Road (Fred Frith Trio album)

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Road
FredFrithTrio AlbumCover Road.jpg
Live album by
Fred Frith Trio
ReleasedOctober 15, 2021 (2021-10-15)
RecordedOctober 4, 18 and 31, 2019
Venue
Genre
Length104:11
Label Intakt (Switzerland)
Producer Fred Frith, Intakt Records
Fred Frith Trio chronology
Closer to the Ground
(2018)		Road
(2021)

Road is a 2021 double-CD live album by the Fred Frith Trio, an experimental music and free improvising group featuring Fred Frith (guitar), Jason Hoopes (bass) and Jordan Glenn (drums). It is their third album and their first live release. The album was recorded in Charlottesville, Virginia and Germany in October 2019, and was released in October 2021 by Intakt Records in Switzerland.

Contents

Road also includes two guest musicians, Lotte Anker (saxophone) and Susana Santos Silva (trumpet), whom the Trio had invited to perform with them during their US East Coast and European tours in October 2019. Anker and Santos Silva had previously performed with the Trio on several occasions: Anker in New York City and San Francisco, and Santos Silva in Brazil. [1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Jazzwise Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]

In a review of Road on the Best of Jazz website, Paul Medrano wrote that the album's first CD introduces the listener to the trio's music. [3] It starts out with elements of jazz-rock sounding not unlike King Crimson and Frank Zappa, then progresses into experimental jazz and the group's "other dimension". Medrano said the inclusion of Anker and Santos Silva ("two extraordinary guests") on the second disc brings another layer of possibility to the trio's music, enhancing its "spirit, sound, and intention". Medrano called Road "an amazing album", which, despite being recorded live, is "purely electrifying". [3]

Writing in the British music magazine, The Wire , Clive Bell described the mood on Road as "kick-ass", and the intensity as "high". [4] He said the improvisation switches seamlessly from "hard scrabble" to "lyrical [and] tonal". [4] Bell added that sometimes Frith's guitar appears to "float off into a reverb-drenched dreamland", leaving the rest of the group sounding, just for a moment, "slightly lost". [4]

Reviewing Road in the Swiss jazz and blues magazine, Jazz’n’more  [ de ], Ruedi Ankli called the trio's performance at the Week-End Fest in the Köln town hall, "breathtaking". [5] He said their improvisation with snatches of melodies and rhythms that grow and collapse is "extraordinary". Ankli complimented Anker and Santos Silva's contributions to the concerts on the second disc. He said their saxophone and trumpet rhythms give the trio new ways to improvise. Ankli said both CDs are "refreshing" in their complexity and boldness. [5]

Daniel Spicer wrote in the British monthly, Jazzwise , that, as on the group's two previous albums, Frith once again displays his "lateral thinking and restless creativity". [2] Spicer said on the first CD, the trio "wanders unhurriedly from lumbering riffage to diaphanous soundscape", while on the second, guest Anker "slides from an assured, earthy tone to keening cry" and Santos Silva "unlocks a trove of extended techniques, from liquid ululations to blustery barrages". Spicer concluded that "It’s rare indeed that improvised music is simultaneously as accessible and cerebral as this." [2]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Fred Frith Trio except where noted

CD 1
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Lost Weekend 1" 11:38
2."Lost Weekend 2" 3:18
3."Lost Weekend 3" 5:02
4."Lost Weekend 4" 12:12
5."Lost Weekend 5" 4:05
6."Lost Weekend 6" 7:55
7."Lost Weekend 7" 4:50
Total length:49:00
CD 2
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Color of Heat"Fred Frith Trio, Susana Santos Silva 18:50
2."The Trees Speak"Fred Frith Trio, Lotte Anker 13:46
3."Sinking In"Fred Frith Trio, Anker7:41
4."Color of Heart"Fred Frith Trio, Santos Silva14:54
Total length:55:11

Sources: Intakt Records, [1]

Personnel

Guests

Sources: Intakt Records, [1]

Sound and artwork

Sources: Intakt Records, [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Fred Frith Trio With Lotte Snker and Susana Santos Silva – Road". Intakt Records . Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Spicer, Daniel (December 2021). "Fred Frith Trio with Lotte Anker & Susana Santos Silva: Road". Jazzwise . ISSN   1368-0021 . Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Medrano, Paul (November 8, 2021). "Fred Frith Trio – Road". Best of Jazz. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Bell, Clive (January 2024). "The Primer: Fred Frith". The Wire . London. ISSN   0952-0686 . Retrieved September 9, 2024.
  5. 1 2 "Fred Frith Trio: Road". Jazz’n’more  [ de ] (in German). September 2021. ISSN   1424-9375.
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