A Guide to the Extensive Musical Legacy of Mills College

 
Ana Roxane, Pauline Oliveros, Gregg Kowalsky, Holly Herndon

“When he started teaching at Mills College in the late 1990s, Fred Frith already had an extensive resume. He had founded British avant-rock pioneers Henry Cow and collaborated with legends such as Richard Thompson, Brian Eno, and John Zorn. Yet he still found himself intimidated by Mills’ status as a breeding ground for inventive and influential experimental musicians. As he later told the L.A. Times, ‘When I first got here, I was a little overwhelmed by the history.’ It’s hard to blame him. The musical legacy of Mills College is dauntingly vast. Just listing all the artists who have passed through as students and professors—figures as diverse as Terry Riley, Laurie Anderson, Phil Lesh, and Joanna Newsom—could take days. ...”

 
The composer Robert Ashley in 1970. Through the ’70s Ashley was a guiding presence at Mills.

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