Fred Frith Trio with Lotte Anker and Susana Santos Silva - Road (October 15, 2021 Intakt Records)

Fred Frith is a multi-instrumentalist and a shrewd outsider who walks the line between rock and jazz, improvisation and composition, and hereby presents a breathtaking live double CD with his long-time Bay Area trio. CD1 documents an inspiring trio concert by these extraordinarily creative musicians at Stadthalle Köln as part of Week- End Fest 2019. CD2 features the trio with guests Lotte Anker and Susana Santos Silva. Both musicians have a long history with the trio – Lotte Anker has played with the trio in San Francisco and New York, and Susana Santos Silva joined them for performances in Brazil in 2018, while both have joined the trio to tour the U.S. East Coast and Europe in 2019. Lotte Anker and Susana Santos Silva fire up the trio. And in turn the trio’s inspiration has an effect on Lotte and Susana which feeds back into the group. This creates a unique collective sound that delivers an infectious live energy.

1. Lost Weekend 1

2. Lost Weekend 2

3. Lost Weekend 3

4. Lost Weekend 4

5. Lost Weekend 5

6. Lost Weekend 6

7. Lost Weekend 7

8. Color of Heat

9. The Trees Speak

10. Sinking In

11. Color of Heart

CD 1 (Tracks 1-7)

Fred Frith: Electric Guitar, Voice

Jason Hoopes: Electric Bass

Jordan Glenn: Drums

CD 2 (Tracks 8-11)

Fred Frith: Electric Guitar, Voice

Jason Hoopes: Electric Bass

Jordan Glenn: Drums

Lotte Anker: Saxophones (Tracks 9+10)

Susana Santos Silva: Trumpet (Tracks 8+11)

All music by Fred Frith Trio (CD 1); Fred Frith Trio, Susana Santos Silva, Intakt Records

Lotte Anker (CD 2).

Mixed and compiled at Guerrilla Recordings, Oakland, CA, on May 12, 2021. Mastered at Headless Buddha, Oakland, CA, on July 23, 2021. Creative engineer: Myles Boisen.

Cover art and photo: Heike Liss.

Graphic design: Fiona Ryan.

Produced by Fred Frith and Intakt Records.

Published by Intakt Records.

PREORDER

Fred Frith / Ikue Mori - A Mountain Doesn't Know It's Tall (Intakt Records 2021)

A Mountain Doesn't Know It's Tall. The title reflects the mood of this duo record of Fred Frith and Ikue Mori – playful, poetic, mysterious and open. The guitarist and the sound-artist have been working together for forty years. Live excerpts from their work are documented on Fred Frith's 3 CD box set Live at the Stone (Intakt CD 320). In January 2015, Frith and Mori met in Germany to record the music for a radio play for Werner Penzel, the filmmaker and longtime friend of Fred Frith, for his film Zen for Nothing. After finishing their work, they used the free studio day to record their first duo album together. Influenced by the film music and inspired by the long friendship 15 pieces were created that are both wonderful sound sculptures and fascinating dialogues.

Fred Frith writes: “Air moving through ears and hair and lungs and pores, through songs,and scrapes, and scraps of this, that and the other.” And Ikue Mori writes: “… it was about playing with the everyday noises that arise when cooking, playing ping-pong, and especially when laughing. There is a lot of joy in working with these recordings, interacting with them and making music.”

1. Bodaishin 01:07

2. The Biggest Lie 00:57

3. Stirred by Wind and Waves 01:23

4. Nothing to It 05:11

5. Fushiryō 01:42

6. The Biggest Idiots 02:11

7. Nothing at All 03:16

8. Shōdōka 03:02

9. Good for What? 02:39

10. The Same Moon Sometimes Seems to Smile 02:12

11. Things as They Are 01:56

12. Hishiryō 03:50

13. A Thief Breaks into an Empty House 02:17

14. Now Here 05:17

15. Samadhi 05:27

Fred Frith: Home-made instruments, various toys and objects, electric guitar (on “Nothing to It” and “Now Here”)

