His compositions often feature unusual asymmetric rhythms, influenced by classical and folk traditions. His innovations include a tape delay system known as "Frippertronics" (superseded in the 1990s by a more sophisticated digitally-based system called "Soundscapes") and a New Standard Tuning system for guitar.
Robert Fripp was born in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England,[2] the second child of a working-class family. His mother Edith (née Greene; 1914–1993) was from a Welsh mining family; Fripp considers himself to be half Welsh.[5] Her earnings from working at the Bournemouth Records Office allowed his father, Arthur Henry Fripp (1910–1985) to start a business as an estate agent.[6] In 1957, at age eleven, Fripp received a guitar for Christmas from his parents and recalled, "Almost immediately I knew that this guitar was going to be my life".[7] He then took guitar lessons from Kathleen Gartell and Don Strike;[8]Elvis Presley's guitarist Scotty Moore inspired Fripp to play rock and roll,[9] moving on to traditional jazz at thirteen and modern jazz at fifteen. Fripp has cited jazz musicians Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus as musical influences during this time.
In 1961, the fifteen-year-old Fripp joined his first band, the Ravens, which also included Gordon Haskell on bass. After they split in the following year, Fripp concentrated on his O-level studies and joined his father's firm as a junior negotiator. At this point, he intended to study estate management and, eventually, take over his father's business.[7] However, at seventeen, Fripp decided to become a professional musician. He became the guitarist in the jazz outfit The Douglas Ward Trio, playing in the Chewton Glen hotel in New Milton, followed by a stint in the rock and roll band The League of Gentlemen, which included two former Ravens members.
1967–1974: Giles, Giles and Fripp and King Crimson
In 1967, Fripp responded to an advertisement placed by Bournemouth-born brothers Peter and Michael Giles, who wanted to work with a singing organist.[7] Though Fripp was not what they sought, his audition with them was a success and the trio relocated to London and became Giles, Giles and Fripp. Their only studio album, The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp, was released in 1968.[13] Despite the recruitment of two further members – singer Judy Dyble (formerly with Fairport Convention and later of Trader Horne) and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald – Fripp felt that he was outgrowing the eccentric pop approach favoured by Peter Giles, preferring the more ambitious compositions being written by McDonald, and the band broke up in 1968.
Fripp, on tour with King Crimson, in 1974.
Almost immediately, Fripp, McDonald and Michael Giles formed the first lineup of King Crimson in mid-1968, recruiting Fripp's old Bournemouth College friend Greg Lake as lead singer and bassist and McDonald's writing partner Peter Sinfield as lyricist, light show designer and general creative consultant. King Crimson's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, was released in late 1969 to great success: drawing on rock, jazz and European folk/classical music ideas, it is now regarded as one of the most influential albums in the history of progressive rock.[14] The band was tipped for stardom, but, due to growing musical differences between Fripp on one side and Giles and McDonald on the other, broke up after its first American tour in 1970. A despondent Fripp offered to leave if it would allow King Crimson to survive; however, Giles and McDonald had independently decided that the band's music was "more Fripp's than theirs" and that it would be better if they were the ones to leave.
During the recording of the band's second album In the Wake of Poseidon, Greg Lake departed to form Emerson, Lake and Palmer with Keith Emerson of the Nice and Carl Palmer of Atomic Rooster. King Crimson issued two more albums, Lizard and Islands, with Fripp and Sinfield the only constants in a regularly changing lineup variously including Gordon Haskell, woodwind player Mel Collins, drummers Andy McCulloch and Ian Wallace and future Bad Company bassist Boz Burrell, in addition to a palette of guest players. Fripp was listed as the sole composer of the band's music during this time, which built on the first album's blueprint but progressed further into jazz-rock and free jazz while also taking form from Sinfield's esoteric lyrical and mythological concepts.
In 1971, Fripp ousted Sinfield and took over de facto leadership of King Crimson (although he has always formally rejected the label, preferring to describe his role as "quality control" or "a kind of glue"). From this point onwards, Fripp would be the only constant member of the band, which in turn would be defined primarily by his compositional and conceptual ideas. With avant-garde percussionist Jamie Muir, violinist David Cross, former Family bassist and singer John Wetton and former Yes drummer Bill Bruford now in the ranks, King Crimson produced three more albums of innovative and increasingly experimental rock, shedding members as they progressed: beginning with Larks' Tongues in Aspic, progressing with Starless and Bible Black after Muir's departure and culminating in Red after Cross was fired. Fripp formally disbanded the group in 1974, in what eventually turned out to be merely the first in a regular series of long hiatuses and further transformations.[15]
1974–1981: Collaborations, side projects, and solo career
Fripp pursued side projects during King Crimson's less active periods. He worked with Keith Tippett (and others who appeared on King Crimson records) on projects far from rock music, playing with and producing Centipede's Septober Energy in 1971 and Ovary Lodge in 1973. During this period he also worked with Van der Graaf Generator, playing on their albums H to He, Who Am the Only One and Pawn Hearts. He produced Matching Mole's Matching Mole's Little Red Record in 1972.[16] Prior to forming the Larks-era KC, he collaborated on a spoken-word album with a woman he described as "a witch", but the resulting Robert Fripp & Walli Elmlark: The Cosmic Children of Rock was never officially released.[17][18]
With Brian Eno, Fripp recorded (No Pussyfooting) in 1972, and Evening Star in 1974. These experimented with several avant-garde musical techniques that were new to rock. On "The Heavenly Music Corporation" from No Pussyfooting, Fripp used a delay system using two modified Revox A77 reel-to-reel tape machines. The technique went on to play a central role in Fripp's later work, and became known as "Frippertronics".[19]
In 1973, Fripp performed the guitar solo on "Baby's on Fire" from Eno's solo album Here Come the Warm Jets. In 1975, Fripp and Eno played live shows in Europe, and Fripp also contributed guitar solos to Eno's 1975 album Another Green World.[20]
Fripp started what was intended as a permanent sabbatical from his musical career in 1975, during which he studied at J. G. Bennett's International Academy for Continuous Education, becoming interested in the mystical and philosophical ideas of Bennett's teacher George Gurdjieff. He returned to musical work the following year as a session guitarist on Peter Gabriel's debut solo album, released in 1977. Fripp toured with Gabriel to support the album, but used the pseudonym "Dusty Rhodes" and concealed himself on stage.[21]
Fripp also produced and played on Gabriel's second album in 1978. "Robert is particularly skilful at keeping things fresh, and I like that a lot," Gabriel enthused. "I was very interested in Robert's experimental side; that corresponded exactly to what I wanted to do on this second record… There are two (Fripp) solos: one on 'On the Air' and the other on 'White Shadow'. And then he plays on 'Exposure'. He gives the colour to this piece, being fifty per cent responsible for its construction. And he also plays classical guitar here and there. He's a musician I admire a lot, because he's one of the only ones to mix discipline and madness with so much talent."[22]
During this period, Fripp began working on solo material, with contributions from poet/lyricist Joanna Walton and several other musicians, including Eno, Gabriel, and Hall (including the latter's partner, John Oates), as well as Peter Hammill, Jerry Marotta, Phil Collins, Tony Levin and Terre Roche. This material eventually became his first solo album, Exposure, released in 1979, followed by the Frippertronics tour in the same year.[24]
While living in New York, Fripp contributed to albums and live performances by Blondie (Parallel Lines) and Talking Heads (Fear of Music), and produced The Roches' first and third albums, which featured several of Fripp's characteristic guitar solos. A second set of sessions with Bowie produced Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and he collaborated with Gabriel again on his third solo album. With Blondie, Fripp appeared live on stage at the Hammersmith Odeon on 12 January 1980, participating in a cover version of Bowie's "'Heroes'".
