| Discography of Joe Fonda | 2005 |
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Lineup
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Recorded April 2, 2005 at the Factory Studios, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Released 2007 by Drip Audio [DA21562]
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CD Reviews
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Bruce Lee Gallanter for Downtown Music Gallery (USA) ZMF TRIO - Circle the Path (Drip Audio 21562; Canada) Featuring Jesse Zubot on violin, Joe Fonda on acoustic bass and Jean Martin on drums. This is a fine new trio with two musicians from Vancouver, Jesse and Jean, plus our local hero, Joe Fonda, on his trusty contrabass. All three members contribute tunes with one cover by Anthony Braxton, who Joe Fonda has worked with in the not-too-distant past. Beginning with Jesse's "Low, Dark an Slow", an aptly titled piece for haunting string drones and skeletal percussion, all we need is some chanting monks to add some religious fervor. Joe Fonda's "Circle" erupts quickly with tight lines being played together by the trio and soon turns into an intense bass-led scorcher for burning violin and intricate drum interplay. This piece sounds like it was written for Joe's other trio with Billy Bang & Barry Altschul. "Slow Blues" is a most suspenseful song, with a minimum of notes, the trio still vibrate together in a haunting blues dirge. Braxton's "#135" moves in fragments with the violin and bass playing their own angular parts while the drums seems to be playing a quicker, quirkier version of the same piece. When the violin lays out, the bass and drums spin furiously together. What Fonda disc would be complete without Joe's massive bass solo of layers of bass harmonics at a tailspinning tempo. "Next Step" opens with one such astonishing bass solo and then it keeps going as the violin and drums play their tight, less intense parts around the bass tornado at the center. Just incredible! Considering that I hadn't heard of Jesse Zubot or Jean Martin before this disc, I am great impressed with this fine trio date. No doubt that any session with my man Joe Fonda on it shouldn't be anything less than great, anyway. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Downtown Music Gallery and Bruce Lee Gallanter. All reviews written by Bruce Lee Gallanter → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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by Guillaume "Grisli" Belhomme for dMute (France), published April 23, 2007 Après avoir fait connaissance au Festival International de Jazz de Vancouver, le violon(cell)iste Jesse Zubot et le contrebassiste Joe Fonda décidèrent d'improviser, un jour, ensemble, et en compagnie d'un troisième homme, accessoirement percussionniste : Jean Martin. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 dMute and Guillaume Belhomme. All reviews written by Guillaume Belhomme → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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Dân Warburton for Paris Transatlantic Magazine, published May 2007 ZMF stands for Zubot (Jesse, violin) Martin (Jean, drums) and Fonda (Joe, bass), a trio that first got together a few years back through the good offices of the Vancouver Jazz Festival's Ken Pickering. This cracking debut was recorded just days after the three musicians began playing together, and it's a real fun-filled adventure, from the atmospheric glistening harmonics of the opening "Long, Dark & Slow", via the tight cellular workout of "Circle" and the slinky 12/8 swing of "Slow Blues" to the angular intricacy of "#135", the only piece not penned by a member of the trio. Not surprisingly, with a title like that, it's by Anthony Braxton, and Fonda brings his authentic Brax street cred to bear on proceedings to great effect. He also kicks off the following track's rollercoaster ride with a monster bass solo. More thrills and spills are in store before the album comes full circle with a slight return of "Long, Dark & Slow." Violin / bass / drums trios aren't all that frequent, and (believe me) it takes considerable arm power for a humble fiddler to go the distance with a hard driving rhythm section. Zubot does that and more, and without recourse to stacks of electronic gadgets; it's all too easy to slap a few FX pedals and a contact mic on the violin and can get much more noise for far less effort. He manages to incorporate good solid conservatory technique without ever sounding like a "classical fiddler trying to play jazz" (mentioning no names), and is just as good at flying off the handle into the kind of wild scratches and squeaks Malcolm Goldstein would be proud of. Meanwhile, Jean Martin handles percussion duty with great flair, both swinging hard and playing colour when needs be. All in all, this is a terrific debut. Let's have some more. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 Paris Transatlantic and Dân Warburton. All reviews written by Dân Warburton → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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Multiple review by Marc Medwin for All About Jazz (USA), published May 5, 2007 These two recent trio releases find American bassist Joe Fonda refining his already diverse sonic palette; they present perfect environments in which to do so, as they are delightfully beyond category. Circle the Path opens, surprisingly, with a bit of back masking, setting the stage for a beautifully and hauntingly psychedelic four-and-a-half minutes of slowly arching drone. Fonda's arco work is matched by violinist Jesse Zubot's, with gorgeously varied vibrato from both musicians. "Low Blues" is a case in point, Fonda and Zubot sounding as one instrument, Jean Martin's drums providing rumbling approval. Indeed, each track presents a multitude of textural and compositional twists, "Low Blues" initially more like a Ligeti transcription than a blues. When the down-and-dirty rhetoric does finally kick in, all three players are proven well versed, Fonda and Martin deep inside the pocket, Zubot just that tantalizing bit behind as he evokes all manner of slides, groans and whispers from his instrument. "Next Step", one of the disc's most powerful statements, shows Fonda at his most 'jazzy', as he constructs a slowly building solo that gives way to a fierce gallop, over which Zubot engages slow exoticism with not a hint of parody or pretension. While much of the music on Circle the Path is composed, some of it almost invoking Braxton filtered through Stravinski, Silent Cascade is completely improvised. Even so, the first few minutes of "Perpetual Motion" speak to a unified aesthetic of open exploration, time and pulse suspended, or transcended, in a swirling orchestral vortex, largely of pianist Bruno Angelini's making. Here, Fonda is as much a percussionist as Ramon Lopez, slapping out rhythmic counterpoint to the piano's darkly pastoral arpeggiated hues. Fonda and Lopez interact similarly on "Ephemerals", this time joined in post-Monk territory by Angelini, whose ululations add a layer of enthusiasm to an already exuberant session. In its finest moments, this trio sounds larger than it really is, as with "Dense Crowd"; it is refreshingly difficult to tell which musician is responsible for the perfect placement of each sonic object. Indeed, having Fonda in the fold pushes both groups beyond their already exemplary musicianship and further contributions from these exciting trios are welcome! Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 All About Jazz and Marc Medwin. All reviews written by Marc Medwin → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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Jay Jay Erickson & McCalla for panpot.ca (Canada) According to the collaborating team of Jay Jay Erickson and 'McCalla', this captivating experimental jazz trio is the cat's meow. 'Circle the Path' was recorded at Vancouver's Factory Studios in 2005 and features a unique pairing worth discovering. JJE: It's been some time since I've been overly excited about a new improvised jazz outfit. Ayler Records out of Sweden knocked my socks down with a few of their awesome downloadable live recordings... McCalla: You're so lying Jay! You freaked over that 1982 Brötzmann Pica reissue, and I can probably list off a dozen others you never shut up about. JJE: Don't say Eddie Gayle's Black Rhythm Happening, because I'm talking about new material. Anyway, you didn't let me finish- I meant I haven't heard anything that gave me goose bumps much in the way this new effort by the ZMF Trio has. This is the sort of thing you look for- a skillful, mostly improvised crew that's not mastering in the 'screechola'. This trio consists of Jesse Zubot, an extremely talented Vancouver-based violinist (a past Juno Award winner and an artist from an apparently very rich musical family; his brother Josh also impressed me during Labproject 32 curated by Jason Sharp) who's teamed up with a few respected characters- namely accomplished bassist Joe Fonda (who's performed with everyone from Archie Shepp to Leo Smith and who's also performed with the similarly set up FAB Trio with Billy Bang and Barry Altschul), perhaps best known for his 15-year tenure with Anthony Braxton. The other contributor to this surprising edgy trio is Toronto percussionist Jean Martin, a sizzling modern beat manufacturer with a style all his own. McCalla: Jean Martin is no banger. And Joe Fonda likes wearing little hats. Joe Fonda's a rock star in my opinion. Both he and Zubot complement each other beautifully, reminding me both of the intensity and the finesse we get from listening to someone like cellist Fred Longberg-Holm. A song like "Next Step" has all that schizophrenic bass talking I enjoy, a perfect match for Martin's inventive technical drumming, and Zubot's unpredictable violin theatrics. This is truly the Next Step! JJE: I should add that Circle the Path is an album even my girlfriend liked- "it's not that crazy" were her exact words. Incorporating finely brushed details and tender plunks alongside the more intense numbers like the high-riding "Circle" is great thinking, but so is this young trio's ability to add standard blues and jazz idioms into the mix. To be filed under "lightly experimental, contemporary jazz & improv, quality stuff." McCalla: This album is far more exciting than your filing. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 panpot.ca and Jay Jay Erickson & McCalla. |