Ikue Mori: Laptop electronics

Pre-order

Drone Trio: Davis | Frith | Greenlief - Lantskap Logic (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2018)

Wonderful news coming from the Bay Area, even considering that the participants in this ad hoc trio originated from elsewhere—one from Detroit, another from Heathfield / England and the third from Los Angeles. The recording of Lantskap Logic took place at Mills College in Oakland—where Fred Frith directed the Improvisation program until he retired this year—and specifically at the Mills Chapel, both for reasons of sound and for the chapel’s pipe organ, the favored instrument of in-and out-side pianist, improviser, composer, vocalist, synthesist and teacher, Evelyn Davis. Like Frith, Davis works on multiple fronts, from alternative rock to avant jazz and experimental music, in groups like Frankenixon, Cheer Accident and Chiromancer. Frith was one of the founders, at the end of the Sixties, of the “rock in opposition” band Henry Cow, and established a reputation as one of the great revolutionaries of the grammar and the lexicon of both the electric and the acoustic guitars. They have a like-minded companion in Phillip Greenlief, a prolific composer and saxophonist whose biography includes solo performances and collaborations with figures as diverse as Wadada Leo Smith, Meredith Monk and They Might Be Giants, as well as fronting electro-acoustic ensembles and inter-disciplinary orchestras. What emerges from this partnership couldn’t be more Californian: the intensity of listening in response to space and sonority, the reconciliation of elegance with free expression, the ecstatic eclecticism. Yes, profane improvised music can be as beautiful as a sacred hymn.

Evelyn Davis  pipe organ

Fred Frith  electric guitar

Phillip Greenlief  alto and tenor saxophones

Recorded at the Mills College Chapel /February 25, 2013 by Karen Stackpole | Mixed at Guerilla Recordings, Oakland / March 9, 2017 / Mastered at Headless Buddha | Mastering Lab, Oakland, October 10th, 2018 by Myles Boisen

Produced by Davis/Frith/Greenlief | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos | Cover photo: Heike Liss

Fred Frith Trio - Closer to the Ground (INTAKT RECORDS 2018)

With their second album the Fred Frith Trio with Jason 

Hoopes (Bass) and Jordan Glenn (Drums) continues to 

explore the dimension of the guitar trio. "Closer to the 

Ground" is all about sound, mood, texture, ideas, and 

atmosphere. Playful, intimate, and bound together, the 

Fred Frith Trio reminds us of what listening is all about. 

With a lifetime of experience across almost every field of 

musical endeavor, Frith stretches out in the company of 

two stalwarts of the vibrant Bay Area music scene who 

each have their own stories to tell. As this is also Frith’s 

touring band, many of these themes were already road 

tested so even at their most in-the-moment creative, this 

trio remains dense and tight. 

"Three extravagantly creative musicians employed in 

making music like we’ve never heard before" writes 

Canadian critic Raul da Gama.

Fred Frith

Fred Frith: Electric Guitar, Voice

Jason Hoopes: Electric Bass, Double Bass

Jordan Glenn: Drums, Percussion

Recording January 13 – 15, 2018, at Sharkbite Studios, Oakland by Scott Evans. Mixed at Guerrilla.

Recording in February 2018 and mastered at Headless Buddha, Oakland, March 8, 2018, by Myles Boisen.

Cover art and band photo: Heike Liss.

Graphic design: Jonas Schoder.

Executive production by Anja Illmaier. 

Produced by Fred Frith and Intakt Records.

1. Bones to Pick with Graveyards 05:16

2. Alle planmässigen Ziele werden erreicht 05:06

3. In the Grip of It 04:56

4. Ruhebereich 06:23

5. Stars like Trees 05:56

6. A Path Made by Walking 06:49

7. Betting on the World 02:39

8. Love and Other Embers 07:34

9. Up in Smoke 06:18

Fred Frith & Hardy Fox - A Day Hanging Dead Between Heaven And Earth (2018)

"It began in Big Sur. Fred Frith and I, sitting naked on two small wooden blocks, legs crossed, hands resting on our knees. A small clearing on a rise above the Pacific Ocean, waves pounding a steady beat against the rocks far below. I had arrived at the Zen retreat the previous afternoon and Fred was one of the first people I ran into. I’d met him in more formal situations at Ralph Records, but we had not previously hung out socially. Fred was the current artist-in-residence at Esalen, and had been there nearly six weeks.

