''Live Improvisations'' is a 1992 collaborative

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

improvised music Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...

by English experimental musicians

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...

and

Tim Hodgkinson Timothy "Tim" George Hodgkinson (born 1 May 1949) is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds, lap steel guitar, and keyboards. He first became known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group ...

. It was recorded in May 1990 in England and was released on Woof Records in the United Kingdom and Megaphone Records in the United States.

Background

and

's first performance together was when they supplied music for a dance recital in 1968 while they were students at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. They had never played together before and Frith said " imhad an alto sax, and I had my violin, and we just improvised this ghastly screaming noise for about half an hour." Surprised by their performance, and to keep the momentum going, Frith and Hodgkinson formed a band, which went on to become the English

avant-rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

group

Henry Cow Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, b ...

Reception

Writing in a review at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Rick Anderson described the improvisations of Frith and Hodgkinson on this album as "cacophonic", but added that "none of it is ugly; in fact, much of it is downright lovely". Anderson rated the album as " ghly recommended".

Track listing

All tracks are untitled, composed by

and

, and performed in England. Source:

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

, Fred Frith discography.

Personnel

– guitar, violin, vocals *

– keyboards, alto saxophone, clarinet Source:

, Fred Frith discography.

Recording notes

All tracks recorded by

Michael Gerzon Michael Anthony Gerzon (4 December 1945 – 6 May 1996) is probably best known for his work on Ambisonics and for his work on digital audio. He also made a large number of recordings, many in the field of free improvisation in which he had a par ...

. *Track 1 recorded on a 4-track *Tracks 2, 3 and 4 recorded on a DAT *Tracks 5 and 6 recorded on a Sony Professional Source:

Footnotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Live Improvisations 1992 live albums 1992 collaborative albums Experimental music albums by English artists Live free improvisation albums Fred Frith live albums Tim Hodgkinson albums Albums produced by Tim Hodgkinson Albums produced by Fred Frith