Henry Kaiser (musician)

Last updated
Henry Kaiser
Henry Kaiser.jpg
Kaiser with Timberdance Swamp Angel Guitar
Background information
Born (1952-09-19) September 19, 1952 (age 72)
Oakland, California, U.S.
Origin San Francisco Bay Area
Genres Free improvisation, jazz, rock, electronic
Occupation(s)Musician, composer, photographer, research diver
InstrumentGuitar
Years active1970s–present
Labels Metalanguage, Tzadik, SST, Rhino, Windham Hill, Shanachie, Cuneiform
Website www.henrykaiserguitar.com

Henry Kaiser (born September 19, 1952 [1] ) is an American guitarist and composer, known as an idiosyncratic soloist, a sideman, an ethnomusicologist, and a film score composer. Recording and performing prolifically in many styles of music, Kaiser is a fixture on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. He is considered a member of the "second generation" of American free improvisers. [2] He is married to Canadian artist Brandy Gale. He is the son of Henry J. Kaiser Jr. and the grandson of industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. [3]

Contents

Biography

In 1977, Kaiser founded Metalanguage Records with Larry Ochs (Rova Saxophone Quartet) and Greg Goodman. [1] In 1979 he recorded With Friends Like These with Fred Frith, a collaboration which continued over the next 20 years. In 1983 they recorded Who Needs Enemies, and in 1987 the compilation album With Enemies Like These, Who Needs Friends? They joined with fellow experimental musicians John French, and English folk-rocker Richard Thompson to form French Frith Kaiser Thompson for two eclectic albums, Live, Love, Larf & Loaf (1987) and Invisible Means (1990). In 1999 Frith and Kaiser released Friends & Enemies , a compilation of their two Metalanguage albums along with additional material from 1984 and 1999.

In 1991, Kaiser went to Madagascar with guitarist David Lindley. [1] They recorded roots music with Malagasy musicians and discovered music that, he says, "changed us radically and permanently". Three volumes of this music were released by Shanachie under the title A World Out of Time. In 1994 he made a similar trip to Norway, again with Lindley, recording music that was released as Sweet Sunny North (2 volumes, 1994 and 1996). [4]

Since 1998, Kaiser has been collaborating with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith in the "Yo Miles!" project, releasing a series of tributes to Miles Davis's 1970s electric music. [5] [6] This shifting aggregation has included musicians from the worlds of rock (guitarists Nels Cline, [6] Mike Keneally [6] and Chris Muir, [6] drummer Steve Smith), jazz (saxophonists Greg Osby and John Tchicai), avant-garde (keyboardist John Medeski, [5] guitarist Elliott Sharp), [6] and Indian classical music (tabla player Zakir Hussain).

Kaiser has appeared on more than 300 albums and scored dozens of TV shows and films, [7] including Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World (2007). [4] He was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on the Beautiful Dreamer tribute to Stephen Foster. [8]

In 2001, Kaiser spent two and a half months in Antarctica on a National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program grant. [4] He has subsequently returned for nine more visits to work as a research diver. His underwater camera work was featured in two Herzog films, The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) and Encounters at the End of the World (2007), which he also produced, and for which he and Lindley composed the score. [4] Kaiser served as music producer for Herzog's Grizzly Man (2005). He was nominated for an Academy Award for his work as a producer on Encounters at the End of the World.

Instruments and effects

Kaiser "has amassed an immense collection of guitars, amplifiers, and effect pedals" to achieve "sonic diversity". A favorite of his is a Klein electric with Alembic pickups (his favorites), which he uses when traveling. He owns a Dumble handmade amplifier. He has been looping since at least 1984 (It's a Wonderful Life), initially with an MXR digital delay, and later with Lexicon equipment—he sets modulation rates to "either heart or breathing rate, because those are natural healing rhythm rates". He often uses two delays to provide three different voices. He is also an avid user of a large number of effects pedals including the Hall & Collins Echo unit and a range of fuzzes.

Kaiser has listed his essential effects as the Old World 1960 Compressor, Barber Tone Press, Origin Effects Slide Rig, Tech 21 Comptortion, Burns Buzzaround Clones, Tanabe Zenkudo or Dumkudo, Crazy Tube Circuits Starlight, Eventide Pitchfactor, Eventide Eclipse Harmonizer, TC Flashback, Red Panda Particle, and Neunaber Wet Reverb. [9]

Discography

As leader

As sideman

With Andrea Centazzo

With Eugene Chadbourne

With Weasel Walter

With others

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek Bailey (guitarist)</span> English avant-garde guitarist

Derek Bailey was an English avant-garde guitarist and an important figure in the free improvisation movement. Bailey abandoned conventional performance techniques found in jazz, exploring atonality, noise, and whatever unusual sounds he could produce with the guitar. Much of his work was released on his own label Incus Records. In addition to solo work, Bailey collaborated frequently with other musicians and recorded with collectives such as Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wadada Leo Smith</span> American trumpeter and composer

Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the field of creative music. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Ten Freedom Summers, released on May 22, 2012.

