Woodwork | ||||
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Live album by | ||||
Released | 23 August 2019 | |||
Recorded | 20 November 2018 | |||
Venue | Ateliers Claus, Brussels, Belgium | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 46:04 | |||
Label | Klanggalerie (Austria) | |||
Fred Frith chronology | ||||
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Woodwork: Live at Ateliers Claus is a 2019 live album by English guitarist Fred Frith. It features a live solo guitar performance by Frith on 20 November 2018 at the Ateliers Claus in Brussels, Belgium, [1] [lower-alpha 1] during his November 2018 European tour. [2] The album was released by Klanggalerie in Austria on 23 August 2019. Woodwork is an "[u]naccompanied single-take album", [3] and is Frith's first live solo guitar album since his 1982 album, Live in Japan .
In an interview with Kurt Gottschalk in The New York City Jazz Record , Frith said that he had been receiving requests from Walter Robotka at Klanggalerie to release a solo guitar album. While trying to decide what material he could use from his recording archive, Frith realized he could use his solo guitar performance at the Ateliers Claus in November 2018. He added, "[It] felt great and they'd made a really good recording of it, so I thought, perfect!" [3]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Musikreviews.de | [4] |
Musique Machine | [5] |
In a review of Woodwork at Musikreviews.de, Andreas Schiffmann said Frith augments his guitar on the album with a variety of effects, including live looping, percussive tapping and his voice. "Stillness the Dancing" appears to comprise several milestones around which Frith improvises, giving the piece a suggestion of a structure with sporadic melody fragments surfacing from time to time. "Falls the Shadow" is quieter, which Schiffmann said requires careful listening to appreciate its nuances. He felt, however, that Frith does occasionally get a little "carried away" with his voice. [4] Schiffmann concluded that just as Frith demonstrated how far he can push a guitar on his 1974 album Guitar Solos , over four decades later on Woodwork he shows that he is still at the forefront of guitar innovation and experimentation. [4]
Writing at Musique Machine, Roger Batty described Woodwork as "a wonderfully eventful, daring and rewarding release", and called Frith a "highly respected, versatile, and devilishly creative guitarist". [5] Batty said his performance on the album varies from "darting [and] jagged improv", to "chugging and dense heaviness", to "unearthly ambience", to "all out noise". But he "never becomes showy or egontric [ sic ]", and underneath all the apparent random sounds, there is a definite composition around which he improvises. Batty commended Frith for his "invention, control, and variation" and said Woodwork is worth investigating, "either if you enjoy darting [and] creative modern composition, or if you hearing what a true master of the guitar can do with his instrument." [5]
All tracks are written by Fred Frith
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Stillness the Dancing" | 41:32 |
2. | "Falls the Shadow" | 4:32 |
Sources: Liner notes, [6] Discogs. [7]
Sources: Liner notes, [6] Discogs. [7]
Sources: Liner notes, [6] Discogs. [7]
Skeleton Crew was an American experimental rock and jazz group from 1982 to 1986, comprising core members Fred Frith and Tom Cora, with Zeena Parkins joining later. Best known for their live improvisation performances where they played various instruments simultaneously, they also recorded two studio albums Learn to Talk (1984) and The Country of Blinds (1986). The group drew on music and themes from a number of sources, including world music, left-wing politics and pre-recorded tapes.
Guitar Solos 3 is the third in a series of three albums of improvised guitar solos by various musicians, and was released in the United States by Rift Records in 1979. Fred Frith coordinated and produced the series, which began with his 1974 debut solo album, Guitar Solos.
Speechless is a 1981 solo album by English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith of the group Henry Cow. It was Frith's third solo album, and was originally released in the United States on LP record on the Residents' Ralph record label. It was the second of three solo albums Frith made for the label.
The Sugar Factory is a 2007 collaborative album by English experimental musician Fred Frith and Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie. It comprises material drawn from improvisations by Frith and Glennie recorded during the making of the 2004 documentary film Touch the Sound about Glennie, who is profoundly deaf. The album was released in 2007 in the United States by Tzadik Records as part of their "Key Series".
Helter Skelter is a 1992 rock opera by Fred Frith and François-Michel Pesenti. It was their first collaborative album and was recorded in Marseille, France, in February 1992. The music was composed by Frith, with libretto by Pesenti, and was conducted by Frith and Jean-Marc Montera. Frith and Pesenti do not perform on this album.
The Fred Frith Trio is a San Francisco Bay Area based experimental music and free improvising group featuring Fred Frith, Jason Hoopes and Jordan Glenn. They were formed in Oakland, California in 2013, released two studio albums on Intakt Records in 2016 and 2018, and toured Europe in 2015 and 2017, and Brazil in 2018.