In 1980, Fripp would release God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners, a project that saw two different musical approaches to Frippertronics on one LP. The "A" side of the record, titled "God Save the Queen" attempted what Fripp referred to as "pure Frippertronics" which is "where Frippertronics is used alone."[25] The "B" side of the record, titled "Under Heavy Manners" featured a collaboration with bassist Busta Jones, drummer Paul Duskin, and David Byrne of Talking Heads (as Absalm el Habib).[26] The sounds of this side of the record featured what Fripp called "Discotronics" which was defined as "that musical experience resulting at the interstice of Frippertronics and disco."[27]
Concurrent to this, Fripp would assemble what he called a "second-division touring new wave instrumental dance band"[28] under the name League of Gentlemen, with bassist Sara Lee, keyboardist Barry Andrews and drummer Johnny Elichaoff (credited as "Johnny Toobad"). Elichaoff was later replaced by Kevin Wilkinson. The LOG toured for the duration of 1980.
In 1985 he produced the album Journey to Inaccessible Places by classical pianist Elan Sicroff, released on the Editions E.G. label.[29]
1981–1984: Reforming King Crimson
Later versions of Discipline featured this design by Steve Ball.
1981 saw the formation of a new King Crimson lineup, reuniting Fripp with Bruford and opening a new partnership with two American musicians: bassist/Chapman Stick player Tony Levin (who had played with Fripp on Exposure and in the first Peter Gabriel touring band) and Adrian Belew, a singer and guitarist who had previously played with Bowie, Talking Heads and Frank Zappa. Although the band had been conceptualised under the name Discipline, it came to Fripp's attention that the other members thought the name King Crimson was more appropriate: for Fripp, King Crimson had always been "a way of doing things" rather than a particular group of musicians. With the more pop-inspired Belew as main songwriter (complementing Fripp as main instrumental composer) the band took on a new style incorporating influences from Indonesian gamelan, new wave, and classical minimalism,[30] with both guitarists experimenting extensively with guitar synthesizers.[31] After releasing three albums (Discipline, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair), Fripp dissolved the band in 1984.
During this period Fripp made two albums with Andy Summers of The Police. On I Advance Masked, Fripp and Summers played all the instruments. Bewitched was dominated more by Summers, who produced the record and collaborated with other musicians in addition to Fripp.
In 1982 Fripp produced and played guitar on Keep On Doing by the Roches.[32]Village Voice rock critic Robert Christgau wrote that the album "sounds so good I'm beginning to believe Robert Fripp was put on earth to produce the Roches."[33]
Fripp was offered a teaching position at the American Society for Continuous Education (ASCE) at Claymont Court in Charles Town, West Virginia in 1984. He had been involved with the ASCE since 1978, eventually serving on its board of directors, and had long been considering the idea of teaching guitar through ideas derived from Bennett and Gurdjieff. His course, Guitar Craft, was begun in 1985, an offshoot of which was a performance group, "the League of Crafty Guitarists", which has released several albums. In 1986, he released the first of two collaborations with his wife, Toyah Willcox. The members of the California Guitar Trio are former members of The League of Crafty Guitarists and have also toured with King Crimson. Fripp is the patron of the Guitar Circle of Europe, which was founded in 2007,[35] and of the Seattle Circle GuitarSchool, which was founded in 2010.[36]
In February 2009, Fripp recommended that Guitar Craft cease to exist on its 25th anniversary in 2010.[37]
On 1 September 2022 Fripp published The Guitar Circle, a book of writings concerning Guitar Craft.[38]
Fripp returned to recording solo in 1994, using an updated version of the Frippertronics technique that creates loops employing digital technology instead of analogue tapes. Fripp has released a number of records that he called "soundscapes", including 1999, Radiophonics, A Blessing of Tears, That Which Passes, November Suite, The Gates of Paradise, Love Cannot Bear and At the End of Time, as well as numerous download-only live recordings. (The sampler Pie Jesu consists of material compiled from A Blessing of Tears and The Gates of Paradise.)
1990s collaborations with David Sylvian and others
Fripp's collaborations with David Sylvian feature some of his most exuberant guitar playing. Fripp contributed to Sylvian's twenty-minute track "Steel Cathedrals" from his Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities album of 1985. Then Fripp performed on several tracks from Sylvian's 1986 release, Gone to Earth.
In late 1991, Fripp had asked Sylvian to join a re-forming King Crimson as a vocalist.[39] Sylvian declined the invitation, but proposed a possible collaboration between the two that would eventually become a tour of Japan and Italy in the spring of 1992.
Also in 1991, Fripp released an album with the project Sunday All Over The World, also featuring his wife Toyah Willcox, former League of Crafty Guitarists member Trey Gunn on Chapman Stick, and drummer Paul Beavis. The prior name of this band was Fripp Fripp, and they toured as such in 1988. They renamed to SAOTW, and toured again as SAOTW, in 1989.[40]
In July 1993, Sylvian and Fripp released the collaborative effort The First Day. Other contributors were soon-to-be King Crimson member Trey Gunn on Chapman Stick and Jerry Marotta (who, like Sylvian, almost became a member of King Crimson) on drums. When the group toured to promote the CD, future King Crimson member Pat Mastelotto took over the drumming spot. The live document Damage was released in 1994, as was the joint venture, Redemption – Approaching Silence, which featured Sylvian's ambient sound sculptures (Approaching Silence) accompanying Fripp reading his own text (Redemption).[39]
During the early and mid-1990s Fripp contributed guitar/soundscapes to Lifeforms (1994) by the Future Sound of London and Cydonia (released 2001) by the Orb, as well as FFWD, a collaborative effort with the latter's members. In addition, Fripp worked with Brian Eno co-writing and supplying guitar to two tracks for a CD-ROM project released in 1994 entitled Headcandy created by Chris Juul and Doug Jipson. Eno thought the visual aspects of the disc (video feedback effects) were very disappointing upon completion, and regretted participation. During this period, Fripp also contributed to albums by No-Man and the Beloved (1994's Flowermouth and 1996's X, respectively). He also contributed soundscapes and guitar to two albums by the UK band Iona: 1993's Beyond These Shores and 1996's Journey into the Morn.
1994–2010: King Crimson redux
Trey Gunn, Adrian Belew, and Fripp from 2003 King Crimson
In late 1994, Fripp re-formed the 1981 line-up of King Crimson for its fifth incarnation, adding Trey Gunn and drummer Pat Mastelotto in a configuration known as a "double trio". This line-up released the VROOOM EP in 1994 and the THRAK album the following year.
Though musically (and relatively commercially) successful, the double-trio King Crimson proved difficult to sustain in the long-term. From 1997 to 1999, the band "fraKctalised" into five experimental instrumental sub-groups known as ProjeKcts. By 1998 Bruford had quit the band altogether: in 2000, Fripp, Belew, Gunn and Mastelotto reunited as a four-piece King Crimson. This lineup produced two industrial metal-influenced studio albums, the construKction of light in 2000 and The Power to Believe. Gunn departed at the end of 2003.
Although Levin immediately returned to the band, another hiatus followed until King Crimson reappeared in 2007 with the addition of Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison. This version of the band toured the eastern United States in 2008, reassessing the 1981-2003 back catalogue and introducing lengthy duets between the two drummers. No new original material was recorded, and in 2010, Fripp announced that King Crimson were on another indefinite hiatus.[41]
Recent work: G3, Porcupine Tree, Slow Music, Theo Travis, the Humans, Jakko Jakszyk, Others
In 2004, Fripp toured with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai as part of their G3 series. He also worked at Microsoft's studios to record the startup sound for Windows Vista. Fripp designed the soundscape and composed the melody, while Tucker Martine created the rhythm and Microsoft's Steve Ball added the harmonies and created the final arrangement.[42][43]
this interesting factoid: in addition to 200 million Vista users with the 4 note splash, an extract from the Soundscapes' Vista sessions is estimated to strike up 91% of 32 trillion times on the new MS Mail programme this year. So, one of the planet's least popular music forms will also be the planet's most sounded in 2008. This has to be some kind of a record.
