James Chance
One of the central figures of the No Wave movement of the late '70s, James Chance & the Contortions formed in New York City in 1977. They were led by vocalist/saxophonist Chance, a Milwaukee native (born James Sigfried) who also answered to the alias James White. After relocating to the Big Apple to play free jazz, he fell in with the city's avant-garde community; upon adopting the surname Chance and acquiring a wardrobe of outrageously loud suits, Chance formed the Contortions, an abrasively chaotic funk-noise outfit featuring organist Adele Bertei, guitarists Pat Place and Jody Harris, and drummer Don Christiansen.
After winning acclaim and notoriety for their wild, often combative live shows (the aggressive, nihilistic Chance often picked fistfights with audience members), the Contortions entered the studio with producer Brian Eno to record four tracks for the No New York compilation. After cutting enough material for an LP, 1979's Buy the Contortions, the group crashed along with the No Wave scene; as James White, Chance soon resurfaced fronting the Blacks, a bizarre disco outfit comprised of most of the Contortions alumni, albeit with the notable exception of Bertei, and released Off White. In 1982, the highly regarded Sax Maniac album was released on Chris Stein's short-lived Animal label. Unfortunately, the label disappeared quickly taking the album along with it. Chance recorded his final studio project Flaming Demonics in 1983, again for ZE, under the James White moniker. Chance seemed to have vanished in the next decade, but occasionally his original albums or live recordings would surface, only to quickly disappear. In 2003, the small indie label Tiger Style reissued all the official material Chance/White recorded, along with a few ultra-rare tracks, on the three-disc set Irresistible Impulse. The reissue coincided with Chance's return to playing live again, albeit sporadically. The following year, Tiger Style released a two disc compilation, Sax Education, containing his "greatest hits" with a second disc of a previously unreleased live performance for Radio Holland from 1981.
© Jason Ankeny & Al Campbell /TiVo
Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Soul Exorcism Redux
Alternative & Indie - Released by ROIR on 1 Jan 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lost Chance
Alternative & Indie - Released by ROIR on 23 Aug 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
White Cannibal
Alternative & Indie - Released by ROIR on 12 Sep 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Molotov Cocktail Lounge
Funk - Released by Enemy Records on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grutzy Elvis SoundTrack
Alternative & Indie - Released by ZE Records on 1 Jan 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Citizen of Nowhere
Alternative & Indie - Released by Horus Music Limited on 30 Aug 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
And You
Alternative & Indie - Released by Horus Music Limited on 29 Nov 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Reborn Project: The Old Me Is Dead
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Reborn Production on 11 Feb 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Ek Het Jou Waarlik Lief
Gospel - Released by James White, under exclusive license to Embrace the Brand. Distributed by David Gresham Records on 11 Aug 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Next Level (Direct Edition)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by James White on 7 Jun 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Stay 100
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by 2017 Reborn Productions on 11 Aug 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Overthinking
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Music Gateway on 28 Jul 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo