Nick Fraser: Still Screaming Into the Snare Drum

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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Dig Deeper

Artist and Album

• Visit Nick Fraser at nickfraserthedrummer.com and follow him on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube
• Purchase or stream Areas at Bandcamp
• Elastic Recordings — the Toronto imprint releasing Areas

Collaborators on Areas

• Kris Davis — pianist and composer; also visit her label Pyroclastic Records
• Tony Malaby at Berklee College of Music — saxophonist and faculty
• John Kameel Farah — Palestinian-Canadian composer and pianist; hear the Farahser duo album at Bandcamp
• Ben Monder — guitarist, who subbed for Davis at the Toronto album release concerts

Tribute and Influence: Brodie West

• Brodie West — Toronto saxophonist and composer; "There Are Other Ways" is a tribute to his work
• Ways — Brodie West's duo project with drummer Evan Cartwright, which the tribute track honors

Long-term Collaborations

• Lina Allemano — Toronto/Berlin trumpeter and composer; Fraser has played in the Lina Allemano Four for twenty years
• Drumheller — Fraser's decade-long cooperative group with Brodie West, Rob Clutton, Eric Chenaux, and Doug Tielli (2003–2013)
• Hamid Drake — Chicago drummer whom Fraser has been encouraging Brodie West to record with
• The Imaginary Brass Band — a trio featuring Fraser alongside Doug Tielli and Heather Saumer; recorded the song “Sketch 57”

Previous Trio Recordings

• Zoning (2019, Astral Spirits) — Bandcamp
• Too Many Continents (2015, Clean Feed) — Clean Feed Records

Musical Reference

• Olivier Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time — Fraser drew on Messiaen's harmonics when composing the title track "Area"

Toronto Scene and Organizations

• Association of Improvising Musicians of Toronto (AIMToronto) — the nonprofit Fraser co-founded with Rob Clutton, Scott Thomson, Ken Aldcroft, and Joe Sorbara (now largely inactive; linked here is an academic roundtable with founding members)
• FACTOR — the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings; co-funded by the Canadian federal government and private radio broadcasters
• Nick Fraser at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music — where Fraser teaches

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