Chris Cutler

Chris Cutler (born January 4, 1947 in Washington, DC , USA ) is a British drummer , percussionist , composer , writer and music theorist. He was best known for his work with the English avant-garde rock bands Henry Cow and Art Bears , as the initiator of the rock-in-opposition movement and as the founder of the record label and distributor Recommended Records .

Chris Cutler; 2007

Live and act

Cutler grew up in England. He has no formal music education, but is self-taught . As a schoolboy he studied the banjo, guitar, trumpet and flute before settling on drums. He formed his first band in 1963, which performed covers of instrumentals from the Shadows and the Ventures ; then he played in rhythm and blues and soul bands , in 1966 he became a member of the band Louise for three years , which played psychedelic music in London. With Dave Stewart he founded The Ottawa Music Company , a large-format rock orchestra, in 1971 , before joining Henry Cow .

Cutler works in the border areas of rock , jazz and avant-garde music. He can be heard on a total of well over 100 records and was - in addition to the aforementioned bands - a member or guest musician of numerous other formations, including u. a. Pere Ubu , The Residents , Cassiber and Gong . A longtime and frequent musical partner is guitarist Fred Frith ; there were other collaborations in particular with Tom Cora , Peter Blegvad , Lutz Glandien , Tim Hodgkinson , Lindsay Cooper and Alfred Harth . There are also numerous publications and appearances under his own name.

In addition, Cutler has written numerous essays and texts on music and published a book on the political theory of pop music. ( File Under Popular , 1984). He is a member of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) and gives lectures and panel discussions on music theory topics.

Discography (selection)

for publications with Henry Cow , Art Bears and Pere Ubu see there.

With Fred Frith

• Live in Prague and Washington , (1983, Recommended Records)
• Live in Trondheim , Berlin, Limoges (1994, Recommended Records)
• 2 Gentlemen in Verona (2000, Recommended Records)
• The Stone: Issue Two (2007, Tzadik Records)

With News from Babel

• Work Resumed on the Tower (1984, Recommended Records)
• Letters Home (1986, Recommended Records)

With Lutz Glandien

• Domestic Stories (1993, Recommended Records)
• Scenes from no Marriage (1994 Recommended Records)

With Cassiber

• Man or Monkey? (1982, risky)
• Beauty and the Beast (1984, Recommended Records)
• Perfect Worlds (1986, Recommended Records)
• A Face We All Know (1990, Recommended Records)
• Live in Tokyo (1998, Recommended Records)

solo

• Solo: A Descent Into the Maelstrom (2001, Recommended Records)
• Twice Around the World (2005, Recommended Records)
• There and Back Again (2006, Recommended Records)

bibliography

• Cutler, Chris / Hodgkinson, Tim: The Henry Cow Book (1981). Third Step Printworks. ISBN 0-9508870-0-5 .
• Cutler, Chris: File Under Popular: Theoretical and Critical Writings on Music (1984)

Filmography

• At the Edge of Chaos (2000), documentary by Shinji Aoyama about a solo appearance in Tokyo in 1998 .

Web links

Commons : Chris Cutler  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Web presence with discography
• Comprehensive discography ( Memento from June 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• Chris Cutler at Allmusic (English)