Sasha Frere-Jones (born Alexander Roger Wallace Frere-Jones in 1967) is an American writer, music critic, and musician. He has written for Pretty Decorating, ego trip, Hit It And Quit It, Mean, Slant, The New York Post, The Wire, The Village Voice, Slate, Spin, and The New York Times. He has been on the staff of The New Yorker since 2004.

Background

He was born Alexander Roger Wallace Jones on January 31, 1967 in Manhattan, the elder child of Elizabeth Frere and the late Robin C. Jones. His younger brother, Tobias Frere-Jones, is co-founder of the prominent typeface design company Hoefler & Frere-Jones, and is on the faculty of the Yale School of Art. Tobias and Alexander both legally changed their surnames from Jones to Frere-Jones in 1981.

He is a grandson of Alexander Stuart Frere-Reeves, the former chairman of the board of William Heinemann Ltd, the British publishing house, and a great-grandson of the novelist Edgar Wallace, who wrote many popular pulp novels, though he is best known for writing the story for the film King Kong. (C. Merrian Cooper wrote the screenplay.) A plaque honoring Edgar Wallace hangs on a wall in Fleet Street; in the eighties, an establishment called the Edgar Wallace Pub existed for several years.In 1983, Frere-Jones played Capulet in a St. Ann's production of "Romeo and Juliet" directed by Nancy Fales Garrett. Mia Sara played Juliet. In 1984, Frere-Jones's "We Three Kings" was one of ten plays chosen for the Young Playwrights Festival. The original reading starred John Pankow and Željko Ivanek. The final production at the Public Theater starred Adam Klugman, Jack Klugman's son. His follow-up play, "Jump Down Turn Around," was performed at St. Ann's and starred Frere-Jones and actor Josh Hamilton.

Education

Frere-Jones attended the Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn from 1972 to 1984. He won an award from the Young Playwrights Festival in 1983 for his play “We Three Kings.” After graduating from St. Ann’s in 1984, Frere-Jones attended Brown University for three years but did not graduate. He subsequently attended the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, concentrating on Dramatic Writing, then transferred to Columbia University in 1991. He graduated from the Columbia School of General Studies with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 1993.

Personal life

In 1994, he married lawyer Deborah Holmes, with whom he has two sons. They divorced in 2006.

Music

Frere-Jones plays bass, guitar, and various electronics. He founded the band Dolores during his time at Brown. The band made two full-length tapes: one in 1987 and one in 1990. After moving to New York in 1988, the band played for two years before breaking up. (Their only recordings during this period were two contributions to a compilation on Fang Records called “Live At The Knitting Factory.) In 1990, Frere-Jones co-founded the instrumental, two-bass rhythm band Ui with Clem Waldmann. They played their first live show in 1991, and spent the following eight years touring across the United States and Europe, opening for bands like Stereolab and Tortoise.

The New Yorker

Frere-Jones debuted as The New Yorker’s pop critic on March 8, 2004 with “Let’s Go Swimming” an essay on Arthur Russell.[279673] He followed in the footsteps of the magazine's past critics Ellen Willis, Mark Moses, Elizabeth Wurtzel, and Nick Hornby. His omnivorous taste is responsible for the mainstream coverage of acts like Arcade Fire, Joanna Newsom, Grizzly Bear, Manu Chao, andBon Iver, as well as established successes like Neil Diamond, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Wu-Tang Clan, Lil Wayne, and Prince. Three essays originally published in the magazine have appeared in Da Capo's Best Music Writing anthologies.On October 22, 2007, The New Yorker published “A Paler Shade of White”, an essay in which Frere-Jones examined the changing role of race in pop, specifically indie rock and hip-hop of the last two decades. The piece proved to be controversial, eliciting responses from Playboy, The Village Voice, Slate, and Simon Reynolds, among dozens of other news outlets and blogs. The New Yorker received more mail about “A Paler Shade of White” than it did for any other essay since “Escaping Picasso,”Adam Gopnik’s December 16, 1996 essay about Pablo Picasso.

In 2008, Frere-Jones was named one of the top 30 critics in the world by Intelligent Life, the lifestyle publication from The Economist.[1]

On May 9, 2009, The New Yorker published his first profile, of British pop singer Lily Allen.

Upcoming Books

In an “Ask the Author” feature on The New Yorker’s Web site, Frere-Jones revealed he was working on a collection of pieces that would include an extended version of “Paler” that would expound upon his thesis and address responses to the original piece. [279674]Frere-Jones is completing a short book on Michael Jackson due for publication in 2010 by Ecco Press.

Bibliography

Articles

• "Pink's progress."
• Reviews music of Justin Vernon and band Bon Iver.

References