In 2006 Fripp contributed his composition "At The End Of Time" to the Artists for Charity album Guitarists 4 the Kids, produced by Slang Productions, to assist World Vision Canada in helping underprivileged children.[45] Throughout 2006, Fripp performed many solo concerts of soundscapes in intimate settings in churches around England and Estonia.[46] In October 2006, ProjeKct Six (Fripp and Adrian Belew) played at select venues on the east coast of the U.S.,[47] opening for Porcupine Tree. In the same year, Fripp contributed to two songs from Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet ("Way Out of Here" and "Nil Recurring"). Fripp also sporadically performed as an opening act for Porcupine Tree on various tours from 2006 through 2009.
Fripp in 2007
In 2008, Fripp collaborated with Theo Travis on an album of guitar and flute-or-saxophone duets called 'Thread', and the duo played a brief English tour in 2009 (repeating the collaboration with the Follow album in 2012). Also in 2009, Fripp played a concert with the band the Humans (which consists of his wife Toyah Willcox, Bill Rieflin and Chris Wong), appeared on Judy Dyble's Talking With Strangers (along with Pat Mastelotto and others) and played on two tracks on Jakko Jakszyk's album The Bruised Romantic Glee Club. In 2010, Fripp contributed a guitar solo to an extended version of the song 'Heathen Child' by Grinderman, released as a B-side on the 'Super Heathen Child' single.
In 2021, the ambient/electronica album Leviathan was released. Fripp produced it and played guitar, in collaboration with British EDM Duo The Grid.[citation needed]
A Scarcity of Miracles, musical 'retirement' and new lineup of King Crimson
In May 2011, Jakko Jakszyk, Robert Fripp and Mel Collins released A Scarcity of Miracles: A King Crimson ProjeKct on the Panegyric label. The album also featured contributions by Tony Levin and Gavin Harrison, leading to speculation that the project was a dry run for a new King Crimson lineup.
In an interview published 3 August 2012, Fripp stated that he had retired from working as a professional musician, citing long-standing differences with Universal Music Group and stating that working within the music industry had become "a joyless exercise in futility".[48][49] This retirement proved to be short-lived, only lasting as long as it took to come to a settlement with UMG.
In his online diary entry for 6 September 2013, Fripp announced the return of King Crimson as a seven-piece unit with "four Englishmen and three Americans". The new lineup was Fripp, Levin, both Mastelotto and Harrison on drums, returning 1970s band member Mel Collins and two new members: Jakko Jakszyk as singer and second guitarist, and Bill Rieflin as a third drummer.[50] This version of the band went on tour in 2014 and 2015 with a setlist reworking and reconfiguring the band's 1960s and 1970s material (plus songs from A Scarcity of Miracles and new compositions). In early 2016, it was announced that former Lemon Trees/Noel Gallagher drummer Jeremy Stacey would substitute for Rieflin on that year's tour while the latter was on sabbatical. King Crimson continued touring as a seven- or eight-piece unit with Stacey as a permanent member on drums and keyboards, plus Rieflin (when available) on keyboards and "fairy dusting" until 2021. Rieflin last played with Crimson in 2018; he died 24 March 2020.[51]
Equipment
During the early years of King Crimson (1968–74), Fripp used two Gibson Les Paul guitars from 1957 and 1959. The '57 guitar featured three humbucker pick-ups (with one volume control on the pickguard controlling the middle pick-up). In the band's 1980s era, he favoured Roland GR-303 & GR-808 guitars for both straight guitar and synth control. In subsequent years, Fripp has used customized Les Paul-style guitars by Tokai, 48th St Custom, and Fernandes.
A signature model named for the guitarist (Crimson Guitars Robert Fripp Signature)[52] features Fernandes Sustainer and MIDI pickups with a Les Paul-style body. A significant difference from the Gibson Les Paul is that the signature model is built using a deep set neck tenon rather than a traditional set neck.
