| Discography of Joe Fonda | 2005 |
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Lineup
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recorded live at Porgy & Bess, Vienna, Austria on January 27, 2005
Produced by Mark Whitecage
Executive producer: Marek Winiarski
Released 2007 by Not Two Records (Poland) MW 788-2
| This CD can be ordered at the → Online Shop |
| Newspeak for BushWacked [→ CD Reviews] We are no longer looking forward to a fascist regime, we are in it. I predict there will be political prisoners before the year is out. The government may go bankrupt, which is what Bush seems to have planned. The head of the EPA, who called for more arsenic in our water and mercury in our air, is going to be the head of our health care. The man (Alberto Gonzales), who believes in no law is going to be Attorney General. The American people have spoken — they want this fool in power. If Americans have no health care, no jobs, well, so be it. They gave it up for their King. Like the French revolution in reverse, idiotic Americans said, "Here, take our children to war and kill them, blow off their limbs. Take my job and send it to China. Take my health care and we will rely on your healing power to make us well. Let the pharmaceutical industry run the FDA. Take away our rights to sue corrupt corporations and negligent doctors and do not allow us to hold anyone accountable for all the harm you, your administration, and the big guns that elected you, are doing to our air, our water, and our bodies. Continue to leave all children behind with your stupid No Child Left Behind Law. And while you're at it, take our social security and give it to Wall Street. Make the head of the EPA, (the agency that wants more arsenic in our water and greater mercury in our air), in charge of the country's health. Appoint the worst National Security Advisor in history as head of the State Department. Reappoint the leader of this debacle of a war for another term. Support him in his disdain for the troops. After all George, you are the voice of God!!!" Excerpt from an article by Elaine Cassel |
CD Reviews
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October 24, 2007 by Glenn Astarita for All About Jazz The Dope and The Ghost commences with Joe Fonda's retro, beatnik style walking bass lines and the artists' President Bush-bashing in front of a Viennese audience on "BushWacked." The political component sets the tone for the band's progressive jazz and improvisational forays. The members orate a denouncement for seemingly every policy that the President has put in place, setting high expectations for when the musical festivities would kick in. And the sparks really do fly when the band gets down to business. This quartet outing highlights the integration of hyper-mode phrasings, torrid exchanges and judicious placement of melodically-tinged themes. They fuse a sweetener into the mix, and it all pans out rather effectively. But trumpeter Roy Campbell, Jr.'s abysmally off-key vocals at the onset of "Where Has My Father Gone?," segues into a wailing cutting session with saxophonist Mark Whitecage and drummer Lou Grassi's relentless polyrhythmic attack. Here, the band morphs angst — perhaps the political element — with a jubilant melody line that generates a sonorous touch amid the musicians' fiery exchanges. Then, on the finale, "Next Step," the ensemble, featuring guest artist/alto saxophonist Marco Eneidi, executes a stewing framework, accelerated by rambunctious cat-and-mouse dialogues via a frenetic gait. However, they tone the proceedings down a bit for the coda. Putting a few beefs aside, the instrumentalists' stylistic mode of operation and intuitive interplay cannot be understated. These seasoned modern jazz warriors exalt a hodgepodge of emotively-charged and revved-up undercurrents that yield the winning edge. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 All About Jazz and Glenn Astarita. All reviews written by Glenn Astarita → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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November 26, 2007 by stef for his free jazz blog The Nu Band is something special. Free free bop with a political message. On their last album they ended with it, on this one they start with it : a long blues-based romp called "Bushwacked", with Roy Campbell "reciting" a newspaper article on President Bush's administration and doubtful policies, and even if this kind of message tends to be tedious in musical settings, this one works well, because the four musicians change this blues into a high energy free jazz piece. The four are Roy Campbell on trumpet, Mark Whitecage on alto sax and clarinet, Joe Fonda on bass, Lou Grassi on drums. Marco Eneidi joins on alto on one — twenty minute long — track. And what can I say? These guys ARE free jazz. Each of them has played a major role in shaping what the genre is today, in