Band on the Web

Feb 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By Geary Yelton

           
 

Though hardly a household name, Fred Frith has been making records since 1973. That year saw the release of the first album by British progressive-rock band Henry Cow, with multi-instrumentalist Frith on guitar. Boasting a loyal following in Europe and especially the United Kingdom, Henry Cow had an anticommercial attitude and never gained more than a cult following in the United States.

Never content to be pigeonholed, Frith has since teamed with luminaries such as Brian Eno, John Zorn, the Residents, Yo-Yo Ma, Terry Riley, Ensemble Modern, Bill Laswell, Robert Wyatt, and Bay Area guitarist Henry Kaiser. In the past few years, he has concentrated on composing music for small ensembles, film, theater, and dance. A worldwide audience ensures that he travels extensively for performances and recording projects with an international cast of musicians. He has lived for extended periods in New York and California as well as his native England. He is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he is professor of composition and improvisation at Mills College in Oakland.

The Fred Frith Web site (www.fredfrith.com) will bring you up to date with Frith's musical activities and interests. It contains all the resources you might hope to find in an artist's site. A schedule keeps you informed of his recent and upcoming performances. News of the past and present is provided on the home page and on a Previous News page that encompasses almost four years of announcements. A guest book provides space to leave comments and read the comments of other visitors. You can also subscribe to the Fred List, an e-mail forum that brings Frith fans together to discuss his music.

If you're interested in Frith's music, probably the most useful online resources are the discographies, which detail dozens of records that he has composed or played on. A few entries provide links for listening to excerpts. His biography is presented in both abbreviated and extended forms. As a familiar name to followers of the avant-garde for more than a third of a century, Fred Frith has had a remarkable influence on hundreds of musicians. His Web site is a treasure trove of information for fans and curious initiates alike.