OZ FRITZ
Oz Fritz has been a location recording and studio engineer for
several very exciting years.
He has collaborated on over 60 projects with Bill Laswell and done many on-site
recordings around the world, including the acclaimed Apocalypse Across the Sky by
the master Musicians of Jajouka. Other studio credits include: L. Shankar, Material, Hakim
Bey, Talip Ozkan, William S. Burroughs and ambient translations of the music of Bob
Marley.
His most recent engineering project involved Bill Laswell once again and a trip to
West Africa. Laswell produced Jali Kunda, the Griots of West Africa & Beyond.
This CD in beautiful presentation package features Foday Musa Suso performing griot music,
a musical tradition over 800 years old that constitutes the oral tradition of the West
African Griots in Mali, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and the Gambia. 
For Jali Kunda the musicians, technicians, and photographer went to Africa and made
the traditional recordings and photographs for a full color memoir by Susa. Back in the
United States, Suso collaborated with minimalist composer Philip Glass, jazz saxophonist
Pharaoh Sanders and Bill Laswell on three compositions that highlight the kora in new
contexts.
Oz's involvement with art is a relatively new direction for him. His paintings reflect
a naive approach and a freshness that often comes with this style. His colors are bright
and pleasant. The subject matter is often anecdotal and whimsical with a strong narrative
content.