Brad Fritcher + Trois allow themselves little time to celebrate
ArtPrize 2013: Brad Fritcher + Trois, Modern Pioneers
Brad Fritcher + Trois allow themselves little time to celebrate.
Within the national semblance that ArtPrize has become, there is
one medium in which artists must indefatigably labor to gain recognition:
music. Brad Fritcher is the lead-man for experimental jazz band, Brad
Fritcher + Trois, as well as the proprietor of an insatiable desire to reach
the unknown. “New Jazz Standards” is the soul axiom for this young group
of talented musicians: Brad Fritcher the trumpeter, Dutcher Snedeker on
keyboard, Ryan Wallace on bass, and Christian Vanduinen on drums.
With a few non-amicable confrontations with the “Jazz Police” —
self-established Brahmans of definitive jazz — the band’s goal is to break
form with the traditional standards of Jazz music. They’re out to discover
new potentialities within music itself.
on a farm; a 200 acre country-canvas to gallivant with a wild and restless
imagination.”It’s where my work ethic comes from,” he grins. Notwithstanding
Disney’s legendary Aristocats, one of his first musical influences was a record
of his grandfather’s, whichhe admits, he was originally attracted to because
of the model posing lasciviously on the cover. That record sparked a profound,
lifelong infatuation with music. Fritcher never saw himself primarily as a jazz
musician until he discovered influences like Duke Ellington, John Coaltrain,
and Miles Davis, and found himself craving the genre.
acquainted with Christian Vanduinen, a vigorous percussionist and music
student at Grand Rapids Community College. Bassist Ryan Wallace, also
a Grand Valley student, was introduced to the group, as well as their current
manager, Bear Yovino. “Bear is an animal,” Brad explains. “He doesn’t stop.”
Fritcher originally hired Yovino to create a personality profile for the band,
and ever since, he and his company, Brother Bear Productions, has been a
tireless catalyst for the band and their aspirations.
still in their youth; their first rehearsals happened in January of 2013. With
the leadership of Brad Fritcher and manager Bear Yovino, Brad Fritcher + Trois
soon began booking gigs and finding new sounds, as well as publishing their
first album, Blue Lake Studio Sessions, a compilation of both original and
interpretational pieces.
+ Trois placed first in the Jazz category, winning $2,000 in prize money, and
$1,000 in studio recording time. Despite the success, Fritcher believes they are
still far from accomplishing their final envisioned fruition. “I could talk about how
I want to sound, but to say I am even close…”
An erstwhile professor of his once shared an idea with him that if you are not
satisfied, then you are progressing, and if there is any way to articulate the
dharma of Brad Fritcher +Trois, it is progressive. And their progress lies not in
the encapsulated foundations of standards and accomplishments already
achieved, it lies at the next stepping-stones of melodic emanations in Jazz music.Source