Fripp recommended that Guitar Craft students adopt the Ovation 1867 Legend steel-string acoustic guitar.[53][54] "Fripp liked the way the Ovation 1867 fitted against his body, which made it possible for him to assume the right-arm picking position he had developed using electric guitars over the years; on deeper-bodied guitars, the Frippian arm position is impossible without uncomfortable contortions", according to Tamm.[53] While the 1867 Legend is no longer manufactured, it influenced the design of the GuitarCraft ProModel of GuitarCraft Guitars, which has been endorsed by Fripp.[55]
Fripp began playing guitar at the age of eleven.[56] When he started, he was tone deaf and had no rhythmic sense, weaknesses which led him later to comment that "Music so wishes to be heard that it sometimes calls on unlikely characters to give it voice."[57] He was also naturally left-handed but opted to play the guitar right-handed.[58]
While being taught guitar basics by his teacher Don Strike,[59][60] Fripp began to develop the technique of crosspicking, which became one of his specialities.[59] Fripp teaches crosspicking to his students in GuitarCraft.[61]
In 1985, Fripp began using a tuning he called "New Standard Tuning"[62] (C2-G2-D3-A3-E4-G4), which would also become popularised in Guitar Craft.[63]
Rather than stand when performing, he seats himself on a stool (unusual for a performer in rock music), and by doing so was called in a May 1974 issue of Guitar Player "the guitarist who sits on stage".[64]
Fripp previously lived at Thornhill Cottage, Holt, Dorset (1971–1980) and Fernhill House, Witchampton (1980–1987).[68] After Reddish House, the couple lived at Evershot Old Mansion (1999–2001). They then moved to their present home in Pershore, Worcestershire.[68][69] The couple have no children and have arranged their will so as to leave their assets to the establishment of a musical educational trust for children.[70]
Fripp is the patron of the Seattle Circle Guitar School in the United States and the Shallal Dance Theatre in Penzance.[36] He also has had engagements as a motivational speaker, often at events with his sister Patricia,[71] who is a keynote speaker and speech coach.[72]
Alfie Fripp, the last of the "39ers", shot down by the Luftwaffe and then held in 12 different POW camps during World War II, was his uncle.[73]
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Fripp and Willcox uploaded many short, humorous videos to YouTube,[76] usually covers of well-known songs, and mostly titled Toyah and Robert's Sunday Lunch. According to rock and metal news website MetalSucks, their stories about these covers were extremely popular; their cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" was the site's sixth-most popular story that year.[77] The duo toured the UK in 2023, performing the Sunday Lunch songs in concert.[78]
Fripp is ranked 62nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2011 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, having been ranked 42nd by David Fricke on its 2003 list.[81][82] Tied with Andrés Segovia, he is ranked 47th on Gibson's Top 50 guitarists of all time.[83]
In 1992, Fripp and producer/online content developer David Singleton co-founded Discipline Global Mobile (DGM) as an independent musiclabel. DGM releases music by Fripp, KC, related acts, and other artists in CDs and in downloadable files. A 1998 Billboard profile stated that DGM had ten staff-members in Salisbury (England) and Los Angeles (USA). DGM has an aim "to be a model of ethical business in an industry founded on exploitation, oiled by deceit, riven with theft and fueled by greed."[84] DGM insists that its artists retain all copyrights; consequently, even DGM's "knotwork" corporate-logo (pictured above) is owned by its designer, Steve Ball;[85][86] the "knotwork" logo appeared earlier on the cover of later versions of the Discipline album. DGM's aims were called "exemplary" by Bill Martin (1997), who wrote that "Fripp has done something very important for the possibilities of experimental music" in creating DGM, which "has played a major role in creating favorable conditions for" King Crimson.[87]
DGM publishes an on-line diary by Fripp, who often comments on performances and on relations with fans. A moderated forum allows fans to ask questions or to leave comments. Together, Fripp's diary and the fanforum display delayeddialogs in which Fripp and fans discuss diary-entries and forum-postings.[88]
Copyright infringement complaints
In 2009, Fripp released a statement claiming that EMI & Sanctuary Universal had uploaded music to various music stores without his consent, stating "NONE of these downloads were licensed, authorised or legitimised. that is, every single download of any KC track represents copyright violation. or, to use one syllable instead of seven, theft."[89]