He’d invited me to join him in an "air bath" the next morning and so here we sat, bathing in the morning sea air. The glow of Fred's skin made me sadly aware of how much time I spent in a windowless studio. I could easily pass for an albino. Fred was not big on talking, so we sat in quiet contemplation. But soon I became aware of a humming sound and realized Fred was singing quietly to himself accompanied by the rhythm of the waves. I whispered, "What are you singing?" He apologized and whispered back that he was making up melodies. I might not have brought clothing with me, but my Walkman was a constant companion and asked if it were okay to record him. He said I could. We grew close over the next couple of days, and when I returned to San Francisco I transferred the waves, the birds, and the singing to a multi-track tape machine and made a collage.

Next time Fred came through town I played it for him and we speculated on developing the recordings for some kind of Residents/Frith project. The lyrics followed, then Fred’s compositions. Perhaps a year later in 1991, Fred arrived at the studio armed only with a brand-new Zeta MIDI violin. Surrounding himself with his scribbled notebooks, he played all the parts for all the pieces. I recorded him acoustically, as well as collecting input from each string as MIDI data. Afterwards I spent my spare time for several days assembling and reassembling what I had to work with until I had built about twenty minutes of music. I thought it quite good, but not enough material for an album. No additional work took place, and the project was largely forgotten until, many years later, I began cataloging my collection for the new company I’d started, Hacienda Bridge.

There it was. I immediately told Walter Robotka at Klanggalerie what I’d found, and he contacted Fred who was, of course, curious to hear it again after all this time. Fred was enthusiastic, and couldn’t wait to resume work on the long-lost recordings. The original words having meanwhile disappeared, he enlisted the help of his songwriting collaborator Zeina Nasr. The new voice parts were duly recorded, and delighted that his longtime recording engineer Myles Boisen had finally acquired a piano Fred recorded fragments left over in those scribbled notebooks, and the whole thing took on its final shape.

I fine-tuned some audio details a couple of days later, and the whole thing was mastered some twenty-five years after its inception. Often projects are given insufficient time to mature. This one, however, is that seed that falls into the crack in a rock and finds just enough water and nourishment to keep growing until, years later, it splits that rock in half. Hardy Fox. Dedicated to the memory.

Dedicated to the perseverance". A totally unique collaboration by two of the most exciting composers of our time. Sorry if we say so ourselves, but if you need one album in 2018, it'll be this one. A time to bring out those superlatives.

1. Prelude

2. Who will release me?

3. Entr’acte 1

4. Could have been

5. It’s all in place

6. Entr’acte 2

7. How is a Face to replace

8. We who wait

9. A little older

10. Over then (and now)

11. Should see me out

12. Every minute counts

13. Song of the Crow

14. Almost yes unless

follow me

Fred Frith & Hans Koch - You Are Here (INTAKT RECORDS 2017)

Fred Frith is a world renowned improvisor, composer and multi-instrumentalist who has positioned himself on the contemporary music scene between rock and jazz, improvisation and compostition. Experimental saxophonist and bass clarinetist Hans Koch has a similarly superb reputation. In the past few years Hans has dedicated himself to the quieter side of improvisation.

Both musicians have extended the possibilities of their instruments and stepped into new territories. The pair have known each other since the Nineties. As a guest, Frith took part in the “hardcore chamber music“ of trio Koch-Schütz-Studer.

On the new album “You Are Here” they create intriguing sound worlds and fascinating tone structures purely by improvising. It is the music of two mature masters who have worked all their life to develop their own musical language. The duo allows them to make full use of their artistic capability to the great pleasure of the listener.

