Artists | Fred Frith (UK/US)

Fred Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor, best known for his guitar best known for the reinvention of the electric guitar that began with his first solo album Guitar Solos in 1974.
He was one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow (1968 – 1978), where he played with Tim Hodgkinson, Dagmar Krause, Chris Cutler, John Greaves, Lindsay Cooper a.o.
Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew. He has collaborated with a number of prominent musicians, including Robert Wyatt, Derek Bailey, The Residents, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, Brian Eno, Mike Patton, Lars Hollmer, Bill Laswell, Iva Bittová, Jad Fair, the ARTE Quartett and Bob Ostertag. He has also composed several long works, including Traffic Continues (1996, performed 1998 by Frith and Ensemble Modern) and Freedom in Fragments (1993, performed 1999 by Rova Saxophone Quartet). Frith produces most of his own music, and has also produced many albums by other musicians.

Fred enthusiastically records and performs all over the place. He is currently leading the Gravity Band, Eye to Ear (his film music group), and Cosa Brava.

Fred teaches at Mills College in Oakland California and at the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland. He is the subject of Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel’s award-winning documentary film Step Across the Border.