Henry Kaiser

Henry Kaiser

born on 19/9/1952 in Oakland, CA, United States

Henry Kaiser (musician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Henry Kaiser (musician)

Henry Kaiser (born 19 September 1952, Oakland, California) is an American guitarist and composer.

Recording and performing prolifically in many styles of music, Kaiser is a fixture on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. He is considered a member of the "first generation" of American free improvisers.[1]

Biography

His grandfather was the industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. In 1978, Kaiser founded Metalanguage Records with Larry Ochs (Rova Saxophone Quartet) and Greg Goodman. In 1979 he recorded With Friends Like These with Fred Frith, a collaboration that lasted for over 20 years. In 1983 they recorded Who Needs Enemies, and in 1987 With Enemies Like These, Who Needs Friends? They joined with fellow experimental musicians John French, and English folk-rocker Richard Thompson to form French Frith Kaiser Thompson for two eclectic albums, Live, Love, Larf & Loaf (1987) and Invisible Means (1990). In 1999 Frith and Kaiser released Friends and Enemies, a compilation of some of their earlier work together with new recordings.

In 1991, Kaiser went to Madagascar with fellow guitarist David Lindley, where they spent two weeks recording music with Malagasy musicians. Three volumes of this music were released by Shanachie under the title A World Out of Time.

Since 1998, Kaiser has been collaborating with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith in the "Yo Miles!" project, releasing a series of tributes to Miles Davis's 1970s electric music. This shifting aggregation has included musicians from the worlds of rock (guitarists Nels Cline, Mike Keneally and Chris Muir, drummer Steve Smith), jazz (saxophonists Greg Osby and John Tchicai), avant-garde (keyboardist John Medeski, guitarist Elliott Sharp), and Indian classical music (tabla player Zakir Hussain).

In 2001, Kaiser spent two and a half months in Antarctica on a National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program grant. He has subsequently returned to work as a research diver. His underwater camerawork was featured in two Werner Herzog films, The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) and Encounters at the End of the World (2007), which he also produced, and for which he and Lindley composed the score. Kaiser served as music producer for Herzog's Grizzly Man (2005).

Discography

  • 1975 : Lemon Fish Tweezer (Cuneiform Records)
  • 1979 : With Friends Like These with Fred Frith
  • 1983 : Who Needs Enemies? with Fred Frith
  • 1984 : Invite the Spirit with Sang-Won Park and Charles K. Noyes
  • 1987 : With Enemies Like These, Who Needs Friends? with Fred Frith
  • 1987 : Devil in the Drain (SST Records)
  • 1987 : Live, Love, Larf & Loaf (Rhino Records) with French Frith Kaiser Thompson
  • 1989 : Popular Science (Rykodisc) with Sergey Kuryokhin
  • 1989 : Those Who Know History Are Doomed to Repeat It (SST Records)
  • 1990 : Invisible Means (Windham Hill Records) with French Frith Kaiser Thompson
  • 1990 : Re-Marrying For Money (SST Records)
  • 1990 : Heart's Desire (Reckless Records)
  • 1991 : Hope You Like Our New Direction (Reckless Records)
  • 1991 : A World Out of Time (Shanachie Records) with David Lindley in Madagascar
  • 1994 : The Sweet Sunny North (Shanachie Records) with David Lindley in Norway
  • 1994 : Wireforks (Shanachie Records) with Derek Bailey

References

External links

This page was last modified 15.05.2012 16:10:49

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