R.I.P.: James Chance of the Contortions Remembered

Text by Dawoud Kringle

James Chance Saxophonist, bandleader of The Contortions and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and No Wave pioneer James Chance passed away.

Born James Alan Siegfried in Milwaukee, Chance began studying piano in elementary school and in his teens began playing the alto saxophone. He attended Michigan State University and Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee where he formed the James Siegfried Quintet and Death, a Stooges-influenced group. He would later study with jazz saxophonist David Murray.

He moved to New York in 1975 and began using the stage name James Chance. A year later he formed Teenage Jesus and the Jerks with singer Lydia Lunch. In 1977 he formed the first version of the Contortions.

By this time, Chance and the Contortions were an integral part of the No Wave scene in New York. Chance gained a reputation for his confrontational stage presence. He would often start fights with people in the audience.

Their first recording, credited solely as Contortions, was on the 1978 compilation, No New York, produced by Brian Eno. They released their first album “Buy” in 1979. Far Out magazine described it as described as a “jazz funk manifesto for the punk generation.” The same year, they released two albums on Ze Records under the moniker James White and the Blacks (after the band’s breakup, trombonist Joseph Bowie formed Defunkt with his brother Lester). The Contortions also appeared in Rosa von Praunheim’s film Das Todesmagazin in 1979.

The Contortions broke up in 1979. Original Contortions guitarist Pat Place went on to found the group Bush Tetras. Bass player George Scott played with 8-Eyed Spy with Lydia Lunch and Michael Paumgarten. Guitarist Jody Harris formed the Raybeats with Don Christensen, George Scott III, and Pat Irwin. Keyboardist Adele Bertei formed the Bloods, after which she released a solo record, Little Lives, in 1988. In 1979 George Scott toured with John Cale. Steven Kramer played organ and percussion in the second incarnation of the Contortions in 1979–80 and later led the Twin Cities MN-based funk/polka band The Wallets.

Chance released several albums after the breakup of the Contortions; Live aux Bains Douches (1980), Live in New York (1981), Soul Exorcism (1991), Lost Chance (1995, which featured a cover of James Brown’s “King Heroin,”), Molotov Cocktail Lounge (Enemy, 1996), White Cannibal (2000), and The Flesh is Weak (2016). Over the course of his three-decade career, Chance recorded almost comical tracks such as “Disposable You” and “(I’m Not A) Bedroom Athlete.” Chance’s punk-funk style influenced people such as Sonic Youth, Alan Licht, Flying Luttenbachers, Liars, Deerhoof, U.S. Maple, Xiu Xiu, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Chance reunited with some members of the band in 2003 for a series of shows and toured together in the following years. Chance also performed with the Chicago band Watchers. On November 30, 2010, James Chance, Pat Place, Don Christensen, Jody Harris, Adele Bertei, and Robert Aaron reunited as James Chance and the Contortions at Le Poisson Rouge for a single performance. Chance’s final live performance is believed to have taken place in March 2019 in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Chance died on June 18, 2024, at the age of 71 (as of this writing, the cause of death was not made public). He is survived by his mother, Jean Siegfried; brother, David Siegfried; and sisters, Jill Siegfried and Mary (Randy) Koehler.