Above image scanned from Frith's CD Step Across the Border, cheap colorization by DP.
Around that time, his record Gravity was released on Ralph records. It was then and is now one of my very favorite records, employed sparingly for those times when I need to be cheered up, especially when the world of music has stopped sounding musical...
I've become aware that I'm not at all alone in according Frith a special status among living musicians. While he'll never be "popular" in the numerical sense of the word, his recordings and especially his live performances have earned him a large place in many a musician's heart (and among "musicians" I am including all those who follow music with a passion, whether they play an instrument or not). If you are unfamiliar with Frith's work, try to see him live. Failing that, check out Gravity, Step Across the Border (also see the film to which which most of this album's music belongs), or one of the other recordings listed in the first category below, under his own name. Many of the other albums, particularly the live improvisations, lose something by our not being able to see the incredible magical grace with which Frith moves the objects with which he plays the guitar.
- Dan Plonsey
For a good deal more information about Frith, including a couple great discographies, biography, interviews and color pictures, see Malcolm Humes' Fred Frith Home Page.
Following is our official press release.
Tickets available at Aquarius Records (SF), Shambhala Books (2482 Telegraph, Berkeley), and at the original gallery (2230 Shattuck, Berkeley).
Even a seasoned publicist would be hard-put to praise the extraordinary Fred Frith overmuch. The word ``influential'' is a grossly inadequate. Frith's exploration of the ``table-top guitar'' and his use of household objects upon the guitar have permeated the music of creative guitarists all over the world to the point that it's unusual to see an improvising guitarist who doesn't at some point begin hammering upon the strings with an electric screwdriver or egg-beater!
But Frith's influence upon the music world goes far beyond the damage he's indirectly caused to thousands of guitars. From early on in his career, he has worked in the region where rock, jazz, folk, classical music and noise all intersect; a region which he has widened to reveal a whole unexplored universe of possibility. More than any other living musician, Frith is responsible for creating a musical world in which rock can be high art (consider his early groups Henry Cow and Art Bears), high art can be rock (consider the music presented at New York's ``Bang on a Can'' festival), and in which no one knows what jazz is anymore (consider the music being presented at the Knitting Factory, or locally at The Dark Circle Lounge, and in Beanbender's series). The genre-breaking works of John Zorn, Brian Eno, The Residents, Eugene Chadbourne and Bill Laswell show the effects of having worked with Frith. Step Across the Border is indeed an apt title for Humbert and Penzel's film documentary of Fred Frith's music!
Perhaps even more importantly, Frith has been an inspiration to musicians and artists for his dedication to addressing social causes through his music, and for his disinterest in the mainstream music industry. Instead of chasing fame and money, he continues to work on projects that interest him, choosing collaborators who excite him.
In the last two years, Frith has recorded a series of duets with such improvisors as Zorn (The Art of Memory (Incus CD20, just released)), Chris Cutler, Hans Reichel, Tim Hodgkinson, Marc Ribot, etc.; a string quartet and guitar quartet CD (Quartets (ReCDec 44, 1994), an opera (Helter Skelter), and many collaborations with Zorn \& Naked City, Richard Teitlebaum, and the ROVA sax quartet.
The ultimate source of all of Fred Frith's musical discoveries would appear to be his relationship with the guitar. His music comes about as the synthesis of his investigations outwards (the guitar in music around the world) and inwards (exploring the very anatomy of the guitar, and its extensions through interaction with other common household objects). The ideal context for experiencing Frith during the moment of creative discovery is to hear and see him playing solo. About these performances, Malcolm Humes writes:
``I think the charm of improvised music is often lost in the recording process, which may result in it being more difficult for the non-initiated to `get into it' or understand what's going on. Frith's live shows invariably place a high emphasis on humor, and the humor is often visually rooted. It's not just the strange sounds that Frith coaxes from his guitar that are interesting. It's also typically quite engaging to watch him assault his guitar with handkerchiefs, toys, kitchen utensils and such. He makes a habit of shopping local hardware stores for tools before his live performances. There's a sincerity and seriousness to his playfulness that shines though, and I suspect that those elements are rarely transmitted well via recordings on lp or CD. One should see Fred Frith live to really capture the full experience of his improvising.''
It is a rare and special occasion to have Fred Frith playing solo in the Bay Area. The virtuosic balletic grace, the beauty and humanity of his playing is indescribable. Fred Frith's music touches some place very deep, and never fails to stir both the heart and the imagination of the listener.
Following is a selected discography (taken from a 162-entry discography by Patrice Roussel).
For more information, photos, recordings, or to schedule an interview with Fred Frith, please call Dan Plonsey at (510) 528-8440, or send e-mail to: dan@plonsey.com
Quartets (String Quartet & Guitar Quartet) - CD ReCDec 44 (1994) Guitar Solos Complete - (from LPs, V1, V2, V3) (1991) Step Across the Border - (compilation of recordings from 1979 - 1989) The Technology of Tears - CD ReCDec 20 The Top of His Head - LP/CD MTM 21 (Crammed Discs, 1990) Cheap at Half the Price - CD ReCDec 903 (1983) Speechless - CD ReCDec 901 (1981) Gravity - CD East Side Digital (USA), EAS 8045 (1980)
The Country of Blinds - LP RecRec 12 (1986) Learn to Talk - LP RecRec 05 (1984)
Massacre
Killing Time - LP (1982)
Art Bears
The World as it is Today - LP Re6622 (1981) Winter Songs - LP Re0618 (1979) Hopes and Fears - LP Re... (1978)
Henry Cow
In Praise of Learning - LP ESD Unrest - LP ESD Western Culture - LP ESD
with Lol Coxhill: French Gigs - LP AAAA 02 (1983) with Chris Cutler: Live in Prague & Washington - LP Re 1729 (1983) with Rene Lussier: Nous Autres - LP Victo 01 (1988) with Tim Hodgkinson: Live Improvisations - Megaphone, Woof 013/Megaphone 002 with Hans Reichel: Stop Complaining/Sundown - CD FMP 36 with Marc Ribot: Sounds From a Distant Episode - Subsonic (1995) with John Zorn: Art of Memory - CD Incus (1995)
with Aksak Maboul: Un Peu de l'ame des Bandits - LP CRAM 002 (1980)
with Material: Memory Serves - LP (1981)
with Henry Kaiser: With Enemies Like These,
Who Needs Friends? - CD SST 147
with David Moss: Dense Band - LP (1985)
with Kaiser, Richard Thompson and John French:
Live, Love, Larf and Loaf - LP (1987)
with Ferdinand Richard: DROPERA: Fred and Ferd - CD ReCDec 32 (1991)
with Francois-Michel Pesenti: Helter Skelter - CD ReCDed 40 (1993)
with John Zorn and Naked City, etc. Too many to list....
Above image scanned from Frith's CD Step Across the Border, cheap colorization by DP.