Over nearly two decades, the members of the GRAMMY-nominated band Kneebody have created a genre and style all their own. Their sound is explosive rock energy and high-level nuanced chamber ensemble playing set within the frames of highly wrought compositions that are balanced with adventurous improvising.

Kneebody is keyboardist Adam Benjamin, trumpeter Shane Endsley, saxophonist Ben Wendel, and drummer/bassist Nate Wood. The band has no leader—or rather, each member is the leader. They’ve invented a unique cueing system that allows them each to change the tempo, key, style, and more in an instant.

The group met in their late teens while at the Eastman School of Music and California Institute of the Arts. They became fast friends and converged as Kneebody amid the vibrant, eclectic music scene of Los Angeles in 2001. Over the years, each band member has amassed an impressive list of credits and accomplishments, all while the band has continued to thrive and grow in reputation, solidifying a fan base around the world.

In 2005, Kneebody released their debut self-titled album on Dave Douglas’ Greenleaf Music Label. Low Electrical Worker followed in 2007 on the Colortone Label. A collection of 13 original songs, Low Electrical Worker was hailed by saxophonist Joshua Redman as one of his “favorite albums of 2007.”

In the spring of 2009, Kneebody and vocalist Theo Bleckmann released 12 Songs of Charles Ives on the Winter & Winter label and received a GRAMMY nomination in the Classical Crossover category. 2013 saw the release of The Line for Concord Records. In 2015, Kneebody's groundbreaking collaboration with electronic musician Daedelus, Kneedelus, was released on Flying Lotus’ imprint Brainfeeder to praise from critics and audiences alike. In 2017, Motéma Music released Kneebody’s Anti-Hero. 2019 brought back-to-back releases from Kneebody on Edition Records. In the spring, they released By Fire, an EP featuring an eclectic selection of covers from John Legend to Soundgarden. By Fire was followed by the fall release of Chapters, the group’s first full-length album as a quartet, which mixed deep grooves and deft melodies with a wide range of guests including Becca Stevens, Gretchen Parlato, Michael Mayo, Gerald Clayton, and Josh Dion.

“There isn’t a handy term or genre for the music that Kneebody creates. It’s a band thoroughly acquainted with 1960s free-bop, 1970s jazz rock, 1990s hip-hop and postmillennial indie rock; along with classical postminimalism. (I’m leaving something out, I’m sure.) Whatever the terminology, this group has an audience…”

– New York Times

“Putting a finger on a band like Kneebody is a bit like raising it to the wind. At any given moment, the group’s artistic inclinations can whip in an unpredictable direction.”

– Wall Street Journal