Cosa Brava is an

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...

and

free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both a technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of ...

group formed in March 2008 in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, by multi-instrumentalist and composer

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as a founding member of the English avant-rock group Henry ...

(

Henry Cow Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, b ...

Skeleton Crew A skeleton crew is the minimum number of personnel needed to operate and maintain an item. Skeleton Crew may refer to: Music *Skeleton Crew (band), an American experimental rock and jazz group *Skeleton Crew, an American record label co-founded b ...

Keep the Dog Keep the Dog was an American-based experimental rock touring band from New York City formed in 1989 by English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisation, improvisor Fred Frith. The sextet was conceived as a review band for performing sel ...

). The band comprises Frith on guitar,

Zeena Parkins Zeena Parkins (born 1956) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist active in experimental, free improvised, contemporary classical, and avant-jazz music; she is known for having "reinvented the harp". Parkins performs on standard har ...

(Skeleton Crew, Keep the Dog) on keyboards and accordion,

Carla Kihlstedt Carla Kihlstedt (born 1971) is an American composer, violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and currently working from a home studio on Cape Cod. She is a founding member of Tin Hat Trio (1997, ...

(

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (often abbreviated to SGM) is an American experimental rock band, formed in 1999 in Oakland, California. The band fuses classical, industrial, and art-rock themes throughout their music. They are known to perform elabor ...

) on violin, Matthias Bossi (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) on drums, and The Norman Conquest ( Norman Teale) on sound manipulation.

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

described their music as "somewhere between folk, Celtic, modern chamber, Latin, funk, Eastern, and prog-rock". Cosa Brava's first performance was in Oakland, California on March 20, 2008. They then went on to tour

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

in April 2008, playing in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. In May 2008 they performed at the 25th

Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville The Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville () is an annual international music festival held in Victoriaville, Quebec that showcases contemporary music. The festival is known for its small scale (usually no more than 20 perfo ...

Victoriaville Victoriaville () is a town in south-central Quebec, Canada, on the Nicolet River. Victoriaville is the seat of Arthabaska Regional County Municipality and a part of the Centre-du-Québec (Bois-Francs) region. It is formed by the 1993 merger of ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and in December 2008 at the

Knitting Factory The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment and is co-owned and co-operated by Knitting Factory Entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United Stat ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and the ICA in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. Cosa Brava recorded their first album, '' Ragged Atlas'' in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in December 2008, which was released in March 2010. John Kelman in a review at All About Jazz said that the album "transcends time and genre" and is "one of 2010's most auspicious debuts". A second album entitled ''

The Letter The Letter may refer to: Literature * "The Letter" (poem), a poem by Wilfred Owen (1893–1918) * "The Letter", a short story in W. Somerset Maugham's 1926 collection ''The Casuarina Tree'' * "The Letter", 38th sura of the Qur'an * ''The Lette ...

'' was released in March 2012. Cosa Brava released their third album, '' Z Sides'' in September 2024, which was conceived by The Norman Conquest. Using extracts from live mixes of the band's performances between March 2008 and their last European tour in May 2012, The Norman Conquest and Frith assembled an album of

sound collage In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or Musical composition, compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as musique concrè ...

s of the band's many improvisations.

Background

's career began as a "rock musician" with

in 1968, but has since diversified into a number of different genres, from

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz, experimental jazz, or "new thing") 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 the late 1 ...

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

. He has written scores for film and dance, and music for orchestras and string quartets. He became Professor of Composition the Music Department at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

in 1999. The motivation behind the formation of Cosa Brava arose out of Frith's nostalgia for rock music. He said, "I really miss what you can do with a rock band. I miss developing material through the push and pull of cooperative rehearsals, I miss what happens when you move away from 'the parts' and start formulating things with a collective ear, I miss the single-minded commitment to a group identity." Frith had previously worked with

and

, and had collaborated with

on several albums. The Norman Conquest (real name Norman Teale) had been a student of Frith's at Mills College.

Members

– guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, voice *

– keyboards, accordion, Foley objects, voice *

– violin, voice *Matthias Bossi – drums, voice *

Shahzad Ismaily Shahzad Ismaily (born 20 June 1972 in Pennsylvania) is an American multi-instrumentalist, known mainly as a bass guitar player, and record producer. He is a member of Marc Ribot's trio Ceramic Dog since its formation in 2006. He also plays with S ...

(from 2011) – bass guitar, voice *The Norman Conquest – sound manipulation

Discography

*'' Ragged Atlas'' (2010, CD,

Intakt Records Intakt Records is an independent record label, based in Zürich, Switzerland. History The label was founded in 1986 by Patrik Landolt.Margasak, Peter (September 2013) "Intakt's Landolt Takes Long-Term Approach to Avant-Garde". ''Down Beat''. p. ...

, Switzerland) *''

'' (2012, CD, Intakt Records, Switzerland) *'' Z Sides'' (2024, CD, Klanggalerie, Austria)

References

External links

Every Which Way: Experimentalist Fred Frith's Cosa Brava mixes multiple musical worlds
''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

''.
Cosa Brava
at ''Inclinaisons''.
Cosa Brava
on

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

.
Fred Frith & Cosa Brava
at ''All About Jazz''.

at ''Vortice Associazione Culturale''.

at ''Saudades Tourneen''.
Cosa Brava review at FIMAV 2008
''

''. *. {{Authority control American experimental musical groups Free improvisation ensembles Musical groups established in 2008 Fred Frith Intakt Records artists