Loose Joints

Based in New York City after relocating from Iowa, composer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Arthur Russell initiated multiple fleeting collaborative projects in the late 1970s and early 1980s, each applying his distinctive avant-garde approach to disco. While none achieved the commercial reach he sought, all have proven enduringly influential on house and garage, two dance-music lineages that trace roots to disco. Russell delivered Sire's debut disco single in 1979 under the name Dinosaur, then launched Loose Joints and handled production duties on the 1980 West End release "Is It All Over My Face?" A later version that year incorporated a remix by the supportive DJ legend Larry Levan. Russell revived Loose Joints three years afterward to issue "Tell You (Today)" on 4th & Broadway. The group shared its exact lineup with Dinosaur L, the act that placed a 1982 LP on Russell's Sleeping Bag imprint and featured the Ingram Brothers on rhythm section.