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Fred Frith
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Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser Fred Frith has been making noise of one kind or another for almost 50 years, starting with the iconic rock collective Henry Cow, which he co-founded with Tim Hodgkinson in 1968. Fred is best known as a pioneering electric guitarist and improviser, song-writer, and composer for film, dance and theater. Through bands like Art Bears, Massacre, Skeleton Crew, Keep the Dog, the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet and Cosa Brava, he has stayed close to his roots in rock and folk music while branching out in many other directions. Composing for dance throughout his long career, Fred has worked with Rosalind Newman and Bebe Miller in New York, François Verret and Catherine Diverrès in France, and Amanda Miller and the Pretty Ugly Dance Company over the course of many years in Germany, as well as composing for two documentary films on the work of Anna Halprin. Theater credits include the Creation Company in New York and François-Michel Pesenti’s Théâtre du Point Aveugle in Marseille, where he spent six months in 1990 working with “jeunes rockers en chômage des quartiers défavorisés” (young unemployed rock musicians from the ghettos) on the opera Helter Skelter. His compositions have been performed by ensembles ranging from Arditti Quartet and the Ensemble Modern to Concerto Köln and Galax Quartet, from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to ROVA and Arte Sax Quartets, from rock bands Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Ground Zero to the Glasgow Improvisers’ Orchestra. Film music credits include the acclaimed documentaries Rivers and Tides, Touch the Sound and Leaning into the Wind, directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer, The Tango Lesson, Yes and The Party by Sally Potter, Werner Penzel’s Zen for Nothing, Peter Mettler’s Gods, Gambling and LSD, and the award-winning (and Oscar-nominated) Last Day of Freedom, by Nomi Talisman and Dee Hibbert-Jones. Fred has performed works by and sometimes alongside composers John Luther Adams, Gavin Bryars, Sylvie Courvoisier, Alvin Curran, George Lewis, René Lussier, Jose Maceda, Meredith Monk, Terry Riley, and Christian Wolff; improvised with Paolo Angeli, Lotte Anker, Derek Bailey, Chris Brown, Lol Coxhill, Chris Cutler, Janet Feder, Joëlle Léandre, Miya Masaoka, Phil Minton, Ikue Mori, Butch Morris, Bob Ostertag, Evan Parker, Zeena Parkins, and Camel Zekri, to name a few; collaborated with classical virtuosi Evelyn Glennie, Katia Labèque, Viktoria Mullova, and Werner Bärtschi; and—as session musician—recorded on albums by, for example, Brian Eno, The Residents, Robert Wyatt, The Swans, Violent Femmes, Material, Negativland, John Zorn, Matthew and the Unfortunates, and Half Japanese. He is currently performing with the Fred Frith Trio and Frelosa. The recipient of Italy’s Demetrio Stratos Prize for his life’s work in experimental music and an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield in his home county of Yorkshire, Fred is Professor Emeritus at the legendary epicenter of American experimental music, Mills College in Oakland, California
Paolo Angeli: Between Avant-garde and Sardinian Traditions
by Libero Farnè
I had not interviewed Paolo Angeli since February 2007, when the Sardinian musician had already moved on from Bologna, a scene that gave him crucial formative experiences and laid the groundwork for his artistic maturity. Since then, Angeli has embraced a wide range of musical experiences and collaborations, steadily building his international reputation through ...
A Brief Guide To Ukrainian Jazz: Part 4
by Ian Patterson
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 The fourth installment of A Brief Guide To Ukrainian Jazz--a series developed with the cooperation of the Ukrainian Institute--introduces four more highly talented jazz artists/groups from Ukraine. The vast range of personal musical identities attests to the strength, depth and originality of contemporary ...
Paolo Angeli: Su "Lema" E Molto Altro
by Libero Farnè
Non avevo intervistato Paolo Angeli dal febbraio 2007, quando il musicista sardo aveva già abbandonato la scena bolognese dove aveva maturato esperienze importanti e formative, di sicuro propedeutiche al raggiungimento della sua pienezza artistica. Da allora Angeli ha affrontato tante situazioni e collaborazioni musicali diverse, vedendo crescere la sua fama internazionale, grazie anche alla ...
Moers Festival Interviews: Zeena Parkins
by Martin Longley
The harpist Zeena Parkins is one of the key players on the New York City improvising and composing fronts, and indeed on the global scene generally. Most of her upcoming gigs are happening around Europe, although her 2024 datesheet is relatively sparse compared to her 2025 plans. She probably became known to most folks when playing ...
Big Ears Festival 2024
by Mark Sullivan
Big Ears Festival Knoxville, TN March 21-24, 2024 After last year's triumphant tenth anniversary, the festival returned with the slogan “The adventure continues." The iconic and influential Nonesuch Records' 60th anniversary was celebrated with performances by Brad Mehldau, Caroline Shaw, Darcy James Argue, Mary Halvorson, Davóne Tines, Sam Amidon, Hurray for the ...
The Complete Obscure Records Collection 1975-1978
by Chris May
The first ever CD box set gathering the complete 10-album catalogue of Brian Eno's Obscure Records has been released by Italian-based label Dialogo. In the mid to late 1970s, Obscure gave a platform to some of the most significant young British composers of experimental music, together with a few Americans. In a quiet way spectacularly successful, ...
Jazz & Dance: modi diversi di unire le due arti
by Neri Pollastri
Sebbene gran parte del jazz nasca dalla musica da ballo e nella sua storia non manchino importanti collaborazioni di musicisti con danzatori --il primo che viene in mente è Steve Lacy --, oggi i rapporti tra questa musica e l'arte della danza non sono frequentissimi. Da un po' di tempo, tuttavia, qualcosa dalle nostre ...
Trespass Trio featuring Susana Santos Silva: Live in Oslo
by Mark Corroto
Adding Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva to Swedish saxophonist Martin Küchen's Trespass Trio for the 2018 Blowout Festival in Oslo, Norway was “a no-brainer." The inclusion of her trumpet, which features in ensembles led by Mats Gustafsson, Fred Frith, and Torbjörn Zetterberg, to name but a few, requires little or no thought. It is as if ...
