Album Notes

With the release of CORE 3.0 Fred Fried debuts his new group, CORE featuring bassist Michael Lavoie, and drummer Miki Matsuki. This is certainly not Fried’s first album. He has recorded a number of trio albums with such jazz luminaries such as Michael Moore, Steve LaSpina and Billy Drummond. In fact his 2005 recording When Winter Comes, with LaSpina and Drummond featured a string orchestra arranged by Richard DeRosa and was cited by Jazziz Magazine as one of the best acoustic guitar recordings of the year. He has been lauded by many publications including Downbeat, Jazz Times and Twentieth Century Guitar.

Core 3.0 represents the first recording featuring Fred’s new 8-string guitar. “I was inspired,” Fred stated, “ by the sound of the great (classical guitarist) Paul Galbraith and his 8-string. I had heard other 8-strings but whereas most add two lower bass strings, Galbraith’s had a low A below the low E and a high A above the high E. To me this made perfect sense since it would enable me to produce chord voicings on the high end without sacrificing the bass. Steve Connor custom made this beautiful instrument for me and it’s been the perfect logical next step of my musical journey.”