Discography

Fraud

Winner - BBC Jazz Awards 2008 (Innovation)
Winner - Ronnie Scott's Awards 2007 (UK Newcomer)
Nominated - BBC Jazz Awards 2007 (Best Album)
Nominated - James Allsopp - BBC Jazz Awards 2007 (Rising Star)

“If Neil Cowley's trio was the new UK jazz creative wild card last year, and Acoustic Ladyland the year before, Fraud might grab those honours for 2007.” (The Guardian)

On 4 June 2007, Fraud officially released their highly anticipated debut album on the Babel label.

Critics have referred to Fraud as “exotic”, “thrilling” and “intrepid”. Combining the dynamics of rock with the techniques of jazz, compositions are nipped and tucked with the wizardry of electronics. The music is both wildly unpredictable and disturbingly unexpected. Like a stream of consciousness narrative, their compositions leave the listener disorientated yet gripped. With the ground constantly shifting, no audience can feel complacent in the company of Fraud.

As their name suggests, this five-piece from East London aren't quite what they seem. Fraud could be slapped with the “punk” tag, but their approach is far more subtle. And they're not really unconventional: they just like to turn convention on its head. They also have a surreal sense of humour. Themed around cult 50's B movies, the band have designed a fanzine to distribute at gigs, while on stage they frequently indulge in wordplay. “Our next track is Giraffiti,” James might say. “That's the art of high altitude vandalism.” Or perhaps they might launch into a rendition of Periferole – a piece concerned with “the edge of a dessert.”

Forming the fraudulent line-up are high-flying Royal Academy of Music graduates James Allsopp (bass clarinet, tenor and baritone) and Tim Giles (drums, electric percussion), German-born Philip Hochstrate (keyboards), Ben Reynolds (drums) and Norwegian-based Stian Westerhus (guitar). Interestingly, even though their sound is heavily bass driven, Fraud have no designated bass player. Instead the function is shared between players.

Their eponymous debut album is a work of daring and mischief, swinging like a pendulum between moments of beautiful delicacy and brutal force. Cautiously pussyfooting forward, the music lashes into thunderous riffs and staggers through funk laden grooves. Tim describes opening track ‘Clatter' as sounding like “Albert Ayler falling over in the kitchen.” Some song titles reference the cult animation series ‘Family Guy', a show famous for its use of non sequiturs. This cut & paste collage approach aptly describes the kind of music that Fraud manage to make look so effortless.

Self confessed (de)composers James (25) and Tim (26) set up Fraud with the intention of creating “ruthlessly trimmed funk with a slaughterhouse approach to improvisation.” Based around the creative hotbed of Hackney, band members form part of the Loop collective. A former Perrier Jazz award winner, James has played with musicians including the Brian Irvine Ensemble, Polar Bear, Joe Morris, David Axelrod, Matthew Bourne, Richard Fairhurst and Graham Collier – while Tim is a long time collaborator with pianist Richard Fairhurst and plays with other bands including Twelves Trio. In 2006 they impressed (and no doubt disturbed) audiences at the Cheltenham Jazz festival as part of the Jerwood Rising Stars Scheme - their performance has since been hailed as the ‘Live Highlight of 2006' by Jazzwise Magazine.

Fraud went on to win the BBC Jazz on 3 Award for Innovation at the BBC Jazz Awards ceremony in July 2008.

While their music is at the avant-garde end of the scale, Fraud have never turned their backs on tradition. Here is a group of young and ambitious musicians who merely see themselves at odds with the jazz milieu… or on the ‘periferole', as James might put it.

In 2008 Tim Giles and James Allsopp formed The Golden Age of Steam, no not a new train spotters institution but a new contemporary avant-jazz trio with Troyka member Kit Downes on hammond organ. They released their debut CD Raspberry Tongue on Babel in early 2010

QUOTES

 “Fraud is, frankly, brilliant… scary and thrilling and it swings.”

(John Gill. Wire Magazine Critic).

 "Welcome to the new century of improvised music".

(Mike Flynn - Jazzwise, Feb 2006)

 'Like its birthplace, Hackney, this music is exotic, surprising, sometimes funny, sometimes frightening. Fraud's imaginative line up creates a musical world of infinite possibilities: a world you should visit.' (Django Bates, Composer) 

 'Each time I listen to Fraud I hear something new. The saxophones, drums and keyboard combine to form an intrepid and intensely contemporary sound. Music this spontaneous, focused and robust is extremely hard to find.'

(Pete Wareham, Acoustic Ladyland)