Ironic Universe is a 2006 double album of prepared guitar music by Janet Feder and Fred Frith. It comprises a studio CD of solo tracks by Feder and duo improvisations by Feder and Frith, and a live DVD of solo performances by Frith and Feder filmed in Colorado. It was released by Dave Kerman's Ad Hoc Records on January 1, 2006.
The Stone: Issue Two is a 2007 live album of improvised experimental music by Fred Frith and Chris Cutler. It was recorded at The Stone in New York City on 15 December 2006 and was one of four CDs released between 2006 and 2010 by Tzadik Records to raise funds for The Stone. It was Frith and Cutler's fourth collaborative album.
2 Gentlemen in Verona is a 2000 live album of improvised experimental music by Chris Cutler and Fred Frith. It was recorded Verona, Italy on 16 April 1999 and released by Recommended Records in April 2000. It was Frith and Cutler's third collaborative album.
Live in Trondheim, Berlin & Limoges, Vol. 2 is a 1994 live album of improvised experimental music by Chris Cutler and Fred Frith. It was recorded in Limoges, France on 13 December 1979; at the Nordlydd Contemporary Music Festival in Trondheim, Norway on 16 October 1991; and in Tacheles, Berlin, Germany on 2 November 1991. The album was released by Recommended Records in 1994. It was Frith and Cutler's second collaborative album.
Live in Prague and Washington is a live album of improvised experimental music by Chris Cutler and Fred Frith. It was recorded at the 8th Prague "Jazz Days" Festival in Prague in former Czechoslovakia on 25 May 1979, and at the DC Space in Washington, D.C., on 20 December 1979. The album was released by Recommended Records in 1983 on a 45 rpm 12" LP. It was Frith and Cutler's first collaborative duo album.
Duo (Victoriaville) 2005 is a 2006 live album of improvised music by Anthony Braxton and Fred Frith. It was recorded on May 20, 2005 at the 22nd Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Quebec, Canada, and released in May 2006 by Les Disques Victo, the festival's record label.
Storytelling: Live at Theater Gütersloh is a 2017 live album by English guitarist Fred Frith. It was performed by Frith in a trio with Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker and Swiss percussionist Samuel Dühsler on 18 March 2017 at the Theater Gütersloh in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The recording was released on 18 August 2017 by Intuition in Germany as Volume 12 of its European Jazz Legends series.
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?
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.
All Is Always Now – Live at The Stone is a 2019 three-CD box set of live improvised music performed by English guitarist Fred Frith with other musicians, including Theresa Wong, Ikue Mori, Pauline Oliveros and Laurie Anderson. It was recorded between 2007 and 2016 at The Stone in New York City, and was released in March 2019 by Intakt Records in Switzerland.
Voice of America is a 1982 live collaborative album of improvised experimental music by Fred Frith, Bob Ostertag and Phil Minton. It was recorded live at PASS, New York City in January 1981, and the Actual Festival at the ICA, London in August 1981. The album was released on LP by Rift Records in 1982. RecRec Music reissued the album on CD in 1994.
French Gigs is a 1983 live collaborative album of improvised experimental music by Lol Coxhill and Fred Frith. It was recorded live in France in Limoges and Poitiers in October 1978, and in Reims in 1981. The album was released on LP by AAA in 1983, on CD by AYAA in 1991, and again on CD by Klanggalerie in 2020. The 1991 release includes a new track recorded via correspondence in 1991–92 by Coxhill in London and Frith in Munich, while the 2020 release includes the extra 1991 track, plus another new track recorded in Aubervilliers, France in 1999, the last performance by Coxhill and Frith. The 2020 release was re-mastered by Myles Boison.
Upbeat is a 1999 live and studio album by the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, an American-based contemporary classical and experimental music guitar quartet comprising Fred Frith, René Lussier, Nick Didkovsky and Mark Stewart. It is their second album, after Ayaya Moses (1997), and was released by Canadian record label, Ambiances Magnétiques. The live material was drawn from concerts the quartet had performed in Germany, Switzerland, France and Spain in November 1997. The studio tracks were recorded at Tonstudio Amann in Vienna, Austria, also in November 1997.
Unsquare is a 2008 studio album by Maybe Monday, a San Francisco based experimental electroacoustic improvisation music ensemble featuring guitarist Fred Frith, koto player Miya Masaoka and saxophonist Larry Ochs. It is their third album and includes guest musicians Gerry Hemingway, Carla Kihlstedt, Ikue Mori and Zeena Parkins. Unsquare was recorded at East Side Sound Studio in New York City on November 18, 2006, and was released by Intakt Records in Switzerland in January 2008.