Downtown New York, No Wave

Movement · 1976 → · New York · Avant-garde and collectives

Lower Manhattan scene: No New York (1978, produced by Brian Eno), then John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Knitting Factory. Rock, noise, free jazz and funk combined.

What is still debated

AACM → No Wave arrow removed: parallelism only. Influence link from free jazz and funk.

Where it comes from

• Free jazz
• Fusion, jazz-rock, jazz-funk
• Free improvisation and European free

Artists

• John Zorn (1953, saxophone, clarinet, piano, organ, composition)
• Don Byron (1958, clarinet, composition)
• Bill Frisell (1951, guitar)
• Mary Halvorson (1980, guitar)
• James Blood Ulmer (1942, guitar, vocals)
• Ronald Shannon Jackson (1940–2013, drums, composition)
• Kris Davis (1980, piano, composition)
• Dave Douglas (1963, trumpet, cornet)
• Tim Berne (1954, alto and baritone saxophones)
• Myra Melford (piano, composition)

Tracks to start with

• Batman (Naked City) — Naked City (1989)
• Chamber Music — Vincent Segal (2009)
• The Big Gundown — John Zorn (1985)
• Tuskegee Experiment — Don Byron (1992)
• Lookout for Hope — Bill Frisell Band (1988)
• Away with You — Mary Halvorson Octet (2016)
• Diatom Ribbons — Kris Davis (2019)
• Charms of the Night Sky — Dave Douglas (1998)
• Simple City — Tim Berne (2012)
• Sure Grand Out — Myra Melford's Fire and Water Quintet (2026)
• Load Cell — Myra Melford's Fire and Water Quintet (2026)
• Flowers Come Fast — Myra Melford's Fire and Water Quintet (2026)

Sources

• EN : No wave

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