Cosa Brava is an experimental rock and free improvisation group formed in March 2008 in Oakland, California, by multi-instrumentalist and composer Fred Frith. The band comprises Frith on guitar, Zeena Parkins on keyboards and accordion, Carla Kihlstedt on violin, Matthias Bossi on drums, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and The Norman Conquest on sound manipulation. All About Jazz described their music as somewhere between folk, Celtic, modern chamber, Latin, funk, Eastern, and prog-rock. Cosa Brava recorded their first album, Ragged Atlas in San Francisco in December 2008, which was released in March 2010. John Kelman in a review at All About Jazz said that the album transcends time and genre and is one of 2010's most auspicious debuts. A second album entitled The Letter was released in March 2012.

 

Fred Frith's career began as a rock musician with Henry Cow in 1968, but has since diversified into a number of different genres, from avant-garde jazz to contemporary classical music. He has written scores for film and dance, and music for orchestras and string quartets. He became Professor of Composition the Music Department at Mills College in Oakland, California in 1999. The motivation behind the formation of Cosa Brava arose out of Frith's nostalgia for rock music. He said, I really miss what you can do with a rock band. I miss developing material through the push and pull of cooperative rehearsals, I miss what happens when you move away from'the parts and start formulating things with a collective ear, I miss the single-minded commitment to a group identity.

 

Z Sides is the groups third album. Cosa Brava may appear from their studio recordings to be all about songs. However, in live performances these songs were constantly interspersed with improvisations of all descriptions. Z Sides, the brainchild of The Norman Conquest, compiles his stunning live mixes of this material into an imaginary stand-alone performance.