The October Revolution of Jazz & Contemporary Music

Songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist (bass, keyboards, violin) and improviser Fred Frith needs little introduction to fans of adventurous music. The eclectic Englishman is a founding member of avant-rock pioneers Henry Cow, as well as being a member of such mind-warping bands as Art Bears, Massacre, Skeleton Key, and John Zorn’s Naked City. He’s collaborated with a who’s who of inventive and experimental musicians, including Robert Wyatt, Derek Bailey, The Residents, Lol Coxhill, Brian Eno, Mike Patton, Lars Hollmer, Bill Laswell, Iva Bittová, Jad Fair, Kramer, the ARTE Quartett, and Bob Ostertag.

The Fred Frith Trio teams the leader with a pair of gifted Bay Area musicians, bassist Jason Hoopes (OrkestRova, Scott Amendola) and drummer Jordan Glenn (Roscoe Mitchell Orchestra, tUnE-yArDs). The trio has released two albums on Intakt Records: Another Fucking Day in Paradise (2016, which All About Jazz described as a “hardcore off-centered delicacy;” and Closer to the Ground (2018), leading DownBeat’s Peter Margasak to describe the group as “a scrappy improvising trio.” For this rare Philadelphia appearance, the trio will be joined by live visual artist Heike Liss as well as well as trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, “one of the most exciting improvisers in the world” according to Downbeat Magazine.