Madhouse (band)

Madhouse is a jazz fusion band from Minneapolis that was created by Prince. Two Madhouse albums (and several singles) were officially released in 1987.

Prince had considered the idea of an instrumental jazz–funk album ever since he recorded his first tracks with Eric Leeds for his 1985 side-project, The Family. In late 1985–early 1986, he recorded hours of instrumental music with Leeds and other musicians from his band, Sheila E. and musicians from her own band, as well as members from Wendy & Lisa's families. From these sessions, Prince compiled an album called The Flesh, supposed to be released by an eponymous pseudo-band, but the project was abandoned and its concept lightly modified to become Madhouse.

All instruments on 8, the first Madhouse album, were performed by Prince except for the saxophone and flute parts which were performed by Leeds. The album consists of instrumental jazz-fusion tracks. A remix of the track "Six" was released alongside the B-side "Six & 1/2", composed by Leeds and featuring Atlanta Bliss on trumpet.

16, the second Madhouse album, featured contributions by Leeds on saxophone and flute, Sheila E. on drums and Levi Seacer, Jr. on bass guitar (the three of them co-composed a few tracks besides playing on the album.) "Doctor" Matt Fink (keyboards) and John Lewis (drums) are also credited in the album's booklet but their participation to the recording is more than uncertain (though both were part of the short-lived live-version of the band.) 16 features more aggressive and minimalist jazz funk tracks than its predecessor. Two singles were released, "Ten" and "Thirteen", with the title tracks remixed and two B-sides.

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