Frith/Mori/Parkins & the International Occasional Ensemble - Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire (Graphic Scores 1986-1996)

On the impressive two-CD set Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire (memorize the order; there will be a test later), ubiquitous avant-garde music festival performer Fred Frith takes listeners on a tour of five early- to mid-'90s fest appearances, at Angelika (Bologna), FIMAV (Victoriaville), the Time Festival (Gent), Jazz Marathon (Groningen), and the ever-popular Kulturzentrum Dieselstrasse (Esslingen). Scads of avant-garde luminaries typically appear at these gatherings and are sometimes assembled into avant supergroups of sorts; for example, the FIMAV selections on SBGWW are performed by an ensemble including Frith on guitar and violin, Ikue Mori on drum machine and Zeena Parkins on harp and accordion (both of whom appear on all except the Angelika tracks), and drummer Han Bennink, pianist Myra Melford, saxophonist/flutist Jean Derome, guitarist/daxophonist René Lussier, accordionist Guy Klucevsek, and trumpeter Lesli Dalaba. Read More