Fred Frith
From Heathfield
Popularity
Fred Frith has 2 upcoming shows in the Netherlands. The next one is on October 20, 2026 at OCCII, Amsterdam. All 2 tour dates
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About
Fred Frith built one of the most restless careers in experimental music, appearing on over 400 albums across free improvisation, avant garde rock, modern classical, electroacoustic work, and plenty more. He first turned heads as a founding member of Henry Cow, the Cambridge born avant rock group that ran from 1968 to 1978, where he played guitar, violin, bass, piano, and xylophone. His 1974 solo debut Guitar Solos, eight tracks of unaccompanied improvised playing on prepared guitars recorded in four days with zero overdubbing, was immediately recognised as a landmark, and it caught Brian Eno's ear, leading to Frith playing on Before and After Science and Music for Films. After Henry Cow he kept building: bands like Massacre, Skeleton Crew, and Art Bears, extensive collaborations with John Zorn, Bill Laswell, the Residents, Mike Patton and many others, plus composed works for Ensemble Modern and Rova Saxophone Quartet. He also taught composition at Mills College in Oakland for years before retiring in 2018. The 1990 documentary Step Across the Border by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel follows him closely and gives a vivid sense of how he moves through the world.
