Coined by alto saxophonist Steve Coleman in the mid-'80s, M-BASE stands for Macro–Basic Array of Structured Extemporisations. Rather than an organisation or style, the banner refers to an accretive means of expression based on improvisation and structure. Most of the music extends ideas from Africa and its diaspora, drawing in bebop, funk, hip-hop, Indian and Afro-Cuban grooves, all meticulously assimilated into new forms. Its practitioners have created a potent body of work that blends technical rigour, rhythmic boldness and stylistic flexibility. Over the decades, its associates have produced a wide array of approaches including the earthy balladry of Cassandra Wilson, the taut, sultry R&B of Meshell Ndegeocello, the expansive funk experimentation of Graham Haynes and the slashing post-bop of saxophonists Gary Thomas and Greg Osby. Coleman remains the philosophical guiding light, unleashing prodigious lines over taut, shape-shifting grooves to underline the eternal malleability of bebop’s improvisational language.