm section and 6 horns. This experiment and CD recording planted the foundation for what in 1998 became the "Defunkt Big Band", a 21 piece, slamming rocking, funky big Band for the next millennium. Defunkt songs were arranged and played in "FunkShop" workshops at colleges and universities to prepare arrangements for the professional band.

The Defunkt Big Band was formed in New York City with the cooperation of some of the finest musicians in modern music. John Stubblefield, Oliver Lake, Jack Jeffers, Marty Erlich, Gene Lake, Clifford Adams, Chulo Gatewood, Bill Bickford, Ray Anderson, Adam Klipple, Booker King and James Carter.....just to name a few. The first concert series in March/April of 1998 at the Knitting Factory in New York, was a 6 week series of Monday nights. Word spread quickly of the band's immense power and air-tight arrangements. The stunning vocals of Kelli Sae rounded the band's sound with an unprecedented compatibility with jazz, pop, soul and rock audiences alike. During this series, the band perfected arrangements and developed Joseph's new Big Band concept for Defunkt. This series was so impressive and this new Big Band style so well received, the new Defunkt big Band was asked to open the celebrated Texaco Jazz Festival at the Knitting Factory on June 1, 1998. This opening concert of the festival was a tremendous success and the Defunkt Big Band, in the words of "Jazz Times Magazine", "Blew the house down". This was the first installment to the world of a new, powerfully funky Defunkt Big Band who's prime time is scheduled in the new millennium. This is a musical spectacle beyond imagination, spanning the complete history of modern culture through music with a powerful energy you will not believe!

A must-see & hear! (click here for preview)

BYRON BOWIE , brother of Joseph Bowie, has been an important part of the bands legacy since 1980. He maintains a respected position in Chicago's musical community as a composer, arranger and conductor in the Chicago area. In 1973 for the Bahamian government, he wrote music commemorating their independence from the British Commonwealth of Nations. He has worked and performed with Sammy Davis Jr, Nancy Wilson, Fontella Bass, Brook Benton, Melba Moore, The Dells and many others, and has made numerous recordings with The Manhattans, Aretha Franklin, Jerry Butler, The Ohio Players and has appeared on most of the Defunkt recordings. Multi-talented, Byron brings a wealth of experience to the band stand with Defunkt. He is an enthusiastic and dynamic performer. DON GLASGO is an experienced jazz teacher, conductor, composer/arranger, performer and writer. For the past 27 years Don has directed the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble at Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire), where he has also taught courses in jazz, jazz and literature, American music and world music For the past 12 years he has been Faculty in Music at Goddard College (Plainfield, VT.), where he was also the Director of the Institute for Creative Music and SALSA MEETS JAZZ: The Afro-Caribbean Jazz Seminar with the Eddie Palmieri Octet (August 2001). Glasgo has written over 100 jazz compositions and arrangements and is an accomplished valve trombonist who has performed with Joseph Bowie's Defunkt Big Band, the Oliver Lake Big Band, Michael Ray & the Cosmic Krewe, The Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen, and Phish. He leads his own professional bands, Manteca (Latin jazz) and Gusano (Latin, New Orleans, funk & r&b), is the author of Jazzlines--a newsletter sent out to over 3,000 jazz fans--and a columnist for the internationally-distributed magazine, Jazz Improv.