Presented in association with New Mexico Jazz Festival

Fred Frith is a pioneer of the extended electric guitar. He learned to compose in Henry Cow, developed his song-writing skills in Art Bears, explored his multi- instrumentalism in Skeleton Crew, rocked the house with Massacre and is still doing all of those things, having been in one band or another continuously since 1964! Meanwhile his work has been performed by both Baroque and contemporary music ensembles, along with string quartets, chamber orchestras, and a whole range of groups and artists in the ever-expanding field of semi-popular music. Fred composes extensively for film and dance, and taught improvisation for years at Mills College in Oakland, California, and the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland. His life-long passion for improvising has increasingly led him to work with artists who don’t necessarily define themselves as improvisers, including Brazilian drummer Mariá Portugal, cellist Paula Sanchez, and bricoleur extraordinaire Sudhu Tewari. Fred is the subject of Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzels’ award-winning film Step Across the Border.

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“if (you) haven’t seen Fred improvise solo, (you) must. Just to see him live, it has to be done. It’s one of the wonders of the world.” —Marc Ribot

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“Fred Frith is a great drummer.” —Miles Davis

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“Frith should be sellotaped to Derek Bailey and pushed off a cliff.” —Skelidude, YouTube