Toronto drummer Nick Fraser discusses 'Areas,' his long creative partnership with Kris Davis and Tony Malaby, and what committing to acoustic music costs when electronics define the contemporary sound.

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Today, we're putting The Tonearm's needle on Toronto drummer and composer Nick Fraser.

Nick Fraser is one of the most distinctive voices in Canadian improvised music. He has played with Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, and William Parker, and has led projects that range from raw free jazz to something much harder to name.

His latest record, Areas, just dropped on Elastic Recordings. It's a trio date with saxophonist Tony Malaby and pianist Kris Davis. Electroacoustic interludes by composer John Kameel Farah thread through the album, built from processed duo recordings of Fraser and Malaby. The album has weight and atmosphere in equal measure, and it’s unlike anything I’ve heard this year.

We talked about the making of Areas, what a long-term group actually sounds like from the inside, and where his music is headed.

(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Nick Fraser's Areas)

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00:00 Introduction
01:13 Opening the record: Farah's electronic interludes
03:00 Collaboration with John Kameel Farah
04:40 Acoustic music in an electronic age
05:39 The studio as a creative tool
06:11 The atmospheric direction of Areas
09:28 Writing for the piano—and for Kris Davis
10:46 The value of long-term groups
13:00 Bandleading in cycles
14:10 Tributing Brodie West
16:49 What does it mean for music to "devolve"?
19:12 Inside "Sketch 57"
23:46 Album release concert with Ben Monder
24:35 The Toronto creative music community
26:29 Arts funding and FACTOR in Canada
27:25 The Association of Improvising Musicians of Toronto
31:23 Subcultures, community, and the value of creative encouragement
33:44 Free improvisation as artistic identity
35:36 What's next: touring and cross-border complications

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Visit Nick Fraser at https://nickfraserthedrummer.com
and follow him on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nickfraserthedrummer
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/nickfraserdrummer
and YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@nickfraser4168

Purchase or stream 'Areas' at Bandcamp → https://nickfraserthedrummer.bandcamp.com/album/areas-2

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