Wild things

Gideon Freudmann, the father of 'CelloBop'

by Don Fluckinger

Gideon Freudmann's a musician. He plays solo electric cello, drawing from a wild range of styles he calls "CelloBop." Part performance artist, part folk musician, and part Frank Zappa, Freudmann infuses traditional and popular music with his own interesting personality, creating a singular, unusual repertoire.

Take, for instance, "Hasidic Jig," a tune from the Hadley resident's sixth and most recent album, Adobe Dog House, released on Burlington, Vermont's Gadfly Records. Only Freudmann would think of alternating stanzas of Irish folk and klezmer. Both melodies are very serious, but juxtaposed as he interprets them, the song creates a funny musical one-liner. Then there's the solo-cello cover of "Somewhere over the Rainbow," which has turned into somewhat of a jazz classic in the past six decades, in addition to earning a place in the pantheon of children's music. Freudmann's version? Slowed down. Way down. With lots of reverb. The result sounds eerie, like the underwater call-and-response of blue whales. During the track, perfectly in context, he slips in a snippet from the Star Trek theme.

Another tune, "I Am a Disaster," a richly layered pop-rock composition reminiscent of late Beatles studio creations, takes a totally different tack. Freudmann, who appears at Clark University next Thursday, recorded multiple cello lines, keyboard parts, vocals, and guitar; drummer Loren Weisman provides the sole accompaniment.

Many other influences surface on Adobe Dog House, from country to Southern rock to jazz and bluegrass. The potentially confusing musical mishmash would be a disaster if left to a novice; in Freudmann's hands, it's entertaining and fun. He coined the neologism "CelloBop" to describe his music years ago; he's kept it because its definition is broad enough to accommodate the new wrinkles he's added over time.

"Right away you know that it's cello," says Freudmann when asked to define his style, "and right away you know it's not classical -- because there's no way you'd use the word `bop' to define classical music. People do sometimes think of bebop right away. They think it's jazz music played in a particular style . . . but it's got a lot of energy, and its an amalgam of styles: folk, blues jazz, New Age. And there's some atonal, experimental, ethereal stuff in there, a wide range."

Freudmann was the only one in his family who didn't take up the piano, partly because he wanted to be different, and partly because he'd heard the cello and thought "it sounded cool." Through teaching private lessons and recording for more than a decade, he developed his own sound, completing his persona after picking up the electric cello. That came after years of experimenting with effects on an acoustic cello, first by itself and later with a pickup for amplification. Weaned on classical music and later inspired by non-classical, experimental music, Freudmann taught himself how to create feedback and distortion, without the aid of electronics, through bowing techniques alone.

"In one way, you can say I was trying to refine the art of doing all the things on the cello that you weren't supposed to do," Freudmann says, "but in a musical way, instead of just making some ugly, scratchy sound. . . . If you bow right down by the bridge, you can get kind of a nasty, sort of acoustic-distorted sound. But if you do it just so, it can sound really great."

Distortion and feedback noise make up only a small part of Freudmann's style. He gives equal attention to melody, harmony, singing, and lyrical poetry. In concert, his beautiful, wood, electric cello makes up an integral part of his stage presence. It captures attention with its shape, roughly akin to a finely sculpted boat anchor. Made by Vermont instrument builder Tucker Barrett, its sound, Freudmann says, comes very close to a traditional cello because it has enough wood to resonate, unlike more common electric cellos shaped like the Chapman Stick bass/guitar. Barrett's cello plays like an acoustic model, a quality important to Freudmann. "I play the cello the way a symphony player plays the cello, as far as how I hold the instrument, hold the bow, and keep my hands on the instrument -- it's just the music that I play is different," he says. "That, combined with a funky-looking instrument, can be a pretty volatile combination."

Currently, Freudmann is recording with Ronnie Seldin, who plays Shaku-hachi, a kind of Japanese flute. Tentatively set for April release on Gadfly, the all-instrumental duet CD will feature modern compositions and several ancient pieces; each musician will record a solo piece as well.

Gideon Freudmann plays at 9 p.m. on February 5 at the Grind Central at Clark University. Admission is free. Call 793-7590.