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Nick Fraser
In addition, he has had the opportunity to perform with such international artists as Michael Moore, Anthony Braxton, William Parker, Joe McPhee, Jean-Luc Ponty, Bela Fleck, Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Wynton Marsalis, Mick Beck, David Binney, Ray Vega, Steve Turre, Matt Welch, Bill Carrothers and Bill Mays. Nick's recorded works as a leader include "Owls in Daylight" (1997) and "Nick Fraser and Justin Haynes are faking it" (2004).
He has worked extensively with Rob Clutton and Ronda Rindone in the cooperative trio This Moment whose debut album "Beautiful Line" was released in 2002 on the 9Winds label. He also co-leads the co-operative group Drumheller with Brodie West, Rob Clutton, Eric Chenaux and Doug Tielli who released their self-titled debut CD on the rat-drifting label in 2005 and its follow-up "Wives" in 2006.
Other projects that occupy Nick regularly are The Christine Bougie Band, The Gulf Port Island Trio, the Lina Allemano 4, Deep Dark United and The Bill Grove Quartet. Nick is a founding member of The Association of Improvising Musicians of Toronto, a non-profit organisation dedicated to advocacy for the Toronto improvising community.
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Dan Pitt Trio: Stages
by Dan McClenaghan
Shades of Link Ray's Rumble," from 1958. Shades of Dick Dale's 1963 hit Miserlou." Shades of every guitar/bass/drum band that has ever set up in someone's garage in an attempt to work on their hard rock and roll chops, trying to become the next heavy metal band to hit the charts. Canadian guitarist Dan Pitt rolls with the guitar trio format on his Stages, though his trio is a good deal more intricate and musically skilled than the ...
read moreLina Allemano Four: Pipe Dream
by Troy Dostert
Recorded in the winter of 2021 during the heart of the COVID pandemic, it is understandable that Pipe Dream, the latest offering from the Lina Allemano Four, has an air of ominous foreboding. Indeed, much of the album is devoted to the Plague Diaries," a suite inspired by some of the darker themes of that period (with song titles like Hunger and Murder" and Doom and Doomer" giving an indication of what is in store). But like all of Allemano's ...
read moreThe Brodie West Quintet: Meadow Of Dreams
by Chris May
It may or may not be because of a recent series of programmes about Impressionist art on British television, combined with a passing knowledge of intoxicants, but for some reason the album title Meadow Of Dreams suggests one of Claude Monet's paintings of a field of poppies. As it happens, Monet's poppy paintings are a good fit for Toronto-based alto saxophonist Brodie West's sophomore album with his acoustic quintet. The music is beautiful, sunny, uncorruptedand a million ...
read moreNick Fraser Quintet, Paula Shocron & Jörg Schippa
by Maurice Hogue
Toronto's noted drummer, Nick Fraser, kindly shared a preview track from If There Were No Opposites back in June as part of the 1200th show, and now the full album is ready to go, released by the much-respected Hat Hut label. Nick's got his usual crew of Tony Malaby, Rob Clutton and Andrew Downing, and the music they make is original and worthwhile. Other new releases opened for the first time include Chicago cellist Ishmael Ali, German guitarist Joerg Schippa ...
read moreITACA: Vortex
by Neri Pollastri
Il quartetto ITACA, protagonista di questa diciassettesima uscita di nusica.org, deve il proprio nome all'incontro dei due paesi d'origine dei suoi componenti. La sua denominazione è infatti l'acronimo di Italia --da cui provengono Nicola Fazzini e Alessandro Fedrigo, le due anime di nusica.org -e Canada--paese degli altri due musicisti, il clarinettista Francois Houle e il batterista Nick Fraser. È in Italia che la formazione ha preso vita, grazie a due residenze del 2016 a Novara Jazz e a ...
read moreDan Pitt Quintet: Wrongs
by Troy Dostert
Maybe it's a case of false humility, or a stab at irony, but guitarist Dan Pitt seems to prefer self-deprecating album titles. The Toronto-based musician's 2019 trio release, Fundamentally Flawed (Self-Produced), featured bassist Alex Fournier and drummer Nick Fraser, and his current offering, Wrongs, adds saxophonists Naomi McCarroll-Butler and Patrick Smith to the mix. For an artist who actually gets it right most of the time, these releases could have been more accurately named. But we can forgive him that, ...
read moreLina Allemano Four: Vegetables
by Troy Dostert
Trumpeter Lina Allemano is one of those artists whose boundless creativity requires numerous outlets for its adequate expression. Her Ohrenschmaus trio is a hard-driving unit that possesses a tenacious energy but somehow leaves room for adventitious excursions. The group's Rats and Mice (Lumo Records) was one of 2020's most intriguing releases. She's also an intrepid innovator on her instrument, particularly renowned for using a range of mutes that expand the options available for her artistry, heard to fine effect on ...
read more"The young Toronto drummer is perhaps a little too progressive for the hidebound Canadian scene... Fraser is a deft and sensitive percussionist with a hint of an enigmatic streak, a feeling for economical gestures, and an innate sense of form." -Mark Miller, The Globe & Mail
"Fraser can swing hard when necessary, but hes equally a colorist with all manner of unusual tricks up his sleeve. Placing cymbals on the drums and pushing on them while striking them created a sound akin to a water gongs
Primary Instrument
Drums
Location
Toronto
Willing to teach
Beginner to advanced
Credentials/Background
Nick has been part of the Ontario Arts Council's Artists in Education roster, conducting workshops in creative musical improvisation for Ontario High School students. He has conducted the workshop at Canterbury High School and Nepean High School in Ottawa, Oakwood Collegiate and A.Y. Jackson S.S. in Toronto, and Niagara District S.S. in Niagara-on-the-Lake. He has conducted improvisation workshops, master classes and drum clinics at universities and colleges as part of touring ensembles
Harrison Argatoff
saxophone, tenorPhotos
Music
Wrongs
From: WrongsBy Nick Fraser
Whistle up a Rope
From: Irrational Revelation And...By Nick Fraser
USS Rent-a-Car
From: Square PegBy Nick Fraser