The Fonda/Stevens Group
«Trio»

• Michael Jefry Stevens - piano
• Joe Fonda - double bass
• Harvey Sorgen - drums

1. Soon To Know (Fonda) 12:24
2. The Search (Stevens) 7:42
3. Andrea (Stevens) 7:58
4. From the Source (Fonda) 10:00
5. The Path (Fonda) 5:52
6. Break Song (Fonda) 7:02

Liner Notes by Michael Jefry Stevens → CD Reviews

"Your music meets my heart, is in harmony with my soul, and inspires my brain." Elke Schleisiek's remarks to the trio at the conclusion of our concert in Bielefeld, Germany on March 31, 2006.

As the year 2007 unfolds I find myself concerned more and more with the welfare of our planet. The planet is speaking to us. The Alps are melting. We are experiencing more and more treacherous weather conditions from New Orleans to New York City to Indonesia. The planet speaks but we are not able to listen. What can one do?

As a musician my only resource is to continue playing and composing music at the highest level I am capable of, without regard to any extra-musical factors (either market place or commercial). I believe in the spiritual efficacy of great music. Great art can and does change the perception of those that are influenced by it. In great art the legitimacy and legacy of the human race can be found.

This CD is very important to me. First, because in bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Harvey Sorgen I have found two extremely dedicated and honest musicians who have spent the last 20 plus years performing and helping to enrich my musical expression and process. Secondly, I believe our music must spread around the globe and touch each and every one of us. So it is hugely important that I am able to release this CD on the wondeful Polish label "Not Two" through the generosity and humanity of Marek Winiarski. Ten years ago Joe Fonda and I realized that we had to bring our music to Europe, because there were not enough interested venues in the United States that supported creative improvised music. Now, ten years later, we decided it was necessary to bring our music to Eastern Europe, where the audience is in many ways more attuned to the truth of "great art".

All liner notes written by Michael Jefry Stevens → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes

CD Reviews

• Bruce Lee Gallanter for Downtown Music Gallery
• Glenn Astarita for Jazz Review
• Kurt Gottschalk for All About Jazz
• Guillaume Belhomme a.k.a. Grisli for Le son du grisli French language

Bruce Lee Gallanter for Downtown Music Gallery

This is the tenth disc from the great Fonda/Stevens Group, but it is the first one to feature them as a trio. This disc was recorded live at The Alchemia in Krakow, Poland in April of 2006. I was intrigued to see that this is a rare trio date for these three musicians who have been playing together for some 20+ years, but rarely as a trio. There is no leader in the trio, as each member is integral to their sound and explorations. "Soon to Know" (by Mr. Fonda) seems to feature the amazing Joe Fonda, whose bass is central to the way this trio expands and contracts and moves. There is a constant throb going on, with the piano and drums slowly swirling around him majestically. Mr. Stevens' "The Search" has a delightful theme that is difficult to forget, with Michaels' piano playing dreamy, elegant waves that fade into the distance. Joe begins "Andrea" by plucking his strings in a unique way, making way for Michael's exquisite piano - the piece is quite lovely and sublime. "From The Source" features Michael's piano playing flurries of notes as Joe holds down the center until the trio starts swirling quickly together, the tempo speeding up and slowing down together. Throughout this disc, one gets the feeling that this trio has been together for a long time since they consistently flow together as one formidable force. Joe Fonda's bass continues to blow me away as he reaches for the impossible and achieves what he strives to do.

Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 Downtown Music Gallery and Bruce Lee Gallanter.

Liner Notes | CD Reviews

All reviews written by Bruce Lee Gallanter → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes

Glenn Astarita for Jazz Review

Recorded live in Poland and for a Polish jazz record label, this is a passionate set by one of the great (and slightly under-recognized) modern jazz outfits in the business. And while the group moniker remains the same, this is the piano trio variety sans the services of trumpet great Herb Robertson. Nonetheless, it's a democratic engagement where memorable melodies and choruses attain equal ground with dense frameworks and endearing improvisational forays.