Rova Saxophone Quartet is an American, San Francisco–based saxophone quartet, formed in October 1977. The name "Rova" is an acronym formed from the last initials of the founding members: Jon Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt, and Bruce Ackley. When Voigt left in 1988, he was replaced by Steve Adams, but the group did not change the acronym.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weasel Walter</span> American drummer

Weasel Walter is an American composer, improviser, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of ugEXPLODE Records. Walter's work has been informed by techniques and traditions of music including Avant-garde, experimental, no wave, free jazz, extreme metal, punk jazz, hardcore punk, noise, new music and free improvisation. He coined the term "brutal prog" to describe the aggressively dissonant strain of prog played by groups like his band the Flying Luttenbachers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerry Hemingway</span> American drummer and composer

Gerry Hemingway is an American drummer and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vinny Golia</span> American composer and multi-instrumentalist

Vinny Golia is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist specializing in woodwind instruments. He performs in the genres of contemporary music, jazz, free jazz, and free improvisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ned Rothenberg</span> American musician and composer

Ned Rothenberg is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer. He specializes in woodwind instruments, including the alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, and shakuhachi. He is known for his work in contemporary classical and free improvisation. Rothenberg is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He was a founding member of the woodwind trio New Winds with J. D. Parran and Robert Dick. He has performed with Samm Bennett, Paul Dresher, Fred Frith, Evan Parker, Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, John Zorn, Yuji Takahashi, Sainkho Namtchylak, and Katsuya Yokoyama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Frith discography</span>

Fred Frith appears on over 400 recordings. This is a selection from bands he was/is a member of, collaborations with other bands and musicians, and his solo recordings. The year indicates when the album was first released. For a comprehensive discography, see the Discography of Fred Frith by Michel Ramond, Patrice Roussel and Stephane Vuilleumier.

Discography for jazz saxophonist Anthony Braxton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pheeroan akLaff</span> American jazz drummer

Pheeroan akLaff is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He began playing in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan and Ann Arbor, with R & B keyboardist Travis Biggs, funk keyboardist Nimrod “The Grinder” Lumpkin, The Ebony Set and The Last Days. He moved to New Haven, Connecticut, and formed a group with saxophonist/flautist/percussionist Dwight Andrews. He debuted with saxophonist Bill Barron in 1975, followed by a tenure in Leo Smith's ‘New Dalta Ahkri’ (1977-1979).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Trayle</span> Musical artist

Mark Trayle, born Mark Evan Garrabrant was a California-based musician and sound artist working in a variety of media including live electronic music, improvisation, installations, and compositions for chamber ensembles. His work has been noted for its use of re-engineered consumer products and cultural artifacts as interfaces for electronic music performances and networked media installations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tzadik Records</span> American record label

Tzadik is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a not-for-profit, cooperative record label.

Metalanguage Records was a record label in Berkeley, California, founded in 1978 by Henry Kaiser and Larry Ochs. It showcased Rova as well as many independent artists and produced the Rova Arts Festival in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okkyung Lee</span> South Korean composer (born 1975)

Okkyung Lee is a South Korean cellist, improviser, and composer.

This is a list of releases by Cuneiform Records.

<i>Hearts Reflections</i> 2011 studio album by Wadada Leo Smith

Heart's Reflections is a two-disc studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The album was released on May 16, 2011 via Cuneiform Records label.

<i>With Friends Like These</i> (album) 1979 studio album by Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser

With Friends Like These is a 1979 studio album of improvised experimental music by Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser. It was recorded in July 1979, and was released on LP by Metalanguage Records later that year. It was Frith and Kaiser's first collaborative album, and was followed in 1983 by Who Needs Enemies?

<i>Who Needs Enemies?</i> (album) 1983 studio album by Henry Kaiser and Fred Frith

Who Needs Enemies? is a 1983 studio album of improvised experimental music by Henry Kaiser and Fred Frith. It was recorded in October 1983, and was released on LP by Metalanguage Records later that year. It was Kaiser and Frith's second collaborative album, following on from their first, With Friends Like These in 1979.

<i>Friends & Enemies</i> Album by Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser

Friends & Enemies is a 1999 double-CD compilation album of studio and live material by Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser. It contains the complete collaborative recordings of Frith and Kaiser from 1979 to 1999, namely their two studio albums With Friends Like These (1979) and Who Needs Enemies? (1983), an unreleased live album recorded in 1984, and new studio tracks recorded in 1999. The album was released by Cuneiform Records in June 1999.

Damon Smith is an American free improvising bassist. He has worked with Cecil Taylor, Peter Brötzmann, Marshall Allen, John Tchicai, Elliott Sharp, Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Jim O'Rourke etc.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Henry Kaiser". All About Jazz . Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  2. ↑ Boisen, Myles. "Henry Kaiser". AllMusic . Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  3. ↑ Permanente, Kaiser (26 January 2017). "Founder's Grandson Among First Santa Cruz Patients". Kaiser Permanente News. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Cleveland, Barry (February 2014). "Encounters With the Deep Unreal: Henry Kaiser's Magic Land". Guitar Player .
  5. 1 2 Anderson, Rick. "Henry Kaiser / Wadada Leo Smith / Yo Miles!". AllMusic . Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Cleveland, Barry (January 9, 2014). "Henry Kaiser on His Miles Davis-Inspired Yo Miles! Recordings". Guitar Player . Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Alvaro Domene & Henry Kaiser: Guitar Duos & Solos". San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Henry Kaiser". GRAMMY.com. 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  9. ↑ Kaiser, Henry (5 June 2013). "Henry Kaiser's 5 Essential Effects". Premier Guitar. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.