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Fantasy supergroup

Dave Matthews and the Undead Origami Artichoke

By Stephen Lin · June 27, 2026 · 6 views

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Dave Matthews and the Undead Origami Artichoke are the year's most talked-about supergroup you didn't see coming. Fusing jam-band warmth with the boundary-shattering legacy of jazz titans Miles Davis and John Coltrane, the propulsive thunder of John Bonham, and the orchestral vision of Leonard Bernstein, the five-piece delivers a genre-defying live experience that's already generating buzz on the festival circuit.

The lineup5 members

  • Dave Matthews

    member of Dave Matthews & Friends, Dave Matthews Band & J-Funk Express, formerly of Tribe of Heaven

    • guitar
    • lead vocals

  • Miles Davis

    member of Miles Davis Quintet, Miles Davis Sextet & Miles Davis Quartet, formerly of Charlie Parker Septet

    • trumpet

  • John Coltrane

    member of John Coltrane Trio, John Coltrane Quintet & John Coltrane Quintet, formerly of Dexter Culbertson's U.S. Navy Band, Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra & Dizzy Gillespie Sextet

    • saxophone

  • John Bonham

    drummer of Band of Joy, Lord Sutch & Heavy Friends & The Senators, formerly of Led Zeppelin

    • drums (drum set)

  • Leonard Bernstein

    American conductor, composer, pianist

    • piano

The sound

How the lineup's genres blend — each bar's width is that genre's share of the members' tags.

  • classical2
  • jazz2
  • rock2
  • cool jazz2
  • hard bop2
  • modal jazz2
  • post-bop2
  • hard rock1
  • other (17)17

The DNA

The real bands behind the lineup — shared bands link the members. Hover to trace a connection.

Tribe of HeavenDave Matthews & FriendsDave Matthews BandJ-Funk ExpressDave Matthews & Tim ReynoldsMiles Davis QuintetMiles Davis SextetMiles Davis QuartetMiles Davis SeptetThe Miles Davis NonetCharlie Parker QuintetMiles Davis and His OrchestraMiles Davis All StarsMiles Davis GroupMiles Davis and His BandCharlie Parker SeptetDexter Culbertson's U.S. Navy BandDizzy Gillespie and His OrchestraDizzy Gillespie SextetGay Crosse & The Good Humor SixJohnny Hodges and His OrchestraElmo Hope SextetThe Prestige All StarsArt Blakey Big BandThe Red Garland QuintetThelonious Monk SeptetThelonious Monk QuartetGeorge Russell OrchestraCecil Taylor QuintetJohn Coltrane QuartetJohn Coltrane TrioJohn Coltrane QuintetJohn Coltrane SextetLed ZeppelinBand of JoyLord Sutch & Heavy FriendsThe SenatorsGerry Levene & the AvengersRockestraThe Nicky James MovementDave MatthewsMiles DavisJohn ColtraneJohn BonhamLeonard Bernstein

The reviews

Three imagined takes on the debut album.

Bowling Gnome
A lineage-collapsing statement: Matthews, Davis, Coltrane, Bonham, and Bernstein converge on a shared language of harmonic risk and groove. The result honors each architect while forging something genuinely new. ★★★★
Monohardcandy
The supergroup curse is real, but this one sidesteps it by refusing to play it safe—three minutes in, they're already arguing about which tradition to demolish next. You can feel them having more fun than is probably allowed.
Toneutensil
Five vocabularies collide with occasional grace but frequent friction; the orchestral ambitions read as constraint rather than liberation. Technically commanding yet oddly airless in its refusal to choose a lane. 6.7

All publications and reviews herein are AI-generated fiction. Any resemblance to real outlets is parody.

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