1. Just a Crack 8:02

2. Strange Is the Night Where Black Stars Rise 12:57

3. Exercises Chronologiques 6:14

4. Lots Out Large 6:20

5. Immagine Prima 1:36

6. Road, Mirror, Forest, Sea 11:43

7. Ever Wonder 7:16

Fred Frith: electric guitar, various small objects

Hans Koch: bass clarinet, soprano and tenor saxophones, spit

Music by Fred Frith and Hans Koch. 

Recorded at the Jazz Campus, Basel, Switzerland / April 23/24, 2016. 

Mixed at Idee und Klang Studio, Basel, Switzerland. 

Engineer: Daniel Dettwiler. Assistant engineers: Jan Sutter & Benjamin Gut. Additional editing: Hans Koch.

Mastered at Headless Buddha Mastering Lab, Oakland, California, Nov 21, 2016. Engineer: Myles Boisen.

Text: Fred Frith. Cover art: Heike Liss. Graphic design: Jonas Schoder. Photo: Daniel Dettwiler.

With warm thanks to Bernhard Ley. Financial support by Migros Aare. 

Produced and published by Intakt Records, Patrik Landolt.

Fred Frith Trio - Another Day in Fucking Paradise (2016) INTAKT RECORDS

INTAKT RECORDS

present

Fred Frith Trio - Another Day in Fucking Paradise (2016)

Intakt CD 267 / 2016

Frith returns to his deep roots in this improvising trio with the classic lineup of guitar, bass and drums. Playful, intimate, and bound together by a dark and delicate interplay, the group reminds us what listening is all about. After a lifetime of experience across almost every field of musical endeavor, Fred stretches out in the company of two stalwarts of the vibrant Bay Area music scene who have their own stories to tell.

Fred Frith writes about his Trio: "When I proposed this trio I had nothing in mind beyond getting together with a couple of formidable musicians who I love and respect and seeing what would happen, which is pretty much the way things go in my world. We played a few gigs many months apart, always had a blast, invited a couple of awesome guests (Lotte Anker and Jessica Lurie) and didn't think much in conceptual or any other terms. It took playing night after night during our European tour of 2015 or some themes to start emerging. I appeared to be channeling some of my earliest rock and roll experiences – jamming with members of Pink Fairies in 1969, a couple of sad weeks in a band with Syd Barrett, and attending Gong and Pink Floyd concerts where I had the chance to absorb the lessons of Daevid Allen and Dave Gilmour. Earlier my electric guitar heroes hadbeen George Harrison and Pete Townsend, and then – as my horizons broadened – Muddy Waters and Sonny Sharrock. McLaughlin's playing in Tony Williams' Lifetime had been a revelation. On tour with the trio these voices all started clamoring for attention, and Jason's stunning ability to wring every-thing there is to be wrung out of an electric bass was as liberating as Jordan's playful, irreverent, and absolute authority. Anything can happen. Really. It's a bloody great feeling. I think this record captures it quite well!"

Fred Frith, der Improvisateur, Komponist und Multi-Instrumentalist, der lachende Aussenseiter zwischen Rock und Jazz, Improvisation und Komposition, kehrt mit seinem aktuellen Trio zurück zu seinen musikalischen Ursprüngen mit der klassischen Besetzung: Gitarre, Bass und Schlagzeug. Verspielt werden frühe Erfahrungen aus der Rock and Roll Zeit verarbeitet und mit Fred Frith's eigenwilliger Spielweise und seinem höchst persönlichen Sound weitergeführt. Nach zahlreichen Konzerten und einer ausgedehnten Trio-Europatournee ging Fred mit seinen beiden Kollegen aus der Bay-Area, dem Bassisten Jason Hoopes und dem Schlagzeuger Jordan Glenn ins Aufnahmestudio. 

Zur Musik schreibt Fred Frith in den Liner notes: "Alles kann passieren. Wirklich. Es ist ein 'bloody great feeling'. Ich glaube, dieses Album drückt dieses Gefühl ziemlich gut aus." Das Gitarrentrio ergänzt die Intakt-Aufnahmen von Fred Frith mit Barry Guy, Katharina Weber, Lotte Anker sowie die beiden Song-Alben mit seiner Band Cosa Brava.