Pianist Michael Jefry Stevens steers the rhythm section thru bumpy roads and disparate angles via hammering block chords and asymmetrical rhythmic flows. Tonal contrasts abound, where bassist Joe Fonda occasionally uses his bow to augment an abundance of motifs that stop, restart and spawn anew. Expansive and emotive, the trio seamlessly morphs staggered free-form dialogues into spiraling motifs and buoyant swing vamps. And on the piece titled "The Search," the they integrate a bouncy groove into a boisterous bop vibe.

Stevens executes a series of dreamy chords atop the rhythm section's peppery undercurrents during "The Path," which is comp that segues into a powerful jazz-waltz movement. Nonetheless, surprises abound here as this recently issued album looms as one of the top jazz-trio performances of 2007. In addition, and unlike many other units, it's quite discernible that the artists combined efforts yield an elevated sense of unity and insight.

Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 Jazz Review and Glenn Astarita.

Liner Notes | CD Reviews

All reviews written by Glenn Astarita → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes

September 2007 by Kurt Gottschalk for All About Jazz
multiple review including → Braxton/Fonda: Duets (1995)

It's difficult to either match or deny the hyperbole with which Leo Feigin presented the 2000 release of the Fonda/Stevens Group's Live at the Bunker. Calling it the recording he'd been waiting for for 20 years, Feigin called it "a truly jazz CD … They wrap up all the influences, all the sounds that came before, then they roll the universe into a ball and make it new!"

It's bold talk, even if it was a bit of PR hype, but the description still holds true seven years later. The trio on their new disc of the same name (recorded live in Poland in 2006) is rounded out by drummer Harvey Sorgen and without a horn they boldly move into the well-trod world of the piano trio, only to find a new path to cut. It's essentially mainstream music, confounded only by being so fresh. Michael Jefry Stevens' piano playing is not far removed from McCoy Tyner, or Dave Brubeck for that matter, with blocky chords underlying repeated melodies. Joe Fonda pushes harder, slapping his bass and mimicking vocals with his bow. Though he's more known as a prog drummer, Harvey Sorgen keeps pace here, backing the never-jarring, never-predictable compositions of the leaders.

Fonda's talents for traversing the in and the out primed him for a set of duets with Anthony Braxton, recorded at Wesleyan University in 1995 and originally issued by Konnex as 10 Compositions (Duet) 1995. Braxton, too, has a love for the vanguard of jazz history as well as his own explorations and he calls upon Fonda to meet him in the middle for Cole Porter's "All of You" and Vernon Duke's "Autumn in New York". Fonda in turn supplies two pieces of his own and the pair spends a little over half an hour working through Braxton's compositions 136, 173 and a pairing of 147 and 168. While these are probably the most 'important' tracks on the disc - and it's always interesting to hear Braxton's compositions pared down to duo - it's the standards that steal the show. Braxton has for decades had to insist that he is a jazz saxophonist and does know how to swing and his joyful, knotty solos here more than prove the case.

Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 All About Jazz and Kurt Gottschalk.

Liner Notes | CD Reviews

All reviews written by Kurt Gottschalk → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes

November 28, 2007 by Guillaume Belhomme for Le son du grisli

Ensemble à la physionomie changeante, The Fonda / Stevens group se faisait trio, en avril 2006, sur la scène de l'Alchemia de Cracovie.

Aux côtés du batteur Harvey Sorgen, le contrebassiste et le pianiste se partagent les titres d'un répertoire piquant, qui commande autant de déconstructions audacieuses que d'exercices de style parfaitement maîtrisés (swing incertain de The Search, orientalisme de Soon to Know, essai impressionniste de The Path).

Bien sûr, il arrive à Michael Jefry Stevens de trop en faire au piano, mais le trio parvient le plus souvent à mettre la main sur une entente rare, d'où partira l'imprécation folle de From The Source ou l'étrange danse qu'est Break Song. Et Joe Fonda, comme à son habitude, de rayonner d'un bout à l'autre d'un concert de plus.

Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 Le son du grisli and Guillaume Belhomme.

CD Reviews

All reviews written by Guillaume Belhomme → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes