View source for Fred Frith

{{Short description|English musician and composer}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2010}}{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| name                = Fred Frith
| image               = FredFrith June1998.jpg
| caption             = Frith at the [[Moers Festival]], June 1998
| background          = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name          = Jeremy Webster Frith
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1949|2|17|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Heathfield, East Sussex|Heathfield]], Sussex, England<ref name=Larkin/>
| instrument          = {{hlist|Guitar|bass guitar|violin|keyboards}}
| genre               = {{hlist|[[Avant-rock]]|[[Experimental music|experimental]]|[[free improvisation]]|[[Contemporary classical music|contemporary classical]]}}
| discography         = [[Fred Frith discography]]
| occupation          = {{hlist|Musician|composer|educator}}
| years_active        = 1968–present
| label               = {{hlist|[[Caroline Records|Caroline]]|[[Moers Music|Moers]]|[[Ralph Records|Ralph]]|[[RecRec Music|RecRec]]|[[Recommended Records|Recommended]]|[[Fred Records|Fred]]|[[Tzadik Records|Tzadik]]|[[Winter & Winter Records|Winter & Winter]]|[[Intakt Records|Intakt]]}}
| website             = {{URL|fredfrith.com}}
}}

[[File:Fred Frith 05n3798.jpg|thumb|right|Frith at the [[Moers Festival]], 2010]]
'''Jeremy Webster''' "'''Fred'''" '''Frith''' (born 17 February 1949)<ref name=Larkin/>{{sfn|Piekut|2019|p=33}}<ref name="Rizzi1998">{{cite book |author=Rizzi, Cesare |title=Enciclopedia della musica rock: 1970–1979 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L4r_muOwltgC&pg=PA263 |publisher=Giunti Editore |year=1998 |page=263 |isbn=978-88-09-21523-8 |language=it}}</ref> is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as a founding member of the English [[avant-rock]] group [[Henry Cow]]. He was also a member of the groups [[Art Bears]], [[Massacre (experimental band)|Massacre]], and [[Skeleton Crew (band)|Skeleton Crew]]. He has collaborated with numerous musicians, including [[Robert Wyatt]], [[Derek Bailey (guitarist)|Derek Bailey]], [[the Residents]], [[Lol Coxhill]], [[John Zorn]], [[Brian Eno]], [[Mike Patton]], [[Lars Hollmer]], [[Bill Laswell]], [[Iva Bittová]], [[Jad Fair]], [[Kramer (musician)|Kramer]], the [[ARTE Quartett]], and [[Bob Ostertag]]. He has also composed several long works, including ''Traffic Continues'' (1996, performed 1998 by Frith and [[Ensemble Modern]]) and ''[[Freedom in Fragments]]'' (1993, performed 1999 by [[Rova Saxophone Quartet]]). Frith produces most of his own music, and has also produced many albums by other musicians, including [[Curlew (band)|Curlew]], [[the Muffins]], [[Etron Fou Leloublan]], and [[Orthotonics]].

He is the subject of Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel's 1990 documentary ''[[Step Across the Border]]''. Frith also appears in the Canadian documentary ''[[Act of God (film)|Act of God]]'', which is about the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning. He has contributed to a number of music publications, including ''[[New Musical Express]]'' and ''[[Trouser Press]]'', and has conducted improvising workshops across the world. His career spans over four decades and he appears on over 400 albums, and he still performs actively throughout the world.<ref name="ff">{{cite web |url=http://www.fredfrith.com/concerts.htm |title=Current concert schedule |work=FredFrith.com |access-date=22 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061216054920/http://fredfrith.com/concerts.htm |archive-date=16 December 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Frith was awarded the 2008 Demetrio Stratos Prize for his career achievements in experimental music. The prize was established in 2005 in honour of experimental vocalist [[Demetrio Stratos]], of the Italian group [[Area (band)|Area]], who died in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mills.edu/musicfestival/biography6.php |title=Fred Frith Biography |access-date=15 March 2009 |date=21 January 2009 |format=PHP |work=Mills Music Festival 2009 |publisher=MILLS |location=Oakland, CA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528044021/http://www.mills.edu/musicfestival/biography6.php |archive-date=28 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mills.edu/musicfestival/Frith_Program.pdf |title=THE MUSIC OF FRED FRITH |access-date=15 March 2009 |date=21 January 2009 |publisher=MILLS |location=Oakland, CA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528044016/http://www.mills.edu/musicfestival/Frith_Program.pdf |archive-date=28 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2008/12/12/every_which_way/ |title=Every which way |access-date=15 March 2009 |author=Andrew Gilbert |date=12 December 2008 |work=The Boston Globe |location=Boston, MA}}</ref> In 2010 Frith received an honorary doctorate from the [[University of Huddersfield]] in West Yorkshire, England, in recognition of his contribution to music.<ref name="University of Huddersfield">{{cite web |title=The University of Huddersfield's 2010 Honorary Award recipients |url=http://www.hud.ac.uk/awards/honorary_awards.html |publisher=The University of Huddersfield |access-date=11 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710135432/http://www.hud.ac.uk/awards/honorary_awards.html |archive-date=10 July 2010}}</ref> Frith was Professor of Composition in the Music Department at [[Mills College]] in [[Oakland, California]], until his retirement in 2018. He is the brother of [[Simon Frith]], a music critic and sociologist, and [[Chris Frith]], a psychologist at [[University College London]].

==Musical career==
Frith was born in [[Heathfield, East Sussex|Heathfield]] in East Sussex, England<ref name=Larkin>{{cite book |last=Larkin |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Larkin |title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uWoZAQAAIAAJ |year=2002 |edition=3rd revised |publisher=Virgin |page=175 |isbn=978-1-85227-947-9}}</ref> into a family where music was considered an essential part of life. He was given the nickname "Fred" at school after the motorcycle road racer [[Freddie Frith]].{{sfn|Piekut|2019|p=33}} Frith started violin lessons at the age of five and became a member of his school orchestra, but at 13 switched to guitar after watching a group imitating a popular instrumental band at the time, [[the Shadows]]. He decided to learn how to play guitar and get into a band. Frith taught himself guitar from a book of [[guitar chord]]s and soon found himself in a school group called the Chaperones, playing Shadows and [[Beatles]] [[Cover band|covers]]. However, when he started hearing [[blues]] music from the likes of [[Snooks Eaglin]] and [[Alexis Korner]] it changed his whole approach to the guitar, and by the time he was 15, the Chaperones had become a blues band. Frith's first public performances were in 1967 in [[folk club]]s in northern England, where he sang and played traditional and blues songs.

Besides the blues, Frith started listening to any music that had guitar in it, including [[Folk music|folk]], classical, [[ragtime]], and [[flamenco]]. He also listened to Indian, Japanese, and [[Bali]]nese music and was particularly drawn to [[Eastern Europe|East European]] music after a [[Yugoslavs|Yugoslav]] schoolfriend taught him folk tunes from his home. Frith went to [[Cambridge University]] in 1967, where his musical horizons were expanded further by the philosophies of [[John Cage]] and [[Frank Zappa]]'s manipulation of rock music. Frith graduated from [[Christ's College, Cambridge]], with a BA ([[English literature]]) in 1970 (and by Cambridge custom received a [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|pro forma MA]] in 1974),<ref name=FF-CV>{{cite web |url=http://www.mills.edu/academics/faculty/mus/frith/frith_cv.php |title=Fred Frith |date=18 September 2014 |publisher=[[Mills College]] |access-date=22 October 2015 |archive-date=19 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919163915/http://www.mills.edu/academics/faculty/mus/frith/frith_cv.php |url-status=dead}}</ref> but the real significance of Cambridge for him was that the seminal [[avant-rock]] group [[Henry Cow]] formed there.

===Henry Cow===
{{Main|Henry Cow}}
Frith met [[Tim Hodgkinson]], a fellow student, in a blues club at Cambridge University in 1968. "We'd never met before, and he had an alto sax, and I had my violin, and we just improvised this ghastly screaming noise for about half an hour."<ref name="bbc">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/experimental/interviews/int_frith.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060215162125/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/experimental/interviews/int_frith.shtml |archive-date=15 February 2006 |title=Fred Frith interview |work=BBC Music |access-date=31 October 2008}}</ref> Something clicked and, recognizing their mutual open-minded approach to music, Frith and Hodgkinson formed a band there and then. They called it [[Henry Cow]] and they remained with the band until its demise in 1978. In the early 1970s Fred's grey Morris Minor sported the band's heraldic logo, much to the amusement of boys at the grammar school in York where his father was headmaster.

Frith composed a number of the band's notable pieces, including "Nirvana for Mice" and "[[Ruins (instrumental)|Ruins]]". While guitar was his principal instrument, he also played violin (drawing on his classical training), bass guitar, piano, and xylophone.

In November 1973, Frith (and other members of Henry Cow) participated in a live-in-the-studio performance of [[Mike Oldfield]]'s ''[[Tubular Bells]]'' for the BBC. It is available on Oldfield's ''[[Elements – The Best of Mike Oldfield (video)|Elements]]'' DVD.

===''Guitar Solos''===
{{Main|Guitar Solos}}
After Henry Cow's first album, Frith released ''[[Guitar Solos]]'' in 1974, his first solo album and a glimpse at what he had been doing with his guitar. The album comprised eight tracks of unaccompanied and [[Musical improvisation|improvised]] music played on [[prepared guitar]]s. It was recorded in four days, at the Kaleidophon Studios in London's [[Camden Town]], without any [[overdubbing]].

When it was released, ''Guitar Solos'' was considered a landmark album<ref name="amg">{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=guitar-solos-mw0000611989|pure_url=yes}} |title=''Guitar Solos'' |work=AllMusic.com |first=Sean |last=Westergaard |access-date=20 November 2006}}</ref> because of its innovative and experimental approach to guitar playing. The January 1983 edition of ''[[DownBeat]]'' magazine remarked that ''Guitar Solos'' "...&nbsp;must have stunned listeners of the day. Even today that album stands up as uniquely innovative and undeniably daring."<ref name="downbeat">"The Frith Factor: Exploration in Sound", ''[[DownBeat]]'' magazine, January 1983.</ref> It also attracted the attention of some musicians, including [[Brian Eno]], resulting in Frith playing guitar on two of Eno's albums, ''[[Before and After Science]]'' (1977) and ''[[Music for Films]]'' (1978).

Between October and December 1974, Frith contributed a series of ten articles to the British weekly music newspaper ''[[NME|New Musical Express]]'' entitled "Great Rock Solos of Our Time". In them he analysed prominent rock guitarists of the day and their contribution to the development of the rock guitar, including [[Jimi Hendrix]], [[Eric Clapton]] and [[Frank Zappa]].{{sfn|Piekut|2019|pp=142–143}}

===Post-Henry Cow===
While recording Henry Cow's last album, differences emerged between the group members over the album's content. Frith and [[Chris Cutler]] favoured song-oriented material, while Hodgkinson and [[Lindsay Cooper]] wanted purely instrumental compositions. As a compromise, Frith and Cutler agreed, early in 1978, to release the songs already created on their own album, ''[[Hopes and Fears (Art Bears album)|Hopes and Fears]]'', under the name [[Art Bears]] (with [[Dagmar Krause]]). The instrumental material was recorded by Henry Cow on ''[[Western Culture (album)|Western Culture]]'' later that year, after which the band split. The Art Bears trio continued purely as a studio group until 1981, releasing two more albums, ''[[Winter Songs (Art Bears album)|Winter Songs]]'' in 1979 and ''[[The World as It Is Today]]'' in 1981.

During this time Frith also released ''[[Gravity (Fred Frith album)|Gravity]]'' (1980), his second solo album, recorded at Norrgården Nyvla in [[Uppsala]], Sweden with Swedish group [[Samla Mammas Manna]], and at the Catch-a-Buzz studio in [[Rockville, Maryland]] with United States band [[The Muffins]]. It showed Frith breaking free from the highly structured and orchestrated music of Henry Cow and experimenting with folk and dance music. "Norrgården Nyvla" was also the title of one of the tracks on the album and is considered one of Frith's most recognisable tunes.

===New York===
[[File:FredFrith October2005.jpg|thumb|210px|right|Fred Frith performing at [[Mills College]], [[Oakland, California]] in October 2005]]

Towards the end of 1979, Frith relocated to New York City, where he immediately hooked up with the local [[avant-garde]]/[[downtown music]] scene. The impact on him was uplifting: "...&nbsp;New York was a profoundly liberating experience for me; for the first time I felt that I could be myself and not try to live up to what I imagined people were thinking about me."<ref name="paristransatlantic">{{cite web |url=http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/interviews/frith.html |title=Fred Frith interview, March 1998 |work=Paris Transatlantic Magazine |first=Dan |last=Warburton |access-date=22 November 2006}}</ref> Frith met and began recording with a number of musicians and groups, including [[Henry Kaiser (musician)|Henry Kaiser]] (''[[With Friends Like These (album)|With Friends Like These]]'', ''[[Who Needs Enemies? (album)|Who Needs Enemies?]]''), [[Bob Ostertag]] (''[[Getting a Head]]'', ''[[Voice of America (Frith, Ostertag and Minton album)|Voice of America]]''), [[Tom Cora]], [[Eugene Chadbourne]], [[Zeena Parkins]], [[Ikue Mori]], [[the Residents]], [[Material (band)|Material]], [[the Golden Palominos]], and [[Curlew (band)|Curlew]]. He spent some 14 years in New York, during which time he joined a few bands, including [[John Zorn]]'s [[Naked City (band)|Naked City]] (in which Frith played bass) and [[French Frith Kaiser Thompson]] (consisting of [[John French (musician)|John French]], Frith, Henry Kaiser and [[Richard Thompson (musician)|Richard Thompson]]). Frith also started three bands himself, namely [[Massacre (experimental band)|Massacre]], [[Skeleton Crew (band)|Skeleton Crew]], and [[Keep the Dog]].

Massacre was formed in 1980 with bassist [[Bill Laswell]] and drummer [[Fred Maher]]. A high energy [[experimental rock]] band, they toured the United States and Europe in 1980 and 1981, and released one album, ''[[Killing Time (Massacre album)|Killing Time]]'' (1981), recorded at [[Martin Bisi]]'s later-to-be historic studio in [[Brooklyn]]. Massacre split in 1981 when Maher left, but later reformed again in 1998 when drummer [[Charles Hayward (drummer)|Charles Hayward]] joined. The new Massacre released three more albums.

Skeleton Crew, a collaboration with Tom Cora from 1982 to 1986, was an [[Experimental music|experimental]] group noted for its live improvisations where Frith (guitar, violin, keyboards, drums) and Cora (cello, bass guitar, homemade drums and contraptions) played a number of instruments simultaneously. They performed extensively across Europe, North America and Japan and released ''[[Learn to Talk]]'' in 1984. Zeena Parkins (electric harp and keyboards) joined in 1984 and the trio released ''[[The Country of Blinds]]'' in 1986. In October 1983 Skeleton Crew joined [[Duck and Cover (German band)|Duck and Cover]], a commission from the [[JazzFest Berlin|Berlin Jazz Festival]], for a performance in [[West Berlin]], followed by another in February 1984 in [[East Berlin]].

Frith formed Keep the Dog in 1989, a [[sextet]] and review band for performing selections of his extensive repertoire of compositions from the previous 15 years. The lineup was Frith (guitar, violin, bass guitar), [[René Lussier]] (guitar, bass guitar), [[Jean Derome]] (winds), Zeena Parkins (piano, synthesizer, harp, accordion), Bob Ostertag (sampling keyboard), and [[Kevin Norton]] (drums, percussion). Later Charles Hayward replaced Norton on drums. The group existed until mid-1991, performing live in Europe, North America and the former [[Soviet Union]]. A double CD, ''[[That House We Lived In]]'', from their final performances in Austria, Germany and Italy in May and June 1991, was released in 2003.

===Other projects===
During the 1980s, Frith began writing music for dance, film, and theatre, and a number of his solo albums from this time reflect this genre, including ''[[The Technology of Tears|The Technology of Tears (And Other Music for Dance and Theatre)]]'' (1988), ''[[Middle of the Moment (soundtrack)|Middle of the Moment]]'' (1995), ''[[Allies (Fred Frith album)|Allies (Music for Dance, Volume 2)]]'' (1996), and ''[[Rivers and Tides (soundtrack)|Rivers and Tides]]'' (2003). Exploring new forms of composition, Frith also experimented with chance or accidental compositions, often created by building music around "[[Found object (music)|found sounds]]" and [[field recording]]s, examples of which can be found on ''[[Accidental (album)|Accidental (Music for Dance, Volume 3)]]'' (2002) and ''[[Prints (album)|Prints: Snapshots, Postcards, Messages and Miniatures, 1987–2001]]'' (2002).  He was featured in 'Crossing Bridges', a 1983 music programme based around jazz guitar improvisation, and broadcast by [[Channel 4]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bright-thoughts.co.uk/crossing-bridges.html|title=Crossing Bridges|website=Bright-thoughts.co.uk}}</ref>

[[File:FredFrith August2006.jpg|thumb|210px|left|Fred Frith performing in [[Lisbon]] in August 2006.]]

As a composer, Frith began composing works for other musicians and groups in the late 1980s, including the [[Rova Saxophone Quartet]], [[Ensemble Modern]], and [[Arditti Quartet]]. He composed and performed the song "Choral Ode 2" for the 1993 [[opera]] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGn7rDC856Q ''Agamemnon'']. In the late 1990s, Frith established his own [[Fred Frith Guitar Quartet]] consisting of Frith, [[René Lussier]], [[Nick Didkovsky]], and [[Mark Stewart (guitarist)|Mark Stewart]]. Their guitar music, varying from "tuneful and pretty, to noisy, aggressive and quite challenging",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=851876 |title=Fred Frith Guitar Quartet |work=everything2.com |access-date=31 October 2007}}</ref> appears on two albums, ''[[Ayaya Moses]]'' (1997) and ''[[Upbeat (album)|Upbeat]]'' (1999), both on Lussier's own [[Ambiances Magnétiques]] label.

The ex-Henry Cow members have always maintained close contact with each other and Frith still collaborates with many of them, including Chris Cutler and Tim Hodgkinson. Cutler and Frith have been touring Europe, Asia, and the Americas since 1978, and have given dozens of duo performances. Three albums from some of these concerts have been released by [[Recommended Records]]. In December 2006, Cutler, Frith, and Hodgkinson performed together at [[The Stone (music space)|the Stone]] in New York City, their first concert performance since Henry Cow's demise in 1978.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thestonenyc.com/calendar.php |title=The Stone calendar |work=The Stone, New York City |access-date=18 December 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://punkcast.com/1086/ |title=Fred Frith – Tim Hodgkinson – Chris Cutler, The Stone NYC, 16 December 2006 |work=Punkcast |access-date=10 April 2007}}</ref>

In 1995, Frith moved to [[Stuttgart]] in Germany to live with his wife, German photographer Heike Liss, and their children Finn and Lucia. Between 1994 and 1996, Frith was composer-in-residence at L'Ecole Nationale de Musique in [[Villeurbanne]], France.

Frith relocated to the United States in 1997 to become Composer-in-Residence at [[Mills College]] in [[Oakland, California]]. In 1999 he was appointed the Luther B. Marchant Professor of Composition in the Music Department at Mills, where he taught composition, contemporary performance and improvisation.<ref name="mills">{{cite web |url=http://www.mills.edu/academics/faculty/mus/frith/frith.php |title=Fred Frith |work=Mills College Faculty & Staff |access-date=22 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203110345/http://www.mills.edu/academics/faculty/mus/frith/frith.php |archive-date=3 December 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He is currently Professor Emeritus of Music at Mills, after having retired in 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mills.edu/faculty/faculty-emeriti.php |title=Faculty Emeriti |website=Mills College |access-date=3 October 2021}}</ref> While Frith had never studied music in college, his credentials of over forty years of continuous practice and self-discovery got him the position. He has, however, maintained that "most of my students are better qualified to teach composition than I am," and that he learns as much from them as they learn from him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.westword.com/Issues/2006-04-06/music/roughmixes3.html |title="Class Act – Professor Fred Frith is as much pupil as teacher", April 2006 |work=Denver Westword |first=Michael |last=Roberts |access-date=22 November 2006}}</ref>

In March 1997 Frith formed the [[Electroacoustic music|electro-acoustic]] [[Free improvisation|improvisation]] and [[experimental music|experimental]] trio [[Maybe Monday]] with saxophonist [[Larry Ochs (musician)|Larry Ochs]] from [[Rova Saxophone Quartet]] and [[koto (musical instrument)|koto]] player [[Miya Masaoka]]. Between 1997 and 2008, they toured the United States, Canada, and Europe, and released three albums. In March 2008, Frith formed [[Cosa Brava]], an [[experimental rock]] and improvisation [[quintet]] with [[Zeena Parkins]] from [[Skeleton Crew (band)|Skeleton Crew]] and [[Keep the Dog]], [[Carla Kihlstedt]] and [[Matthias Bossi]] from [[Sleepytime Gorilla Museum]], and [[The Norman Conquest (musician)|the Norman Conquest]]. They toured Europe in April 2008, and performed at the 25th [[Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville]] in [[Victoriaville]], Quebec, Canada, the following month.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fimav.qc.ca/en/archives/fimav-2008/ |title=25th Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville |work=International Festival Musique Actuelle Victoriaville |access-date=9 March 2012}}</ref>

In 2013, Frith formed the [[Fred Frith Trio]] in Oakland, California, an improvising group with bassist Jason Hoopes and drummer/percussionist Jordan Glenn, both from the Oakland experimental song group Jack O' The Clock.<ref>{{cite web |last=Frith |first=Fred |title=This and That |url=http://www.fredfrith.com/this-and-that/ |publisher=FredFrith.com |access-date=14 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Frith |first=Fred |title=Fred Frith |url=http://www.fredfrith.com/ |url-status=dead |publisher=FredFrith.com |access-date=15 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516085650/http://fredfrith.com/ |archive-date=16 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://jackotheclock.com/Home.html |title=Jack O' The Clock |publisher=jackotheclock.com |access-date=14 October 2017}}</ref> The Trio toured Europe in February 2015,<ref>{{cite web |title=Fred Frith Trio EUROPEAN TOUR |date=19 February 2015 |url=http://jordanglennmusic.com/dates/2015/2/19/fred-frith-trio-european-tour  |publisher=jordanglennmusic.com |access-date=14 October 2017}}</ref> recorded a studio album, ''[[Another Day in Fucking Paradise]]'', in January 2016,<ref>{{cite web |title=Fred Frith Trio – Another Day In Fucking Paradise |url=http://www.intaktrec.ch/267-a.htm |publisher=[[Intakt Records]] |access-date=12 October 2017}}</ref> and toured Europe again in February 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jordanglennmusic.com/dates/2017/2/10/fred-frith-trio-eu-tour |title=FRED FRITH TRIO EU TOUR |date=10 February 2017 |publisher=jordanglennmusic.com |access-date=14 October 2017}}</ref> The album was well received by music critics.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Astarita |first=Glenn |title=Fred Frith Trio: Another Day in Fucking Paradise |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/another-day-in-fucking-paradise-fred-frith-intakt-records-review-by-glenn-astarita.php |magazine=[[All About Jazz]] |date=6 September 2016 |access-date=15 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Yellen |first=Izzy |title=Fred Frith Trio: Another Day in Fucking Paradise |magazine=[[DownBeat]] |date=October 2016 |volume=83 |issue=10 |page=59}}</ref> In January 2018 the trio recorded their second album, ''[[Closer to the Ground]]'', which was released in September 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.intaktrec.ch/312-a.htm |title=Fred Frith Trio – Closer to the Ground |publisher=Intakt Records |access-date=1 November 2018}}</ref>

Frith supplied guitar to the albums ''The Fates'' (2013)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Matthew Edwards & The Unfortunates - The Fates, by Matthew Edwards & The Unfortunates |url=https://metalpostcard.bandcamp.com/album/matthew-edwards-the-unfortunates-the-fates |access-date=2023-12-04 |website=metal postcard records |language=en}}</ref> and ''Folklore'' (2017) by [[Matthew Edwards (musician)|Matthew Edwards]] and the Unfortunates.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Selected Discography – FRED FRITH |url=http://www.fredfrith.com/326-2/ |access-date=2023-12-04 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Frith has also collaborated with a number of prominent musicians, including [[Robert Wyatt]],<ref name="paristransatlantic"/> [[Derek Bailey (guitarist)|Derek Bailey]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/bxcz/ |title=Antoine Berthiaume & Derek Bailey & Fred Frith Soshin Review |last=Marsh |first=Peter |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=2005 |access-date=30 January 2019}}</ref> [[Lol Coxhill]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/french-gigs-mw0000838510 |title=French Gigs |last=Chadbourne |first=Eugene |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=30 January 2019}}</ref> [[Lars Hollmer]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fred-frith-mn0000178916/biography |title=Fred Frith |last=Kelsey |first=Chris |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=30 January 2019}}</ref> and the Scottish deaf percussionist Dame [[Evelyn Glennie]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-sugar-factory-mw0000585130 |title=The Sugar Factory |last=Jurek |first=Thom |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=30 January 2019}}</ref>

===Step Across the Border===
{{main|Step Across the Border}}
''Step Across the Border'' is a 1990 documentary film on Fred Frith, written and directed by {{ill|Nicolas Humbert|fr}} and {{ill|Werner Penzel|fr}}, and released in Germany and Switzerland. It was filmed in Japan, Europe, and the United States, and also features musicians [[René Lussier]], [[Iva Bittová]], [[Tom Cora]], [[Tim Hodgkinson]], [[Bob Ostertag]], and [[John Zorn]].

===Fred Records===
{{main|Fred Records}}
In 2002, Fred Frith created his own record label, [[Fred Records]], an imprint of [[Recommended Records]], to re-release his back catalogue of recordings and previously unreleased material.

==Personal life==
During the early years of Henry Cow, Frith was married to Liza White, a teacher in Cambridge. They wed in 1970,{{sfn|Piekut|2019|p=47}} but divorced in 1974 after Frith's commitment to the band left little private life for the couple.{{sfn|Piekut|2019|pp=146–147}} In the early- to mid-1980s, after Henry Cow had split up and Frith had moved to New York City, he was married to Tina Curran, a musician and artist. She played bass guitar on several tracks on Frith's albums at the time, and did the photography and artwork for a number of his albums during that period.<ref name=Breznikar>{{Cite web|last=Breznikar|first=Klemen|author-link=Klemen Breznikar |date=6 January 2012|title=Fred Frith interview about Henry Cow & beyond|url=https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2012/01/fred-frith-interview-about-henry-cow.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202033255/http://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2012/01/fred-frith-interview-about-henry-cow.html|archive-date=2 February 2018|access-date=25 December 2020|website=[[It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine]]|language=en-US}}</ref> In the early 1990s Frith married German photographer and performance artist, Heike Liss. She has done the artwork for many of Frith's albums, and has performed with him on several occasions. They lived in Germany in the mid-1990s, then moved to California where Frith taught at Mills College until his retirement in 2018.<ref name=Kaliss>{{cite web |last=Kaliss |first=Jeff |url=https://www.sfcv.org/events-calendar/artist-spotlight/fred-frith-premieres-new-work-for-sf-girls-chorus |title=Fred Frith Premieres New Work for S.F. Girls Chorus |website=San Francisco Classical Voice |date=21 February 2019 |access-date=12 November 2019}}</ref><ref name=Frith>{{cite web |last=Frith |first=Fred |url=http://www.fredfrith.com/this-and-that/ |title=This and That |website=fredfrith.com |access-date=12 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221170856/http://www.fredfrith.com/this-and-that/ |archive-date=21 December 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Musical style and instruments== <!--This section is linked from [[Guitar Solos]] and [[Live in Japan (Fred Frith album)|Live in Japan]]-->
===Guitars and playing technique===
Fred Frith has used a number of different guitars, including [[experimental musical instrument|homemade instruments]], over the years, depending on the type of music he is playing. For the more structured and refined music he has often used a [[Gibson ES-335#Other|Gibson ES-345]], for example on his solo album, ''[[Gravity (Fred Frith album)|Gravity]]''. For the heavier "rock" sound, as in [[Massacre (experimental band)|Massacre]], he has used an old 1961 solid body Burns guitar, created by the British craftsman Jim Burns. On his landmark ''[[Guitar Solos]]'' album, Frith used a modified 1936 Gibson K-11 guitar (q.v. for details).

[[File:FredFrith's setup April2009.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Fred Frith's setup in April 2009.]]

For Frith's early unstructured music, as with [[Henry Kaiser (musician)|Henry Kaiser]] on ''[[With Friends Like These (album)|With Friends Like These]]'', and his early table-top guitar solo performances, he used a homemade six- and eight-string [[Multi-neck guitar|double-neck guitar]] created by a friend, Charles Fletcher. Frith told ''[[DownBeat]]'' magazine in 1983: "It was the one and only guitar that he ever built ... he constructed it mainly out of old pieces from other guitars that I had, and for the body I think he used an old door."<ref name="downbeat" /> The possibilities offered by homemade instruments prompted Frith to start creating his own guitars, basically slabs of wood on which he mounted a [[Pickup (music technology)|pickup]], a [[Bridge (instrument)|bridge]], and [[Strings (music)|strings]] stretched over metal screws. "The basic design of the instrument is supposed to be as rudimentary and flexible as possible," Frith said, "so I can use an electric drill to bore holes into the body of it to achieve certain sounds ... ."<ref name="downbeat" />

Frith uses a variety of implements to play guitar, from traditional [[guitar pick]]s to [[Violin#Bows|violin bows]], [[Percussion mallet|drum stick]]s, egg beaters, paint brushes, lengths of metal chain, and other [[Found object (music)|found objects]]. Frith remarked: "It's more to do with my interest in found objects and the use of certain kinds of textures which have an effect on the string ... the difference between the touch of stone, the touch of glass, the touch of wood, the touch of paper – those kinds of basic elements that you're using against the surface of the strings which produce different sounds."<ref name="downbeat" />

In a typical solo improvising concert, Frith would lay a couple of his homemade guitars flat on a table and play them with a collection of found objects (varying from concert to concert). He would drop objects, like [[ball bearing]]s, dried beans, and rice on the strings while stroking, scraping, and hitting them with whatever was on hand.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfbg.com/36/32/art_music_groundzero.html |title="Ground Zero", May 2002 |work=San Francisco Bay Guardian |first=Derk |last=Richardson |access-date=22 November 2006}}</ref> Later he added a live [[Sampler (musical instrument)|sampler]] to his on-stage equipment, which he controlled with pedals. The sampler enabled him to dynamically capture and loop guitar sounds, over which he would capture and loop new sounds, and so on, until he had a bed of repeated patterns on top of which he would then begin his solo performance.

=== Effects and amplification ===
[[File:FredFrith April2009 (cropped).jpg|thumb|210px|right|Fred Frith performing in [[Seattle]] in April 2009.]]
;Effect pedals:
*[[Pro Co RAT]] [[distortion]]
*[[Boss Corporation|Boss]] FV-50L volume foot controller
*[[Boss Corporation|Boss]] RC20-XL Looper
*[[DigiTech]] [[Digitech Whammy|Whammy 4]]
*[[Line 6 (company)|Line 6]] DL4 delay
*[[EBow]]
*[[Electroharmonix POG]]
;Amplification:
*[[Fender Amplifiers]]

==Compositions==
Since the late 1980s, Fred Frith has composed a number of longer works. The following is a selection (years indicating time of composition).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fredfrith.com/notes.htm|title=Compositions|publisher=FredFrith.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312075159/http://www.fredfrith.com/notes.htm|archive-date=12 March 2011|access-date=13 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fredfrith.com/compositions/|title=Compositions|publisher=FredFrith.com|access-date=13 October 2017}}</ref>
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
*''[[Quartets (Fred Frith album)|The As Usual Dance Towards the Other Flight to What is Not]]'' (1989) – for four electric guitars
*''[[Helter Skelter (Fred Frith and François-Michel Pesenti album)|Helter Skelter]]'' (1990) – for two sopranos, contralto, and a large electric ensemble
*''[[Eleventh Hour (Fred Frith album)|Stick Figures]]'' (1990) – for six guitars and two players
*''[[Quartets (Fred Frith album)|Lelekovice]]'' (1991) – (for [[Iva Bittová]]) string quartet no. 1
*''[[Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire]]'' (1992) – graphic scores for any number of players
*''[[Freedom in Fragments]]'' (1993) – a suite of 23 pieces for saxophone quartet
*''[[The Previous Evening]]'' (1993) – a tribute to [[John Cage]] for four clarinets, tapes, bass, footsteps, electric guitars, whirled objects, and voice
*''[[Back to Life (Fred Frith album)|Elegy for Elias]]'' (1993) – for piano, violin, and marimba
*''[[Pacifica (Fred Frith album)|Pacifica]]'' (1994) – a meditation for 21 musicians with texts by [[Pablo Neruda]]
*''[[Back to Life (Fred Frith album)|Seven Circles]]'' (1995) – for piano
*''[[Impur (album)|Impur]]'' (1996) – for 100 musicians, large building, and mobile audience
*''[[Back to Life (Fred Frith album)|Shortened Suite]]'' (1996) – for trumpet, oboe, cello, and marimba
*''[[Back to Life (Fred Frith album)|Back to Life]]'' (1997) – for trumpet, oboe, cello, and marimba
*''[[Traffic Continues]]: Gusto'' (1998) – for large ensemble with improvising soloists
*''Landing for Choir'' (2001) – for Flamenco singer, cello, saxophone, and samples
*''[[Eleventh Hour (Fred Frith album)|Allegory]]'' (2002) – for string quartet and electric guitar
*''[[Eleventh Hour (Fred Frith album)|Fell]]'' (2002) – for string quartet and electric guitar
*''[[The Happy End Problem]]'' (2003) – for flute, bassoon, gu zheng, percussion, violin, and electronics
*''The Right Angel'' (2003) – for orchestra and electric guitar
*''[[Back to Life (Fred Frith album)|Save As]]'' (2005) – for cello and percussion
*''Snakes and Ladders'' (2006) – for clarinet, electric guitar, piano, percussion, cello, and double bass
*''Episodes'' (2007) – for Baroque orchestra
*''Water Stories'' (2007) – for clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, and cello
*''For Nothing'' (2008) – for contralto and Baroque string quartet
*''Fair'' (2008) – for guitar quartet
*''Small Time'' (2009) – for percussion quartet
*''Rocket Science'' (2012) – (clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, viola, electric guitar, percussion, and piano/keys
*''What Happens'' (2015) – percussion quartet and prepared piano
*''If I Could'' (2015) – clarinet, viola, electric guitar, piano, vibraphone, and mezzo-soprano
*''Episodes for Orchestra'' (for Amanda Miller) (2007/2015) – Baroque orchestra
*''Calle Calle'' (2016) – flute, saxophone and electronics
*''Coulda Woulda Shoulda'' (2016) – viola solo
*''Zena'' (2017) – for clarinet, flute, piano, percussion, violin, viola, and cello
*''Rags of Time'' (2018) – for girl's chorus, percussion and keyboards{{Div col end}}

[[File:FredFrith & ChrisCutler Nov2009.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Fred Frith (left) and [[Chris Cutler]] performing in Austria in November 2009.]]

==Discography==
{{Main|Fred Frith discography}}
Fred Frith appears on over 400 recordings: with bands, in collaboration with other musicians, solo, albums he produced for other bands and musicians, and albums featuring his composed work performed by others.

==Documentaries==
* 1990 ''[[Step Across the Border]]'' – a documentary on Frith by {{ill|Nicolas Humbert|fr}} and {{ill|Werner Penzel|fr}}
* 1991 ''Streetwise'' – by Charles Castella about Frith's work in Marseille with "unemployed rock musicians"
* 2000 ''Le voyage immobile'' – about Frith's trio with [[Louis Sclavis]] and [[Jean-Pierre Drouet]] for [[France 3]] national TV
* 2004 ''[[Touch the Sound]]'' – by {{ill|Thomas Riedelsheimer|de}} about Scottish percussionist [[Evelyn Glennie]] and her collaboration with Frith
* 2007 ''Attwenger Adventure'' – on Austrian [[Folk punk|folk-punk]] duo [[Attwenger]] by Markus Kaiser-Mühlecke, with special appearances by Frith rehearsing and performing live with Attwenger and Wolfgang "I-Wolf" Schlögl at Music Unlimited XX. in Wels, Austria.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1080538/ |title=Attwenger Adventure |work=The Internet Movie Database |access-date=15 January 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/880b2014-184f-4fda-ba79-502191bd5a66/attwenger-adventure/docs-for-sale |title=Attwenger Adventure |work=International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam |access-date=18 July 2020}}</ref>
* 2009 ''[[Act of God (film)|Act of God]]'' – by [[Jennifer Baichwal]] about the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning, with music by Frith and others, and a segment showing Frith conducting an experiment to measure the effect of improvisation on brain waves

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Works cited==
*{{cite book |last=Piekut |first=Benjamin |title=Henry Cow: The World Is a Problem |title-link=Henry Cow: The World Is a Problem |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-47800-405-9}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Fred Frith}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080516085650/http://fredfrith.com/ FredFrith.com] ''Official homepage''.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050221084406/http://www.fredfrith.com/longbiography.html Fred Frith biography] ''FredFrith.com'' archive at the [[Internet Archive#Wayback Machine|Internet Archive Wayback Machine]].
*[https://www.calyx-canterbury.fr/mus/frith_fred.html Fred Frith biography] ''Calyx: The Canterbury Website''.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060215162125/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/experimental/interviews/int_frith.shtml Fred Frith interview] ''BBC Music'' archive at the [[Internet Archive#Wayback Machine|Internet Archive Wayback Machine]].
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080108142620/http://italia.allaboutjazz.com/php/article_email.php?id=305 Stage Effects Setup]. ''All About Jazz''. {{in lang|it}}
*[http://nyds-discographies.com/frith.htm Fred Frith discography] – [https://web.archive.org/web/20190619155344/http://nyds-discographies.com/frith.htm archived] 19 June 2019 at the [[Wayback Machine]]
*{{MusicBrainz artist|id=4801bad4-1b42-4c9e-84b1-bf61067ab67c}}
*[https://www.allaboutjazz.com/fred-frith-mapping-the-further-reaches-fred-frith-by-nic-jones.php?page=1 Fred Frith interview at allaboutjazz.com]
*[http://www.sensitiveskinmagazine.com/fred-frith/ Fred Frith, An Interview with the editors], Sensitive Skin magazine No. 9, published December 2012
*[https://nicolevgagne.com/music-books-sonic-transports/ Fred Frith interview, essay, discography], ''Sonic Transports'' (Accessed December 1, 2023)
{{Fred Frith}}
{{Henry Cow}}
{{Art Bears}}
{{Massacre (experimental band)}}
{{Skeleton Crew (band)}}
{{French Frith Kaiser Thompson}}
{{Naked City}}
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{{Material}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frith, Fred}}
[[Category:Fred Frith| ]]
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century English composers]]
[[Category:21st-century English composers]]
[[Category:English rock guitarists]]
[[Category:English male violinists]]
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[[Category:English male bass guitarists]]
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[[Category:English male composers]]
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[[Category:English male film score composers]]
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[[Category:Canterbury scene]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge]]
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[[Category:People from Heathfield, East Sussex]]
[[Category:Curlew (band) members]]
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[[Category:The Golden Palominos members]]
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[[Category:Massacre (experimental band) members]]
[[Category:Art Bears members]]
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[[Category:21st-century English violinists]]
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