Fred Lonberg-Holm


Fred Lonberg-Holm is an American cellist based in Chicago. He moved from New York City to Chicago in 1995. He refers to himself as the anti-cellist.
Lonberg-Holm is most identified with playing free improvisation and free jazz. He is also a composer of concert works. As a session musician and arranger, he is credited on rock, pop, and country records.
WWW lonberg-holm.info

As leader

Lonberg-Holm has led Valentine Trio, with Jason Roebke and Frank Rosaly. This jazz trio performs original compositions as well as tunes by both jazz composers and pop songwriters. The group released its first album, Terminal Valentine, in 2007, which was reviewed by AllAboutJazz critic Nils Jacobson.
He has directed performances of his Lightbox Orchestra, an improvising ensemble with a flexible, ever-changing membership. Lonberg-Holm does not play an instrument in this group but rather conducts its non-idiomatic improvisations via the "lightbox" and by holding up handwritten signs. The lightbox contains a light bulb for each musician which Lonberg-Holm switches on or off to suggest when they should play.

Other groups

Lonberg-Holm was a member of Terminal 4, which released an album in 2003 called When I'm Falling that received four and a half stars by Allmusic, The Boxhead' Ensemble, Pillow, the Lonberg-Holm/Kessler/Zerang trio, and the Dörner/Lonberg-Holm duo. He has been a member of the Vandermark 5 and Vandermark's Territory Band, the Joe McPhee Trio, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, and Keefe Jackson's Fast Citizens.
When he lived in New York, Lonberg-Holm collaborated with the rock group God Is My Co-Pilot pianist and composer Anthony Coleman as well as multi-instrumentalist Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost. In Chicago, he worked with Jim O'Rourke, Bobby Conn, The Flying Luttenbachers, Lake of Dracula, Wilco, Rivulets, Mats Gustafsson, Sten Sandell, Jaap Blonk, and John Butcher.

As composer

Lonberg-Holm's concert works have been premiered by William Winant, Carrie Biolo, the Austin New Music Co-Op, Subtropics Ensemble, Duo Atypica, the Schanzer/ Duo, New Winds, Paul Hoskin, Kevin Norton, the E.S.P. Ensemble, and others.
His scores for dance have been performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Dance Theater Workshop as well as many other venues.
He is a former composition student of Anthony Braxton and Morton Feldman.
He performed improvised music in the role of a troubled composer who finds inspiration in the love of a couple he spots on the street in a short film for the Playboy channel.

Discography

As leader or co-leader

Theory of Motion Solos and Trios Personal Scratch Joy of Being Building a Better Future Terminal 4 A Valentine for Fred Katz When I'm Falling Dialogs Reviewed by AllAboutJazzOther Valentines Terminal Valentine The Brain of the Dog in Section with Peter BrötzmannVCDC Gather Memories of a Tunicate with Peter Brötzmann

As sideman

With the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Octet/TentetThe Chicago Octet/Tentet Stone/Water American Landscapes 1 American Landscapes 2 3 Nights in Oslo
With Anthony ColemanSelfhaters The Abysmal Richness of the Infinite Proximity of the Same
With Paul RutherfordChicago 2002
With StirrupSewn A Man Can't Ride on One
With Tomeka Reid