James White and the Blacks “Sax Maniac” 1982. Animal Records. No-waver, jazz punk James Chance aka James White died last week (b. James Siegfried 1953, d. June 18th 2024) and I’m contractually obligated to note that he was a Milwaukee native. Last week my social feeds were filled with remembrances: SO many of my friends and acquaintances knew him/met him/were at bars with him – I’m assuming he came back to Milwaukee from New York to visit family periodically, etc. (one guy I was in a band with in the early 2000’s was in the Milwaukee-based band Death with Chance in the 70’s).

Sax Maniac was the second release from his James White and the Blacks project (he a few other concurrent bands including James Chance and the Contortions, James Chance and Pill Factory and James White’s Flaming Demonics). As the title promises, it is heavy on the sax (played by White/Chance) and a weird mix of new wave, jazz, funk and serious quirk. The title track is my top pick – it has a sexy groove, loaded with funk via bass and horn – the most (only) danceable song on the LP. There’s one cover, “That Old Black Magic,” which originally appeared in the 1942 movie musical Star Spangled Rhythm and has been covered by several artists since, including Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra and, of course, James White/Chance.