Fonda ~ Morena ~ Schuller
«A Drop Of Water»

• Carlo Morena - piano
• Joe Fonda - bass
• George Schuller - drums, bells
• Ilse Pfeifer - spoken word and vocals (on tracks #4 & 9)

1. The Wish (Joe Fonda) 6:16
2. Paert (Carlo Morena) 6:25
3. Mirror Images (George Schuller) 6:36
4. A Drop Of Water (Fonda, Schuller, Morena) 4:55
5. Möglichkeiten (Carlo Morena) 6:34
6. Looking For The Lake (Joe Fonda) 7:59
7. Spacey (Carlo Morena) 5:28
8. Voilà, La Tendresse (Carlo Morena) 5:14
9. Song For My Mother (Joe Fonda) 3:50

THE DROP OF WATER   [→ Liner Notes | → CD Reviews]

Of course you know what is meant by a magnifying glass — one of those round spectacle-glasses that make everything look a hundred times bigger than it is. When any one takes one of these and holds it to his eyes, and looks at a drop of water from the pond yonder, he sees above a thousand wonderful creatures that are otherwise never discerned in the water. But there they are, and it is no delusion.
"I must give them color, that they may be seen more plainly," said he; and he poured something like a little drop of red wine into the drop of water, but it was witches' blood from the lobes of the ear, the finest kind, at nine-pence a drop. And now the wonderworld little creatures were pink all over, and looked like a whole town of naked wild men. "Yes, if you can guess what it is. Can you guess what it is?"
"What have you there?" asked another old magician, who had no name — and that was the best thing about him. "Well, if you can guess it," said Kribble-Krabble, "I'll make you a present of it. But it is not so easy to find out if one does not know."
And the magician who had no name looked through that magnifying glass. And what he saw was a great town reflected in it. They were all people and they were running without clothes. It was terrible! But it was still more terrible to see how one beat and pushed the other, and bit and hacked, and tugged and mauled. Those at the top were being pulled down, and those at the bottom were tucked and struggling and struggling upwards. "Look! look! his leg is stronger than mine! Bah! Away with it! There is one who was a little bruised. It hurts, but it shall hurt him still more." And they hacked away at each other, and they pulled at him, and ate him because of one little bruise.
And there was one sitting as still as any little maiden, and wishing only for peace and quiet. She looked like the woman with the red sweater right over there. But now she had to come out, and they tugged at her, and pulled her about, and ate her up. "That's funny!" said the magician, "Yes, but what do you think it is?" said Kribble-Krabble. "Can you find that out?" "One can see that easily enough," said the other. "That is Paris, or some other great city, for they're all alike. It's great, great, great city!" "It's a drop of water!" said Kribble-Krabble.

Hans Christian Andersen

Liner Notes by Chris Sampson

Preceding any creation is a singularity; a dimensionless concentration of all possibility in which literally anything can happen but nothing does, since all is undifferentiated. Now an impulse "the wish to create" initiates realization and the potentials begin to resolve as they are committed to the page, the disk, the air, the moment.
The desire to create seems uniquely human, and we ask ourselves why we even bother. We suspect that we seek the release from constraint. But what of the desire to collaborate? Paradoxes would seem to attach to the notion of release through a creative process encumbered by the involvement of others. Some believe that this form of release is more rewarding; enabling as it does a fuller realization of a shared vision.
True collaboration, such as we witnessed on that weekend in April, is no mean feat. All these were present: each musician's history; their convergence on this place at this time; the state of mind and purity of spirit enabling each to participate completely, to fully commit their shared devotion to the creative process; the mutual trust. Each itself a miracle surrendered freely into this creative estate.
Consider just one of these; each musician's trust in the others. When faced with so imposing a force, less daring musicians have retreated to the well-worn leader/sideman model. But here's Fonda, "I want George Schuller, whoever George Schuller is today". Such trust that the moment will provide; born lightly by the seemingly infinite time spent perfecting his art.
And what place does perfection have in this setting where creative transformation persists through the performance (so unlike other arts, where performance is the execution of a rehearsed program)?
There was a moment of palpable tension, when, collectively, the ensemble was dissatisfied with the sound. This stemmed not from egos out of control, but rather from a shared stake in the creation and an unwillingness to accept "close enough".
Such moments are, we think, necessary, as they ensure proper resolution of this common thread.
Possibilities, capabilities, potentials, eventualities. Möglichkeiten sustain the mysteries and ambiguities that intrigue us.
Other moments: an act of faith, an offering to sacred minimalism; Celestial Awareness in the form of the archangel Kunle, whose moments of arrival and departure are indeterminate. And then a turning-point, and "the vibe", the "center which mystically evades", is in the room. Culmination in honoring those who came before. In order for possibilities to be appreciated, they must be manifested.

Step-In.

CD Reviews

• Bruce Lee Gallanter for Downtown Music Gallery

Bruce Lee Gallanter for Downtown Music Gallery

Featuring Carlo Morena on piano, Joe Fonda on bass and George Schuller on drums with guest Ilse Pfeifer on vocals on two tracks. I don't really know Carlo Morena or Ms. Ilse Pfeifer, but I do know Joe Fonda and George Schuller very well from the dozens of sessions that we've heard through the years, both together and apart. Joe Fonda seems to always find the best of European musicians to collaborate with on many of his discs. Starting with "The Wish," a title track from an old Fonda/Stevens Group disc, this superb piano trio is in fine form with Joe's superb bass at the center. His solo on this tune is something wonderful to behold. Some of this is actually very laid back and delightfully somber. All three members of the trio contribute compositions and each one is well selected. On "Mirror Images," the piano plays exquisitely while the bass and drums swirl around him in more turbulent circles. I dig the spoken word vocals (In English) on the title track, which fits well with the calm music that surrounds her soft, expressive voice. What is unique about this disc is that Joe's bass is most often at the center of the trio, consistently pushing, pulling and probing and setting the central force for the rest of the trio to adhere to. These songs are often quite elegant yet inventive and tastefully done.

Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2008 Downtown Music Gallery and Bruce Lee Gallanter.

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