In 2011, Fripp complained that the streaming service Grooveshark continued to stream his music despite his having delivered repeated takedown notices. Fripp and Grooveshark's correspondence was published by Digital Music News[90][91][92] and in his diaries, which appear on the website of Discipline Global Mobile.[88][93]
Fripp's published exchange was included in a suit against Grooveshark by Universal Music Group, which was filed in November 2011.[90][94] UMG cited internal documents revealing that Grooveshark employees uploaded thousands of illegal copies of UMG-owned recordings.[94] Fripp had previous experience protecting his music in litigation with music companies.[95]
Fripp has stated that he believes "Unauthorised streaming or MP3 giveaways - it amounts to the same thing - copyright theft."[96]
Fripp has been extremely active as a recording musician and a producer. He has contributed to more than 700 official releases. The Robert Fripp Discography Summary, compiled by John Relph, also lists 120 compilations and 315 unauthorised releases (such as bootlegs). This means that more than 1100 releases (including both official and unofficial ones, as well as both studio and live recordings) can be found with Fripp participating. Studio releases are listed here.
↑ Fripp, Robert (1995). "Basis of Eulogy for Edie Fripp delivered at Wimborne Minster on July 30th. 1993 during the service to celebrate her life and commemorate her death.". A Blessing of Tears: 1995 Soundscapes - Volume Two - Live in California (Media notes). Discipline Global Mobile. DGM 9506.
↑ "Friday, 6th September 2013". Robert Fripp's Diary. Bredonborough: Discipline Global Mobile. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
1 2 Baldwin, Douglas (November 2007). "Guitar Heroes: How to Play Like 26 Guitar Gods from Atkins to Zappa", edited by Jude Gold and Matt Blackett, Guitar Player p.111.
↑ "2 July 2003". Robert Fripp's Diary. DGMLive.com. Barcelona. 12 December 2004. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2016. Nowadays I accept that, properly put, I am a fishetarian...
↑ Drury, Nevill (1985). Music for inner space: techniques for meditation & visualisation. Dorset; San Leandro, Calif.: Sydney: Prism Press; Unity Press. ISBN978-0-907061-74-8.
King Crimson were an English-based progressive rock band formed in London in 1968. Led by guitarist Robert Fripp, they drew inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, blues, industrial, electronic, experimental music and new wave. They exerted a strong influence on the early 1970s progressive rock movement, including on contemporaries such as Yes and Genesis, and continue to inspire subsequent generations of artists across multiple genres. The band has earned a large cult following, especially in the 21st century.
William Frederick Rieflin was an American musician. Rieflin came to prominence in the 1990s mainly for his work as a drummer with groups such as Ministry, the Revolting Cocks, Lard, KMFDM, Pigface, Swans, Chris Connelly, and Nine Inch Nails. He worked regularly with R.E.M. following the retirement of Bill Berry in 1997. He was a member of King Crimson from 2013 until his death in 2020.
Frippertronics is a tape looping technique used by English guitarist Robert Fripp. It marked the first real-time tape looping device, evolving from a system developed in the electronic music studios of the early 1960s by composers Terry Riley and Pauline Oliveros and made popular through its use in ambient music by composer Brian Eno, as on his album Discreet Music (1975). The effect is now routinely found in many commercial loop station guitar digital effects boxes such as the Boss RC-3.
Lizard is the third studio album by British progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 11 December 1970 by Island Records in the UK, and in January 1971 by Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. It was the second consecutive King Crimson album recorded by transitional line-ups of the group that did not perform live, following In the Wake of Poseidon. This is the last of two albums by the band to feature Gordon Haskell and the band's only album to feature drummer Andy McCulloch.
Beat is the ninth studio album by the British progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 18 June 1982 by E.G. Records. It was the second King Crimson album to feature the lineup of Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Bill Bruford, and the first ever King Crimson album to feature the same lineup as its predecessor.
