Frieze of Life is a unique ensemble that effectively combines elements of creative improvisation with subtle, complex compositional designs to create a sound that is exciting, spontaneous, and thought-provoking. With inspiration coming from such diverse sources as Jimmy Giuffres chamber jazz ensembles, the jazz-based innovations of Anthony Braxton and George Lewis, the harmonic languages of Bela Bartok, Arnold Schoenberg, and Gyorgi Ligeti, and the textural landscapes of Pierre Boulez and Luciano Berio, Frieze of Life offers a fresh, original take on the avant-jazz scene.
The members of Frieze of Life are some of the most innovative talents in the Pacific Northwest: they are highly in demand in Seattle and nationally, and each maintains an active schedule of performing, recording, composing, teaching, and leading innovative projects.
Frieze of Life has received significant attention recently, including an Earshot Golden Ear award in 2004 from the Earshot Jazz Society. They have also received grants from Centrum, the Puffin Foundation, and the Jack Straw Foundation. Their CD Nuclear Frog Pond is available at www.friezeoflife.com, and a new CD based on paintings of Edvard Munch is due for release in late 2006.
"A Seattle sextet of shrewd conceits and palpable empathy, Frieze of Life alternates between nearly indistinguishable group improvisations and compositional strategies. Adept at ear-catching harmonies, the four horns adapt with striking sensitivity to the contours of the moment, and solos don't intrude but rather complement the mood. Bass and drums often attack from an oblique angle, offering ostinati that sustain momentum or motoric rhythms to energise the group-think." -- The Wire Magazine
"The horns chase each other with dancing African licks [and] have freer abstract sounds that resolve into lovely low-pitched solos A mix of cranky muscle and mournful melody." -- Cadence Magazine
"These are players who really listen to each other it's impressive how they spin intricate chorales out of thin air which perhaps explains the music's surprising darkness of texture and mood, very different from what one might expect from a four-horns-plus-bass-and-drums jazz ensemble." -- Paris Transatlantic Monthly
This profile was edited with The CricketSoda Myspace Editor
