M-Base

6 profiles tagged M-Base, A-Z.

M-Base originated in Brooklyn in the mid-1980s among a loose collective of young musicians organized around alto saxophonist Steve Coleman, who coined the term (short for Macro-Basic Array of Structured Extemporization) to describe not a fixed musical style but a conceptual framework for improvisation. It is generally associated with odd and shifting meters, interlocking cyclical rhythmic structures, and an integration of vernacular Black American musical language (funk, blues) into a demanding improvisational system. Steve Coleman is its founder, with saxophonist Greg Osby, vocalist Cassandra Wilson, and cornetist Graham Haynes among the original M-Base Collective's key members.