showing new ways of expressing emotions and of jointly creating a superb listening experience by ... well by listening to the other band members in the first place and then adding to it, enhancing it, pushing it further, creating new dialogues and phrases. This is music that is adventurous, emotional, but at times so tight, so interlocked, so on the same level, that it's getting uncanny. But the greatest thing : it's real fun too. The intensity! The interplay! The melodies! The emotions! The music! And indeed, something which can only work in front of a live audience. Copyright © 2007 stef. All reviews written by stef → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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December 3, 2007 by Mark Corroto for All About Jazz Not easily pigeonholed, the music of The Nu Band negotiates the boundaries of free-bop, improvisation, chamber, and traditional jazz with bias toward none. That cannot be said of the band's politics. Giving no quarter to the current Bush administration, they take our 'king' to task from the opening notes of the disc's centerpiece — "BushWhacked." Saxophonist Mark Whitecage originally recorded BushWhacked: A Spoken Opera (Acoustics ELE, 2005), a Dubya denunciation with his Bi-Coastal Orchestra, a band he leads with his wife Rozanne Levine. The title track easily morphs into this new quartet setting. The 17-minute rant and response between players, is an update on the kind of political tirades you might have heard at a Charles Mingus concert in the late 1960s. Sung and spoken protest is delivered over the slow burning blues centered on the heavy vibe laid down by bassist Joe Fonda. The fireworks soon start, the players trade tirade for interplay-making their point-negotiating tightrope walking acrobatics and burning moments. The next track "Where Has My Father Gone," at 16 minutes, was penned by trumpeter Roy Campbell for his recently deceased father. His muted trumpet opens the first three minutes. After he expresses grief, the band enters the procession with interlocking horns, before Campbell sings his tribute. The band swells into some very hip swinging changes over their brand of free-bop. This quartet can be heard on two prior sessions, Live At The Bop Shop (Clean Feed, 2001) and Nu Band (Konnex, 2003). Their interplay and cohesiveness is quite impressive. The dialogue they have for such a loosely assembled unit is anything but loose. The final track adds saxophonist Marco Eneidi to the stage. The quiet opening leads into some intense three horn improvisation as drummer Lou Grassi fuels every exchange. The power displayed by Whitecage and Eneidi are surely enough to stop a war. Well, one can only hope. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 All About Jazz and Mark Corroto. All reviews written by Mark Corroto → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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Bruce Lee Gallanter for Downtown Music Gallery This is the third fantastic disc by the Nu Band featuring the same cast: Roy Campbell, Jr. on trumpet, flugel, flute & vocals, Mark Whitecage on alto sax, clarinet & newspeak, Joe Fonda on contrabass and Lou Grassi on drums, with guest Marco Eneidi on alto sax for one track. We live is very troubled times and here in the US, there is little to be proud of thanks to our "elected" politicians. The Nu Band, while playing live in Vienna, Austria across the pond, illustrates frustration many of us feel being betrayed by our leaders and left with little hope of things to come. Beginning with "BushWacked", Joe Fonda strums this great repeating riff while the members of the quartet sing/speak the righteous truth about our sad situation. It is both funny in presentation and sad in fact of what they are talking about. The frontline horns nail those feelings home by playing their spirited solos together and apart. Both Mr.'s Whitecage and Campbell do indeed deliver the goods. "Where Has My Father Gone?" was written by Roy Campbell, whose father recently passed away and this piece is a fitting tribute. It is a touching, poignant work that features Roy's heartfelt singing, Mark's swell alto sax and that great swirling rhythm team of Joe and Lou. When both horns take off for the stratusphere, spinning intensely together it is great and uplifting thing. The title piece is a long, free spacious work that starts with Roy on flute, Mark on clarinet, Joe on bowed bass and Joe on hand percussion. I dig the way this piece organically evolves with solemn muted trumpet, eerie string sounds and then into a great middle-eastern sort-of theme with strong solos from Roy and Mark. The quartet is joined by alto sax great Marco Eneidi on the final track, "Next Step", and again, it builds from a humble beginning. You can tell that these cats are master improvisers as they make cosmic connected music from their own vocabulary. There is some incredible, quick tight-knit three horn improv going on that is especially exciting as the rhythm team spins intensely underneath. Yeah! Go ahead guys! Building and building, escalating higher and higher, as each horn takes a solo, soaring into the skies. It is certainly a wonderful thing to go along for the amazing journey to the stars! Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 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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December 16, 2007 by Guillaume Belhomme for Le son du grisli A Vienne, en 2005, The Nu Band — comprenez : Roy Campbell (trompette), Mark Whitecage (saxophone alto, clarinette), Joe Fonda (contrebasse) et Lou Grassi (batterie) — donnait une actualité à la revendication chère à Charles Mingus : celle distribuée partout dans le monde lorsqu'elle concerne, en premier lieu, les Etats-Unis. Nouveaux Faubus, George Bush et Donald Rumsfeld en prennent donc pour leur grade au son de Bush Wacked, pièce polyrythmique qui amasse les manières de faire (swing, bop, free) et les paroles assassines (celles de Whitecage) pour enjoliver un peu l'efficacité des coups portés. Plus lentement, monte ensuite Where Has My Father Gone, sur lequel l'alto emporte tout, avant que ne vienne le tour de The Dope and The Ghost, invitation au voyage moins convaincante, fourre-tout qu'un unisson presque oriental transformera en bazar. Qui contraste, aussi, avec l'emportement altier — et donc réconciliateur — de Next Step, composition de Joe Fonda rendue en compagnie du saxophoniste invité Marco Eneidi, qui clôt l'heure de concert sur un mode jubilatoire. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 Le son du grisli and Guillaume Belhomme. All reviews written by Guillaume Belhomme → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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Multiple review by Marc Medwin for All About Jazz Lou Grassi is one of the few drummers that straddles the line between time and timelessness with ease. The three discs under discussion here demonstrate the fluidity with which he imbues all areas of his art. The Allen/Grassi duo was recorded at the Guelph Festival some six years ago. It's dynamic in every sense, from the vast changes in volume and tone to the energy levels that fluctuate from moment to moment. The duo works--celebrates really--through a wide range of material; especially powerful is their fantastic take on "When You Wish Upon a Star". Allen skirts around, over and above the melody, grabbing snatches of it and destroying them as soon as he's made them known. Grassi can certainly blast off into volcanic eruptions of freedom with the best of them; however, favorite moments are the quieter ones, those fraught with fragility and introspection. On "Far Side", Grassi's rustlings complement Allen's silvery flute tones gorgeously, the pair capturing little pieces of infinity as the audience sits spellbound. The Nu Band disc The Dope and The Ghost is a bit rough around the edges, the recording somewhat close and forthright. This does not in any way diminish its power; in fact, some additional focus results, notably in the subtleties of Grassi's timbral shifts. As trumpeter Roy Campbell begins his solo on the fiery and politically charged "BushWacked", Grassi switches midstream from hard-hitting postbop time drumming to some delicate snare-and-cymbal dialogue that brings everything down smoothly. Bassist Joe Fonda and reedman Mark Whitecage add layers of fun to a track whose Mingusian clichés are outweighed by obvious commitment. "BushWacked" is followed by the intense and introspective "Where has my Father Gone?", a platform for some brilliant playing by Campbell. These two tracks provide a blueprint for The Nu Band sound on this, their third and best album to date. While no new ground is broken, the pianoless group is propelled forward with determination on the Grassi/Fonda axis. No holds are barred on Shapes and Shadows, a mind-bending foray into total improvisation where Grassi really demonstrates the breadth of his timbral and rhythmic language. Buoyed by the revelatory reedwork of Martin Speicher and Georg Wolf's broadly inventive bass playing, he enters majestically beautiful realms of noise, force and near-silence. Expanding on the innovations of Sunny Murray and Rashied Ali, he incorporates everything from finger cymbals to chimes, even employing what sounds like a piano wire. The title track's opening is one of the disc's crowning glories, an extraordinary study in character and space as Speicher's clarinet ushers in the epic journey. If obliterating volume is the order of the day, look no further than "Please Confirm", for all the new thing squall that could be desired. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2008 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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