Fred Frith

The Profile

English guitarist, composer and improviser; founding member of Henry Cow; noted for experimental guitar techniques, solo albums and wide-ranging collaborations in the avant-garde and improvised-music scenes.

Born in England in 1949 (reviewed source). Founding member of Henry Cow. Moved to New York after Henry Cow's breakup. Appears on many recordings (review cites more than 400 appearances). Collaborators mentioned in reviews include Robert Wyatt, Brian Eno, Zeena Parkins, John Zorn and The Residents.

Fred Frith is presented as an influential English experimental guitarist and composer, praised for his originality and prolific collaborations. Speechless is described as a surreal, metropolitan collage that foregrounds transformed guitar sounds. Quartets documents his written compositions for string and guitar ensembles and is seen as more challenging and compositionally rigorous. Reviews emphasize his links to Henry Cow, Cambridge, and the New York avant-garde.