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Gordon B. Isnor for Left Hip Magazine (Canada) Listing all the heavyweights that have played with members of this trio would amount to nothing short of a novella, so here's just a few: Archie Shepp, Mark Dresser, Eugene Chadbourne, Anthony Braxton. Sound good? It is. Circle The Path is in that wonderful grey zone between free jazz and contemporary classical that's so au courant, but differentiates itself with a real sense of fun and an undercurrent of blues feel. The ZMF trio is comprised of Joe Fonda from New York on bass, Jean Martin from Toronto on drums and Vancouver's Jesse Zubot on violin. These three tremendously talented players have a dynamite interplay. All three players have ample room to shine here, and they take advantage of that room with extraordinary playing, but it's Zubot that really steals the show here, being the lead instrumentalist perhaps it's understandable, but man can this guy play. Where compatriots like Dresser and Houle lead the way in extended technique on their own instruments, Zubot's doing that for the free improv violin, constantly producing off-the-wall sounds, and then jumping just as quickly back into flawless traditional technique. The album was recorded in Vancouver just 4 days after the trio had played together for the first time. Breathtaking! Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 Left Hip Magazine and Gordon B. Isnor. |
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Glen Hall for Exclaim! (Canada) Circle the Path is simultaneously well crafted and spontaneously realised. And with such strong individualists involved the path the music takes covers some fascinating territory. Violinist Jesse Zubot is clearly challenged by the material he and his cohorts — long-time collaborator Jean Martin (drums) and international heavy-hitter Joe Fonda (bass) — bring to the studio. Zubot unleashes his formidable chops on some intriguing self-penned originals, such as the deep groove of "Slow Blues" and the stop-starts of "Mishap." His playing isn't all pyrotechnics but gets into the microstructures of tone and timbre with exquisite, harmonically rich whispers, sly glissandi and some funky pizzicato to boot. As always, the rapport between Zubot and Martin is telepathic and mutually supportive, as mysterious bass drum bumps and brushed snare rustlings envelope the improvisations. Bassist Fonda feels right at home in this setting and his two compositions, "Next Step" and "The Path," are arguably the CD's highlights, with strong lines, moods and playing from all. The overall feel of Circle is pensive but the careful listener will be drawn into the sonic world ZMF Trio create. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 Exclaim! and Glen Hall. |
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Mark Abraham for CokemachineGlow, published May 8, 2007 The blues, in the sense that "the blues" is about dismal melancholy and desperation, is the current that runs through these drone/free improvisation tracks. "Slow Blues" may make that most apparent, where violinist Jesse Zubot and bassist Joe Fonda trade off light pattern plucks with expansive bow scrapes while percussionist Jean Martin sends kick drum depth charges down between lovely brushwork. And then, suddenly, the song actually is a kind of blues, Zubot laying down a sighing solo over Fonda's suddenly static bass line. I mean, it is blues and it isn't; it doesn't sound like twelve-bar, but instead "Slow Blues" sees the members of the band employing blues motifs to imply a connection with the blues through music that sounds more like post-punk. That has a lot to do with the way Chon produces the mix, pushing the atmosphere and the decay off Zubot's always-strangled bow approach and cymbal resonance while simultaneously enhancing the low end. It's a glorious tone for a band that opens with a track that pirouettes between formal classical composition (and, seriously, that key change at 3:39 is fucking gorgeous for the all-of-10 seconds it lasts) and drone consistency, but "Low, Dark & Slow" is more than just a mission statement, especially since it doesn't sound much like anything else on the album. "Circle" is a barrage of elliptic palindromes muddied up with Zubot's lovely attention to spazzy detail and Fonda's ability to play straight and free seemingly at the same time. Add Martin's impressive drumming that manages to somehow anticipate and punctuate his colleague's strings and I'm sold two songs in. "The Path" is slow and deliberate, a zombie rendition of some serious cool jazz, the breathing of the members echoing in the background, until it mutates into something skittish and undulating. Zubot plucks his violin strings into a melody that sounds like a snarky horror soundtrack. "Wild Horse" is a spare track that draws on the air surrounding the instruments (and the spaces between their sounds) as much as the actual playing. It's a perfect example of the ability of this band to coax wonderful passages out of concerted improvisation based on an understanding of modality; though the basic tone of these pieces remain consistent in each instance, Zubot and Fonda are on some key/melody/resolution science every time they turn a corner. And since the point of the band avoids the extremes of the soloing of be-bop and the free expression of improvisation it ends up somewhere in between: a band improvising together to create motifs, rather than a band improvising against or with each other to create solos that wow you with their voracity. By the time "Roll" morphs from obtuse free jazz into a weird country hymnal into a Middle Eastern space rock track … I mean, this is genius shit, right? This isn't about combining genres; it's about