Discipline is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 2 October 1981 by E.G. Records in the United Kingdom and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States.
Trey Gunn is an American musician, known for being in the progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003. He plays Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick instruments.
Thrak is the eleventh studio album by the band King Crimson released in 1995 through Virgin Records. It was preceded by the mini-album Vrooom in 1994. It was their first full-length studio album since Three of a Perfect Pair eleven years earlier, and the only full album to feature the "double trio" lineup of Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Trey Gunn, Bill Bruford and Pat Mastelotto. It is the group's final studio album to feature Bruford or Levin.
"Matte Kudasai" literally "Wait, Please" in Japanese, is a ballad by the progressive rock band King Crimson. Featuring vocals by Adrian Belew, it was released as the first single from the album Discipline (1981). In the UK, the single just missed the chart.
The First Day is the first of three collaborations between British musicians David Sylvian and Robert Fripp. It was released in August 1993, featuring a driving rock style with elements of funk.
Discipline Global Mobile is an independent record label founded in 1992 by Robert Fripp and producer/online content developer David Singleton. DGM has released solo music by Fripp as well as work by various affiliated musicians and bands including King Crimson, The Vicar, the California Guitar Trio and others. The label has offices in Salisbury, England, and Los Angeles, California.
Exposure is the debut solo album by guitarist and composer Robert Fripp. Unique among Fripp solo projects for its focus on the pop song format, it grew out of his previous collaborations with David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, and Daryl Hall, and the latter two singers appear on the album. Released in 1979, it peaked at No. 79 on the Billboard Album Chart. Most of the lyrics were provided by the poet and lyricist Joanna Walton, who also coined the term "Frippertronics" to describe Fripp's tape looping techniques.
E.G. Records was a British artist management company and independent record label, mostly active during the 1970s and 1980s. The initials stood for its founders, David Enthoven and John Gaydon.
The ProjeKcts are a succession of spin-off projects associated with the band King Crimson.
(No Pussyfooting) is the debut studio album by the British duo Fripp & Eno, released in 1973. (No Pussyfooting) was the first of three major collaborations between the musicians, growing out of Brian Eno's early tape delay looping experiments and Robert Fripp's "Frippertronics" electric guitar technique.
We Are the Humans is the debut studio album by the experimental rock band The Humans, consisting of Toyah Willcox, Bill Rieflin and Chris Wong. The album was released in 2009 via Willcox's label Vertical Species.
Live at the Orpheum is a live album by the band King Crimson, released by Discipline Global Mobile records in 2015. The album was recorded on 30 September and 1 October at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California on the band's The Elements of King Crimson US tour of 2014.
David Singleton is an English record producer, audio engineer, record label director, musician, songwriter, author and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known as the production and business partner of Robert Fripp of King Crimson.
Live in Toronto is a live album by the band King Crimson, released by Discipline Global Mobile records in 2016. The album was recorded on 20 November at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto, Canada during the band's The Elements of King Crimson tour of 2015. It is the second full-length release by the current seven-piece incarnation of the band and featured new compositions never before released by the band on record.
References
Hegarty, Paul; Halliwell, Martin (25 August 2011). Beyond and before: Progressive rock since the 1960s. Continuum. ISBN978-0-8264-4075-4.
Martin, Bill (1997). Listening to the future: The time of progressive rock, 1968–1978. Open Court. p.376. ISBN0-8126-9368-X.
Discipline Global Mobile (DGM) - DGM Live is a small, mobile, independent music company that aspires to Intelligence. Founded by Robert Fripp and David Singleton in 1992, its website is the home of all RF music, tour dates, diaries, news, as well as King Crimson’s, among other related artists, groups, and initiatives.
Guitar Craft & The Guitar Circle - Home Robert Fripp describes his work as Founder of Guitar Craft, and director of the associated seminars on four continents since 1985, as his ‘proper work in life’. The GC website is the online home of the living history of GC, news, GC Aphorisms, and RF writings, including new yet unpublished ones.
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