Fred Frith is a pioneer of the extended electric guitar. He learned to compose in Henry Cow, developed his song-writing skills in Art Bears, explored his multi- instrumentalism in Skeleton Crew, rocked the house with Massacre and is still doing all of those things, having been in one band or another continuously since 1964! Meanwhile his work has been performed by ensembles, string quartets, chamber orchestras, and a whole range of groups and artists in the ever-expanding field of semi-popular music. Fred composes extensively for film and dance, and taught improvisation for years at Mills College in Oakland, California and the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland. His passion for improvising, evident from the beginning, has increasingly led him to work with artists who don’t necessarily define themselves as improvisers, including Brazilian drummer Mariá Portugal, Argentinian cellist and performance artist Paula Sanchez, and bricoleur extraordinaire Sudhu Tewari.
“if (you) haven’t seen Fred improvise solo, (you) must. Just to see him live, it has to be done. It’s one of the wonders of the world.”Marc Ribot
“Fred Frith is a great drummer” Miles Davis
“Frith should be sellotaped to Derek Bailey and pushed off a cliff.” Skelidude, YouTube
“Praktisch Brot und Butter” Tages Zeitung (Germany)
“Meister der Krummen Takte” Die Zeit (Germany)
FRED FRITH SOLO - 75th birthday tour :-)
Line Up
Fred Frith, electric guitar