Fred Frith: Electric Guitar, Voice

Jason Hoopes: Electric Bass, Double Bass

Jordan Glenn: Drums, Percussion

Soundsamples of this CD / diese CD probehören

(Player opens in new window / Player öffnet sich in neuem Fenster)

1. The Origin of Marvels 1:30

2. Dance of Delusion 3:08

3. Poor Folly 3:27

4. La Tempesta 2:30

5. Glimmers of Goodbyes 3:26

6. Yard with Lunatics 11:31

7. Only Light and Shadow 6:02

8. The Sleep of Reason 2:19

9. Straw Men 3:40

10. The Deserted Garden 1:25

11. Schlechtes Gewissen 4:28

12. Phantoms of Progress 3:44

13. The Ride Home 1:46 

All Music by Fred Frith Trio. 

Recorded at Sharkbite Studios, Oakland, January 2016. Engineer: Scott Evans. 

Mixed at Guerrilla Recording and mastered at Headless Buddha, Oakland, March 2016. Engineer: Myles Boisen.

Cover art and band photo: Heike Liss. Graphic design: Jonas Schoder.

Produced by Fred Frith and Intakt Records, Patrik Landolt. Published by Intakt Records.

Please click here to order

MAILORDER-PRICE: 

Schweiz: 30 SFr. plus 3 SFr. Porto

Deutschland/Österreich: 18 Euro plus 3 Euro Porto/Versand

International: VISA / MASTER: 30 SFr. plus 4 SFr. Postage

Order adress: Intakt Records, Postfach 468, 8024 Zürich, Fax: 0041-44-383 82 33

intakt@intaktrec.ch

BUY THIS ALBUM

Fred Frith / Darren Johnston - Everybody’s Somebody’s Nobody (2016)

Source: cleanfeed-records

This is the first duo effort to be released by Canada-born, but long time contributor to the San Francisco Bay Area scene trumpeter Darren Johnston, and the legendary guitar iconoclast Fred Frith.  They can also be heard together on the fine release “Reasons For Moving,” (Not Two, 2007), alongside Larry Ochs, Devin Hoff and Ches Smith, but in this more intimate musical gathering, the results are truly astonishing.   The genesis for this session was originally to provide sounds for a short dance film for filmmakers John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson and choreographer Amy Seiwert in a commission for the SF Dance Film Festival, but as can happen when improvisors are effectively inspired by one another, this led to a full release’s worth of exciting new music.

With the distinct and unusual combination of a guitar and trumpet duo, from the very first moments of “Everybody’s Somebody’s Nobody” we feel that they’re inventing a new timbral map and a new format. These are musicians from different generations, but they have more in common than what you might suppose. Johnston has started a path with his instrument similar to the one taken by Frith 40 years ago. After the termination of the prog band Henry Cow, the British six-string player started  intense exploratory work around techniques, vocabularies and forms – frequently creating unprecedented and beautiful new sounds – and his accomplishments have since widely expanded the possibilities of the guitar. Now, Johnston is doing the same with the trumpet, taking it to its limits and sometimes beyond. Don’t miss this important step of today’s music evolution.

Fred Frith, guitar

Darren Johnston, trumpet

01. Barn Dance

02. Scribble

03. Luminescence

04. Everybody's Somebody's Nobody

05. Bounce

06. Morning and the Shadow

07. Down Time

08. Rising Time

09. Scratch

10. Ants

11. Standard Candles

All music by Fred Frith and Darren Johnston

Recorded September 5th, 2013 and December 17th, 2014 at Guerrilla Sound | Engineered and mixed by Myles Boisen | Mastered at Headless Buddha Labs by Myles Boisen | Creative engineer Myles Boisen

Produced by Fred Frith and Darren Johnston | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos | Cover art by Heike Liss

Many thanks to Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, John Haptas, Kristine Samuelson, SF Dance Film Festival, Liss Fain Dance

BUY THIS ALBUM!!!

Domi