FRED FRITH TRIO
Fred Frith - guitar / voice
Jason Hoopes - electric & acoustic basses
Jordan Glenn - drums / percussion
Road (2021)
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This is a live double CD with the trio and two special guests, master musicians Lotte Anker (saxophones) and Susana Santos Silva (trumpet).
CD1: Documents an inspiring trio concert at Stadthalle-Köln, Germany 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 US East Coast and Europe in 2019.
CD Cover Art by: Heike Liss
“It’s rare indeed that improvised music is simultaneously as accessible and cerebral as this.”
- Daniel Spicer, Jazzwise Magazine
”These guests also bring with them a layer of possibilities, which should not be seen only as additional members who add only a linear increase in possibilities, but as a multiplier to the Trio itself, thereby resulting in an exponential growth of possibilities. Although both Lotta Anker and Susana Santos Silva have their own voices and sound perfect (as always), they also both succeed in matching and amplifying the spirit, sound, and intention of the Trio itself. This is an amazing album that offers many facets of the Fred Frith Trio. It is a perfect entry point, as well as a way to understand the Trio better, thanks to what the guests bring to the equation.”
- Paul Medrano, Best of Jazz Blog
Read further reviews / press at Intakt
Closer to the Ground (2018)
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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. 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.
”With their previous album "Another Day in Fucking Paradise", they made a brilliant debut, the second CD goes even further.”
- Karl Lippegaus, WDR Preview Jazz
”As an improvising soloist of the highest order, I can’t imagine Frith wanting for a single thing more from his latest rhythm section – they lay down metronomic and/or shifting grooves, they create sunset-like colors on which Frith eviscerates and/or gently highlights with an array of engaging tremolo and reverberant effects, and they are acutely aware of their supporting-yet-not-passive role and play and/or don’t play accordingly. Bravo to Swiss imprint Intakt Records for being home to such a vital statement from a singular artist and his inventive crew.”
- Kevin Coultas, www.inonthecorner.com
Read further reviews / press at Intakt
Another Day in Fucking Paradise (2016)
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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 had been 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 everything 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!"
Read further reviews / press at Intakt
photo: Heike Liss
Sao Paulo, Brazil, August 30-Sept 1, 2018.
L-R: Heike Liss (visuals), Fred Frith, Susana Santos Silva, Jordan Glenn, Jason Hoopes
Sao Paulo, Brazil, August 30-Sept 1, 2018.
L-R: Fred Frith, Heike Liss (back),Susana Santos Silva, Jason Hoopes, Jordan Glenn.
Skopje, Macedonia, October 17th, 2019