erasing the boundaries altogether. On the fly. Because what's more fascinating is how in tune this band sounds given that the members had only been playing together for four days prior to recording this album. Well … Martin and Zubot have played together in LaConnor before, but the addition of Fonda came about by chance. Circle the Path isn't necessarily better because the band is so new, but it is more impressive for it. That speaks to the skill of the individual members as much as anything. ZMF Trio's debut (let's hope the literal name doesn't mean this is a one-off) continues Drip Audio's streak as one of the most exciting indie-art rock and jazz labels out there. This is dark, glorious free improvisation that recalls my faves — New Dalta Ahkri, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey — without simply repeating their moves. It's eccentric without being obviously so (like John Zorn) and maybe that's what I like most about it: you could smile and grimace when you listen to this but it isn't telegraphing your responses. You're therefore part of this improv too. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 CokemachineGlow and Mark Abraham. |
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Stef Gijssels for his blog, published May 14, 2008 Rarely has a violin trio album started in such a haunting and captivating way, for a short and plaintive arco bass and violin drama with accentuating drums, aptly titled "Low, Dark and Slow". The second track breaks the mood by a high speed high energy unison theme, side-stepping expected evolutions in the tune with every few bars, adding power, dissonance and raw abrasiveness into the music. The trio consist of Jesse Zubot on violin and Jean Martin on drums, both from Vancouver, and Joe Fonda on acoustic bass. And when you think you've come to understand their approach, you get a "Slow Blues", the most traditional of jam band fall-back positions, but they handle it like you've never heard it before, back into the gloomy territory of the first track, and it becomes something entirely new. And that's the nice thing about this music. It is not avant-garde per se, but rooted in the jazz tradition and creative to the point that everything sounds fresh, the compositions, the overall tone, the interplay. The band is at its best in the slow pieces, when the voice of the violin does not get too mangled in the power of bass and drums, but manages to sound full and deep, as on "Wild Horse", another highlight of the album, in which Fonda plays a wonderful bass solo. The album closes with a reprise of the first piece, ending in power and beauty. I am not usually a fan of violin in jazz, but this one is definitely an exception. Copyright © 2008 Stef Gijssels. All reviews written by Stef Gijssels → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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Ken Waxman for CODA, published July 20, 2007, issue 334 Not a north-of-the-49th-parallel variant of the FAB trio despite identical instrumentation and the participation of that band's bassist, American Joe Fonda, ZMF forges its own identity. That's because its other members' influences are vastly different from those of FAB's jazz-saturated fiddler and drummer. Copyright © 2007 Ken Waxman. All reviews written by Ken Waxman → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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Mike Pathos for Beat Route Zubot and company improvise their way up to the top Copyright © 2007 Beat Route and Mike Pathos. All reviews written by Mike Pathos → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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Tom Sekowski for Gaz-Eta Over the last few years, Vancouver-based violinist Jesse Zubot has worked up quite a name for himself. By starting up his own Drip Audio imprint, he is fortunate enough in being allowed a steady medium for his many innovative ideas. The latest one of these ideas is the trio he's put together with fellow Canadian drummer Jean Martin and American bassist Joe Fonda. Working on the premise that no music is bad music and that all genres should be able to filter through the lens, Zubot brings a much needed drip of sunlight into the proceedings. While Zubot's playing on the violin is what I'd call angular and often-times unpredictable, it also features many moments of unrestrained beauty. Check out intermittent passages of glorious, awe-inspiring melody, as Zubot rambles between the fully improvised and what is composed music. Listen to the way he straddles a delicate walk by snapping his strings on "Slow Blues", all the while Fonda lays down a nice bed of arco goodness. Anthony Braxton's "#135" gets a fresh reading in a dazzling, albeit frantic fashion, while Jean Martin's piece "Wild Horse" turns out to be a contemplative number. Fonda is much more than just a bassist. In this case, his juicy, fat lines make nice counter-balance to some of the higher pitched, crazy motifs Zubot brings forward. Martin has an ability to sparsely lay out his rhythmic patterns, which allows a lot of breathing room for the other members of the trio. An excellent release from a trio that has learned to walk without needing first to crawl. Copyright © 2007 Gaz-Eta and Tom Sekowski. All reviews written by Tom Sekowski → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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