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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