Fred Ho (; born Fred Wei-han Houn; August 10, 1957 – April 12, 2014) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

baritone saxophonist, composer, bandleader, playwright, writer and Marxist social activist.

Biography

He was born in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

,John Stevenson
"Fred Ho: Baritone saxophonist whose innovative output was influenced by his social and environmental beliefs"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', May 30, 2014. and moved at the age of six with his family to

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. In 1988, he changed his surname to "Ho". While he is sometimes associated with the Asian-American jazz or

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz and experimental jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through to the late 1960s. Ori ...

movements, Ho himself was opposed to the use of term "

" to describe traditional

African-American music African-American music is an umbrella term covering a diverse range of music and musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Their origins are in musical forms that first came to be due to the condition of slaver ...

because the word "jazz" had sometimes been used pejoratively by white Americans to denigrate the music of African Americans. Ho sought to define what constitutes Asian-American jazz: "What makes Chinese American music Chinese American? What would comprise an Asian American musical content and form that could transform American music in general rather than simply be subsumed in one or another American musical genre such as 'jazz'?" He polemicized against "the white assimilationist notion of the petty bourgeois Asian American artist that anything by an Asian American artist makes it Asian American," pointing out that, for instance, "Yo-Yo Ma is a cellist who happens to be Chinese/Asian American, not a Chinese/Asian American musician."Fred Ho, "Beyond Asian American Jazz," in ''Wicked Theory, Naked Practice: A Fred Ho Reader.'' In his role as an activist, many of his works fuse the melodies of indigenous and traditional Asian and African forms of music. He envisioned his music to be a real synthesis: "In opposing cultural imperialism, a genuine multicultural synthesis embodies revolutionary internationalism in music: rather than co-opting different cultures, musicians and composers achieve revolutionary transformation predicated upon anti-imperialism in terms of both musical respect and integrity as well as a practical political economic commitment to equality between peoples." Ho also co-edited four books: ''Sounding Off! Music as Subversion/Resistance/Revolution'' (1996), ''Legacy to Liberation: Politics and Culture of Revolutionary Asian Pacific America'' (2001), ''Afro Asia: Revolutionary Political and Cultural Connections between African Americans and Asian Americans'' (2008), and ''Maroon the Implacable: The Collected Writings of Russell Maroon Shoatz'' (2013). Ho's contributions to the Asian-American empowerment movement are varied and many. He is credited with co-founding several Asian-American civic groups such as the East Coast Asian Students Union (while a student at Harvard), the Asian American Arts Alliance in New York City, the Asian American Resource Center in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and the Asian Improv record label. Of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

descent, Ho specialized in the combining sometimes asynchronous tunes and melodies of various musical traditions, creating what many have described as both brilliant and chaotic sounds. He was the first to combine Chinese opera with traditional African-American music. He led the Afro Asian Music Ensemble (founded in 1982) and the Monkey Orchestra (founded in 1980). He lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. Ho held a B.A. degree in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

(1979). He recorded for the Koch Jazz and

Soul Note Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz. History Black S ...

labels. Some of his final works include ''Deadly She-Wolf Assassin at Armageddon'', which premiered in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, in June 2006, and ''Voice of the Dragon'' I, II, and III. As Ho was a prolific composer, writer, playwright, his list of works grew continually. Some of his first CDs include ''Monkey I'', ''Monkey II'', ''The Underground Railroad to My Heart'' (Soul Note), ''We Refuse To Be Used And Abused'', and ''Tomorrow is Now!'' In his 2000 book, ''Legacy to Liberation'', Ho, recapitulating an aesthetic vision first presented in 1985, wrote: On August 4, 2006, Ho was diagnosed with colon cancer. After

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

, his health improved, but a second tumor was found on September 24, 2007. He wrote two books about cancer: ''Diary of a Radical Cancer Warrior: Fighting Cancer and Capitalism at the Cellular Level'' (2011), and ''Raw Extreme Manifesto: Change Your Body, Change Your Mind and Change the World While Spending Almost Nothing!'' (2012). He received numerous grants, including from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

and the Rockefeller Foundation, and among the honours accorded him were a 1996

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

, a Guggenheim Fellowship, in 2009 the Harvard Arts Medal, and in March 2014 (almost 1 month before his death) the Harlem Arts Festival Lynette Velasco Community Impact Award. At the 17th Annual Black Musicians Conference, Ho received the Duke Ellington Distinguished Artist Lifetime Achievement Award, which he was the youngest person to achieve. Ho died on April 12, 2014, aged 56, at his home in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

."World Famous Saxophone player Fred Ho Performs his final performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (October 11–12, 2013)
accessed April 14, 2014.

Discography

* 1985: ''Tomorrow is Now'' (

) * 1985: ''Bamboo That Snaps Back'' (Finnadar) * 1987: ''We Refuse to be Used and Abused'' (Soul Note) * 1988: ''A Song for Manong'' (Asian Improv) * 1993: ''The Underground Railroad to My Heart'' (Soul Note) * 1996: ''Monkey Part I'' (

Koch Jazz Koch may refer to: People * Koch (surname), people with this surname * Koch dynasty, a dynasty in Assam and Bengal, north east India * Koch family * Koch people (or Koche), an ethnic group originally from the ancient Koch kingdom in north east In ...

) * 1997: ''Monkey Part II'' (Koch Jazz) * 1997: ''Turn Pain Into Power'' (O.O. Discs) * 1998: ''Yes Means Yes, No Means No, Whatever She Wears, Wherever She Goes'' (Koch) * 1999: ''Warrior Sisters'' (Koch) * 2001: ''Once Upon a Time in Chinese America'' ( Innova) * 2009: ''Celestial Green Monster'' (Mutable Music) * 2011: ''Year of the Tiger'' (Innova) * 2011: ''Snake-Eaters'' (Big Red Media) * 2011: ''The Sweet Science Suite: A Scientific Soul Music Honoring of Muhammad Ali'' (Big Red Media) With the Julius Hemphill Sextet *'' Five Chord Stud'' (Black Saint, 1994)

Books edited by Ho

*Sakolsky, Ron, and Fred Ho. ''Sounding Off! Music as Subversion/Resistance/Revolution.'' Brooklyn, NY:

Autonomedia Autonomedia is a nonprofit publisher based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn known for publishing works of criticism. Staffed by volunteers, they have published over 200 books, usually with 3,000 of each run. Its most renowned book is Hakim Bey's essays o ...

, 1996. *Ho, Fred. ''Legacy to Liberation: Politics and Culture of Revolutionary Asian Pacific America.'' Oakland, CA:

AK Press AK Press is a worker-managed, independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. Operated out of Chico, California, the company is collectively owned. History AK was founded in Stirling, S ...

, 2001. *Ho, Fred and Bill V. Mullen.
Afro Asia: Revolutionary Political and Cultural Connections between African Americans and Asian Americans
'' Durham, NC:

Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 D ...

, 2008. *

Books about Ho

*Fujino, Diane C., ed. ''Wicked Theory, Naked Practice: A Fred Ho Reader.'' Minneapolis, MN:

University of Minnesota Press The University of Minnesota Press is a university press that is part of the University of Minnesota. It had annual revenues of just over $8 million in fiscal year 2018. Founded in 1925, the University of Minnesota Press is best known for its boo ...

, 2009. * Buckley, Roger N., and Tamara Roberts, ed. ''Yellow Power, Yellow Soul: The Radical Art of Fred Ho (Asian American Experience).'' Champaign, IL:

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...

, 2013.

References

External links