Henry Kaiser
Henry Kaiser (b. September 19, 1952) is an American rock composer, musicologist, guitarist and record producer.
Kaiser plays highly eccentric music, a mixture between blues, free jazz, 20th-century classical music and world music, some of which is completely improvised. He has collaborated with Fred Frith, Eugene Chadbourne, Diamanda Galas, Herbie Hancock, Zoogz Rift, Terry Riley, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Richard Thompson, John Zorn, Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) and John French. Kaiser and Mike Keneally played in a band named The Mistakes. Kaiser also produced John French's CD O Solo Drumbo. Some of Kaiser's music has been used in films by Werner Herzog.
The cover of Kaiser's album, Crazy Backwards Alphabet (1989) was illustrated by Matt Groening.
Zappa and Henry Kaiser
Henry Kaiser has cited Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa as two of his prime influences. [1] In the 1980s, he, Jean-Luc Ponty and Zappa were among the earliest users of the Synclavier. Interviewed by Dan Forte for Guitar Player Magazine (1986), Kaiser said: "I recently stopped by Zappa’s house, and he’s doing the most exciting and innovative work that I know of with the Synclavier." [2]
Interviewed by Den Simms and Rob Samler for Society Pages (The Magazine), issue #7, September 1991, Frank Zappa said that he had talked with Conlon Nancarrow on the phone. When Simms asked Zappa whether he would be able to introduce him to the Synclavier, Zappa replied: "Well, I know somebody else has. Yeah, I heard a rumor that Henry Kaiser had given him a whiff of it." [3]
In 2009, Henry Kaiser covered Zappa's Outside Now. [4]
On 17 December 2020, Kaiser (guitar), Jimmy Ågren (guitar, bass, harmonica), Morgan Ågren (drums), Scott Colby (slide guitar, Mike Keneally (drums) and Michael Maksymenko (vocals) released a jam on their Youtube page, covering Zappa's Trouble Every Day. [5]
