 |
| Fripp with King Crimson, 1973 |
One of the truly great guitar innovators, Fripp's meticulous, obsessive attention to the musical craft of rock, combined with his groundbreaking uses of technology, carved a lasting niche in the music world. He could easily be called the "thinking man's guitar hero."
Extremely talented, both in performance and production, his virtuosity with the guitar and creative use of analog looping in a real time technique he dubbed "Frippertronics" influenced a generation of players and producers, notably Brian Eno.
For his fiercest rock foray, listen to King Crimson's sonically vicious In the Court of the Crimson King.
A taste of Fripp/King Crimson live in the late 60's (pardon the poor quality):
And, for the purists, a demonstration of Frippertronics:
Remember when he was developing these reel to reel performance techniques, lest you be jaded by the ubiquitous looping, sampling, and digital correction of today's music.
In an interview, Fripp says this about art and the creative process:
"For me, art is the capacity to experience one's innocence. Craft is how you get to that point. Maturity in a musician would be the point at which one is innocent at will. At that point, the relationship between music and the musician is direct and reliable."
Fripp's body of work reflects this philosophy and maturity, in a rare and challenging way.
(Photo Credit)
No comments:
Post a Comment