Jazz Articles about Fred Frith

About Fred Frith

Radio & Podcasts

Fred Frith Solo Live at BIMHUIS Amsterdam

by BIMHUIS
October 8, 2018

Since the 1960s, composer and multi-instrumentalist Fred Frith has been blurring the borders between rock, folk, improvisation and contemporary music. His influence as an artist was already evident in the early seventies, first as a result of his work with the innovative British rock band Henry Cow and later with Brian Eno. He moved to New York at the end of that decade, and began collaborating with artists like John Zorn, Tom Cora and Bill Laswell. He has worked as ...

Live Review

Fred Frith's solo performance at the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra's Concert Hall

by Nenad Georgievski
February 23, 2018

Fred Frith The Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra's Concert Hall Skopje, Macedonia February 21, 2018 Nothing about guitarist Fred Frith's quiet demeanor as he walks on stage towards his guitar would give any indication of what will follow soon and where he will take the music and the audience with him. And during the performance at the Concert Hall of the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, this master improviser and master conceptualist has shown the audience why he is ...

Album Review

Fred Frith Trio: Another Day in Fucking Paradise

Read "Another Day in Fucking Paradise" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
September 6, 2016

The album title may equate to what a disgruntled co-worker may utter at the office on a Monday morning. Yes, some of us have used this line, but master improviser, guitarist Fred Frith's prowess and boundless creativity is the antithesis to anything that may cause a semblance of drudgery. Jason Hoopes' bursting e-bass lines and Jordan Glenn's vigorous drumming and colorful accents supply all the ammo Frith needs via his speed riffing, unearthly effects and keen use of ...

Album Review

Fred Frith / Darren Johnston: Everybody's Somebody's Nobody

Read "Everybody's Somebody's Nobody" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
May 27, 2016

Here's a West Coast entrant to the slim body of guitar/trumpet duets from iconoclastic strummer Fred Frith and trumpeter Darren Johnston. It collects 11 short cuts from two studio sessions into a three-quarter hour program. They're not averse to co-opting rhythms (Frith) or melodic figures (Johnston), meaning that what we have here can be termed the accessible avant-garde. Each jointly crafted extravaganza explores a different mood. They ring the changes both between numbers but also within them, especially in some ...

Album Review

Fred Frith, Darren Johnston: Everybody/s Somebody/s Nobody

Read "Everybody/s Somebody/s Nobody" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
May 16, 2016

La sensazione è quella di trovarsi all'interno di una navicella che vaga lassù, nello spazio. I suoni giungono ovattati, i movimenti sono lenti e rallentati benché fluidi, vi è un certo distacco dalla crudezza della realtà terrena come se si fluttuasse in una dimensione temporale che segue altri ritmi, altre storie. Talvolta ci si imbatte in turbolenze che scuotono dal rassicurante torpore, i sensi si allertano, si verificano anomalie che portano un po' di disordine nel normale corso delle cose. ...

Album Review

Fred Frith, Barry Guy: Backscatter Bright Blue

Read "Backscatter Bright Blue" reviewed by Vic Albani

by Vic Albani
June 25, 2015

Con la doverosa e ormai classica intraprendenza, l'intelligente Intakt elvetica ha chiamato due universi musicali distanti fra loro come quelli di Fred Frith e di Barry Guy nello studio di Willy Strehler per quella che potremmo sì definire una session d'improvvisazione ma che porta con sé anche un gradiente di creatività semplicemente straordinario. Quando c'è di mezzo quel genio del signor Frith questa, di base, si chiama normalità. Guy parla di questa incisione come di “sillogismo musicale," frutto dell'ascolto reciproco ...

Live Review

Brilliant Corners Jazz Festival 2015

by Ian Patterson
April 6, 2015

Brilliant Corners Jazz FestivalBelfast, Ireland March 25-28 , 2015 Brilliant Corners may not be the biggest jazz festival in Northern Ireland--that accolade belongs to the City of Derry Jazz and Big Band Festival--but in just three editions it can already lay claim to being the best. Eschewing the populist acts that characterize Derry's sprawling jazz festival, promoter Moving On Music has quickly established Brilliant Corners as the home of new and cutting edge ...