“Fried is amongst the most modern practitioners of the 7-string guitar. By modern, I don’t mean atonal caterwauling, but modern in the sense of approaching the instrument sans preconceptions, intent on constantly redefining the instrument’s parameters. He is a fingerstylist par excellence, with a light and somewhat classically derived approach to the fretboard, tempered in no small part, by his admiration for contemporary pianists (Evans, Barron, Hancock, Jamal)…Like the best pianists, he moves seamlessly from chording to single note work, adding the little touches on the low A string…In all, twelve performances which will have the listener, as I have, coming back to this disc again and again.”
- Jim Fisch, Twentieth Century Guitar, May 1996
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