Fred Frith : Two Day Residency Pass

Event information

One of the most inventive and eclectic figures in contemporary music, guitarist and composer Fred Frith takes up residency in Café Oto again for two days of improvised encounters with three of London's most dynamic musicians - Christian Marclay on turntables, John Edwards on double bass and Mark Sanders on drums.

FRED FRITH

Frith's work has ranged from ground-breaking avant-garde rock with Henry Cow and Art Bears to extended compositions for choirs, orchestras and saxophone quartets and collaborations with figures such as Mike Patton, John Zorn, Brian Eno, Ikue Mori and Derek Bailey. His highly individual approach to the guitar and use of extended and unorthodox techniques give his music a unique and at times disorienting sense of texture and space.

Frith's musicial journey started when he formed Henry Cow with Tim Hodgkinson in 1968, a legendary group that expanded the parameters of rock music to include complex compositional forms as well as improvised elements.

After moving to New York in 1979, Frith was a key figure in the downtown experimental music scene, his collaborations with Zorn, Laswell, Mori and others helping form an important new musical vernacular in which elements of rock, contempary composition, noise and improvisation overlapped and intertwined.

Since 1999 Frith has been Professor of Composition at Mills University, California. Recent projects have included duos with Anthony Braxton and Evelyn Glennie, collaborations with the Arte Quartett and choreographer Donna Uchizono, and numerous festival appearances in Europe and America.

"A masterful sound colorist, Frith is in no way subject to analyses of has artistic legitimacy - (he) redefines the possible uses of the guitar and makes traditional discourse irrelevant". L.A. Herald Examiner (USA)

CHRISTIAN MARCLAY / turntables

Over the past 30 years, Christian Marclay has explored the fusion of fine art and audio cultures, transforming sounds and music into a visible, physical form through performance, collage, sculpture, installation, photography and video. His latest major work, The Clock, is a 24 hour video piece constructed from films where the time is expressed has been declared 'a masterpiece' (Frieze Magazine).

Raised in Switzerland, Marclay has spent most of his adult life in America, but now lives in mostly in London and New York. He began performing with turntables whilst still a student in the late 70s - According to critic Thom Jurek, Marclay was the 'unwitting inventor of turntablism' and has since been active in the field of free improvisation, performing with the world's best improvisors including Evan Parker, John Zorn, Otomo Yoshihide and many many more. Marclay's graphic scores, which take musical motifs from everyday objects, signs and advertising was recently celebrated with a three month festival at the Whitney in New York during July-September 2010.

"Christian Marclay can make music out of almost anything." -WNYC

JOHN EDWARDS / Double Bass

John Edwards is a true virtuoso whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, and many others.

MARK SANDERS / drums

Mark Sanders has been acclaimed as “the most exciting, original and overwhelmingly powerful drummer alive” (Steve Reynolds, Jazz Corner) and his precise and propulsive drumming has graced projects with, to name but a few, Evan Parker, Jah Wobble, Broadcast, Agusti Fernandez, John Butcher, Roswell Rudd, and Otomo Yoshihde.

"ubiquitous, diverse and constantly creative, drummer Mark Sanders always outdoes himself, whether playing with restraint or erupting like a dynamo." Bruce L Gallenter, Downtown Music Gallery. NY

"a gifted player capable of seamless movement between free-rhythms and propulsive swing" John Fordham. The Guardian