Frith, Fred & Danielle Palardy Roger

Pas de deux nouveau

Label: Ambiances Magnetiques Country: Canada

"This meeting with Fred Frith was a jubilation from start to finish. One of those precious moments where trust rules and energy flows. We had never played together, but it was bound to happen. The initial impetus for this duo came from a Carte blanche offered by Pierre Dumont of the Festival des musiques de création in Saguenay. To me, it seemed appropriate to honor that Carte blanche with this project with Fred. And as long as we were dragging him to Québec, we had to take the opportunity to present this "rare" duo in Montréal, at La Sala Rossa. This CD is not the faithful reproduction of one of these concerts, but a collage featuring highlights from both evenings. Fred and I have mixed and edited separately, from the live recordings. I have worked from a superimposition of the two concerts, while Fred worked on stripping them down. Since I did not have the distance necessary to make the final editing decisions, I asked DAME label's honcho (and my dear friend and super-colleague) Joane Hétu to bring the CD project to a close. So here you have a work of excellent audio quality that faithfully communicates the energy and telepathy Fred and I experienced together."-Danielle Palardy Roger

"So much time spent discussing improvisation—seminars, symposia, conferences, thesis papers, the ever important considerations of history and gender and race and politics and why this and why that, and what's essential and what's next, and who came first and who's who and who are you? Mercifully, the act of improvising slips the broader discourse in an instant. It only works when you are in the moment, and in the moment all else disappears. Playing with an old friend, exchanging musical glances, passing the time of night, showing, telling, crying, shouting, spurring each other on, celebrating the fact that we're still here, still alive, and still have plenty to say to each other."-Fred Frith

"I feel a natural affinity with Fred, because of his deep roots in rock and traditional music, but mostly because of his devouring passion for improvised music. Music by means of which we improvisers communicate with the other improvisers and the audience. A here-and-now moment where improvisers can project and share, on the spot, their essence, ideas, and understanding; their way of driving the action, feeding the discussion, bouncing back, supporting or concluding a proposition. This is one of these moments where we creators are the most completely engaged in creation and the present time. Improvised music is like an extreme sport…"-Danielle Palardy Roger