Traffic Continues is an album by composer and guitarist Fred Frith featuring the Ensemble Modern, Zeena Parkins and Ikue Mori, which was released on the Winter & Winter label. The album features a suite dedicated to cellist Tom Cora built around samples of his playing from Etymology (Rarefaction, 1997).
Reception
In his review for AllMusic, Dave Lynch called the album "one of the strongest statements of Frith's career, a finely balanced work that contains concert hall and street sensibilities in equal measure". PopMatters observed "this is adventurous and often heady music that is not for all tastes. But then, it’s not really meant to be either since this is music that sets out to challenge what is accepted as much as what is acceptable".Johnson, A., PopMatters Review, accessed 17 December 2014 The All About Jazz review noted "Traffic Continues is a fine and noteworthy edition to Fred Frith’s extensive catalog and ongoing legacy. Besides possessing a remarkably individualistic voice as a powerful and quite influential technician, Frith’s perceptive intellect shines forth on this multifaceted and curiously interesting recording".Astarita, G., All About Jazz Review, 1 June 2000
Track listing All compositions by Fred Frith
Traffic Continues "Inadvertent Introduction" – 0:53 "First Riddle" – 2:30 "Traffic II" – 4:25 "Third Riddle" – 2:13 "Lourdement Gai" – 1:06 "Traffic III/Traffic I" – 2:17 "Freeway/Shadow of a Tree on Sand" – 5:28 "Fragile Finale" – 9:55 Traffic Continues II: Gusto (For Tom Cora)
Personnel Fred Frith – guitar, musical director Zeena Parkins – harp (tracks 9–21) Ikue Mori – drum machines (tracks 9–21) Ensemble Modern Uwe Dierksen – trombone Roland Diry – clarinet Thomas Fichter – double bass, electric bass Heinz Huber – accordion (tracks 9–21) Michael M. Kasper – cello Freya Kirby, Hilary Sturt – violin Susan Knight – viola Hermann Kretzschmar – piano, sampler Catherine Milliken – oboe, bass oboe, English horn Bruce Nockles – trumpet Rumi Ogawa-Helferich – percussion, cymbalom Franck Ollu – horn, conductor Rainer Roemer – percussion Noriko Shimada – bassoon, contrabassoon Wolfgang Styri – saxophone, contrabass clarinet Dietmar Wiesner – flute, bass flute, piccolo
References