Fred Frith And The Gravity Band

Fred Frith is one of the most important musicians of our time. He was born in Sussex, UK and now lives in California, USA. He first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. He was and is also a member of groups like Massacre, Art Bears, Skeleton Crew and Cosa Brava. Over the past 40 years Fred has collaborated with outstanding musicians like John Zorn, Tom Cora, Bill Laswell, Carla Kihlstedt, Henry Kaiser, Phil Minton, Brian Eno, The Residents, Marc Ribot, Lol Coxhill, Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins, Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, John Butcher, Laurie Anderson - the list could go on much longer. In 1974 Fred Frith released his landmark album Guitar Solos, a glimpse into what he had been doing with his guitar. It was improvised and recorded within four days and presented an experimental and innovative way of playing the instrument. After the break up of Henry Cow, Frith relocated to New York and quickly became part of the downtown avant-garde scene, something he found inspiring and liberating. Fred also started composing music for film, dance and theatre, not to mention other musicians!

 

After a few years in Stuttgart, Germany, Frith returned to the States in 1999 to teach at Mills College in Oakland, CA, where he remained until his retirement twenty years later. Meanwhile, back in 1980, The Residents' label Ralph records had released his album Gravity, focusing on dance music viewed from many different angles. It featured guests like Marc Hollander, Sammla Mannas Mamma and The Muffins. Thirty years later, In 2014, Frith took the album on the road again with a special line-up of musicians. The Gravity Band was the brainchild of Aaron Novik and Dominique Leone, who proposed joining their two groups together to perform this material. Klanggalerie are now proud to bring you a recording of this incredible group in action for the first time on CD. It features music from the shows in Nijmegen, The Netherlands and Moers, Germany.