Live in Prague and Washington
Live album by
Chris Cutler and Fred Frith
Released1983 (1983)
RecordedPrague, 25 May 1979
Washington, D.C., 20 December 1979
GenreExperimental music, free improvisation
Length72:46 (CD release)
LabelRecommended (UK)
Chris Cutler and Fred Frith chronology
Live in Prague and Washington
(1983)		 Live in Trondheim, Berlin & Limoges, Vol. 2
(1994)
Fred Frith chronology
Cheap at Half the Price
(1983)		 Live in Prague and Washington
(1983)		 French Gigs
(1983)

Live in Prague and Washington (Live in Moscow, Prague & Washington on CD releases) is a live album of improvised experimental music by Chris Cutler and Fred Frith. It was recorded at the 8th Prague "Jazz Days" Festival in Prague in former Czechoslovakia on 25 May 1979, and at the DC Space in Washington, D.C., on 20 December 1979. The album was released by Recommended Records in 1983 on a 45 rpm 12" LP.[1][2][3][4][5] It was Frith and Cutler's first collaborative duo album.

Subscribers to the Live in Prague and Washington LP received a limited edition 7-inch single of a 1979 Cutler and Frith concert recorded in Limoges, France.[6][5] This recording was added to their next collaborative album, Live in Trondheim, Berlin & Limoges, Vol. 2 (1994).[7]

In 1990 Recommended Records re-issued Live in Prague and Washington on CD with a Cuttler and Frith Moscow concert added, and retitled Live in Moscow, Prague & Washington. The new recording was made at the Culture Palace S.P.Gorbunov in Moscow on 31 May 1989.[4]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Babyblaue Seiten[9]
Cadencefavourable[10]

In a review of the CD release of the album in the improvised jazz and blues magazine Cadence, Carl Baugher wrote that this type of music "truly defies categorization", and that while it has elements of free jazz and classical music structures, "Frith and Cutler demand to be evaluated on their own terms".[10] Baugher said that "Moscow" has moments that are "riveting" and others that are "distracted impersonal textures". He called "Prague" the album's "most interesting composition" in terms of structure and improvisation, adding that "tonality is hinted at but ... seldom used". Baugher described "Washington" as "strangely controlled and peaceful" compared to the other pieces.[10] Baugher declared Live in Moscow, Prague & Washington "an unqualified success", and stated that more CDs like this would "make the world of improvised music a more interesting place".[10]

In her 1990 book, Sonic Transports: New Frontiers in Our Music, Nicole V. Gagné wrote that the Prague concert credit "4500 Czechs: ambiance and opinions" is "no joke", as the audience contributes to the music. She said, "The murmuring undercurrent of voices, the whistling, clapping, and crying out, all affected the musicians and prompted several of the things they did."[11]

Track listing

All music by Chris Cutler and Fred Frith.

1983 LP release: Live in Prague and Washington

Side I
No.TitleLength
1."Live in Prague (part 1)" 
Side II
No.TitleLength
2."Live in Prague (cont.)" 
3."Washington" 

1990 CD release: Live in Moscow, Prague & Washington

No.TitleLength
1."Moscow"42:41
2."Prague"27:14
3."Washington"2:48

Sources: AllMusic,[8] Liner notes,[1][2] Discogs,[3][4] Fred Frith discography.[5]

Personnel

  • Chris Cutler – drums, electrified drums, contact mics, telephone mouthpieces, jetsam
  • Fred Frith – guitars, Vox Organ guitar, table guitars, adapted guitars, bass guitar, six-string bass guitar, violin, voice, flotsam
  • 4500 Czechs (Prague concert) – ambiance, opinions[lower-alpha 1]

Sources: Liner notes,[1][2] Discogs,[3][4] Fred Frith discography.[5]

Sound and artwork

  • Moscow concert analogue mastering by Bill Sharp
  • Prague concert recorded by Jiri Munzar, with live mix by E. M. Thomas
  • Washington concert recorded by John Page
  • Photography by Jiří Kučera, E. M. Thomas
  • Cover design by E. M. Thomas

Sources: Liner notes,[1][2] Discogs.[3][4]

Notes

  1. ↑ At the Prague concert, microphones where placed in the auditorium which recorded audience reaction to the music.[1][2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Recommended Records (1983). Live in Prague and Washington (LP liner notes). Chris Cutler and Fred Frith.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Recommended Records (1990). Live in Moscow, Prague & Washington (CD liner notes). Chris Cutler and Fred Frith.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Chris Cutler / Fred Frith – Live In Prague And Washington". Discogs. 1983. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Chris Cutler / Fred Frith – Live In Moscow, Prague & Washington". Discogs. 1990. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Ramond, Michel; Roussel, Patrice; Vuilleumier, Stephane. "Discography of Fred Frith". New York Downtown Scene and Other Miscellaneous Discographies. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  6. ↑ "Chris Cutler And Fred Frith – Limoges". Discogs. 1983. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Chris Cutler / Fred Frith – Live In Trondheim – Berlin – Limoges Vol. 2". Discogs. 1994. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  8. 1 2 Live in Moscow, Prague & Washington at AllMusic. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  9. ↑ "Chris Cutler/Fred Frith: Live in Moscow, Prague & Washington". Babyblaue Seiten (in German). Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Baugher, Carl (August 1991). "Chris Cutler and Fred Frith, Live in Moscow, Prague and Washington". Cadence. Vol. 17, no. 8. pp. 73–74. ISSN 0162-6973.
  11. ↑ Gagné, Nicole V. (1990). Sonic Transports: New Frontiers in Our Music. De Falco Books. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-9625145-0-0.
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