| Discography of Joe Fonda | 2007 |
 CD+DVD |
Lineup
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CD recorded by Joe Marciano on May 6, 2007 at Systems Two, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Mastered by Max Ross. Produced by Michael Musillami.
DVD recorded by Fabio Witkowski on May 3, 2007 live at Katherine M. Elfers Hall, Lakeville, Connecticut, USA.
Assistant engineer: Molly Reed. Produced by Fabio Witkowski.
Released by Playscape Recordings [PSR#050607]
Watch and listen to a live performance of "Brooms" at
part 1 | part 2
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Liner Notes (→ CD Reviews)
It's rare to have an opportunity to hear a group evolve, especially these days when keeping a band of high-level musicians together is almost impossible. My trio has been together since 2002, during which time we've performed in the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe, and recorded two CDs, 2002's Beijing and 2005's Dachau. We've come to trust each other and embrace the chaos, beauty, and all that is served up during a performance. No matter if we play as a trio or other musicians added to the mix, the "thing" the trio produces is always there. The music swells and folds onto itself, pulls back, and strikes like a rattlesnake. I've always admired the playing of Mark Feldman. His performance on Thomas Chapin's Haywire (Knitting Factory) has long been a source of inspiration for my writing, as well as ideas for overall conceptual possibilities. I wanted to add Mark's sound, time and ideas to our group sound, and I knew he would work perfectly with us. Although my working trio is very much the foundation of this new group, all but one of the pieces recorded here was written specifically for this quartet. We played this new music live as an ensemble before going into the studio, and we have plans to do so again in support of the record in the Fall of 2007. However one might label it, this music is as honest as it gets — a seamless adventure into our point of view on a given day. About the music: I wrote "Brooms," the only piece on The Treatment I have recorded prior to this session, in the late 1980's. The title refers to a drummer using brushes. The trio added this piece to its repertoire at an October 2006 gig in Edmonton and the melody is perfect for guitar and violin. "The Treatment" refers to anything that feels good. The melody is filled with triplets and minor seconds. The solos are set up as duos, guitar and bass first and then violin and drums. "Stark Beauty" was written for my wife Robin — both she and this piece are beauties. "Human Conditions" is written in 3/4 time, but when the melody is played over the vamp, the piece produces a push-and-pull between the two parts. With Mark playing most of the melody pizzicato, the vibe is very dynamic. "Mezz Money" refers to a trio performance at the Mezzarine Lounge in Hartford, CT. We were signing autographs after the gig and I was looking for something to write on. The presenter handed me a piece of paper, I signed it and handed it to one of the listeners. That piece of paper turned out to be our check for our two nights...it took two weeks to find this person again and get paid. "Beijing to Brooklyn" takes the listener on a journey from where the trio began in 2002 to where we are five years later. Our first record was called Beijing and all our rehearsals with Mark took place in George's cellar on Caton Avenue in Brooklyn. — Michael Musillami, May 2007 |
CD Reviews
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Bruce Lee Gallanter for Downtown Music Gallery Another extraordinary effort from the great jazz guitarist, Michael Musillami and featuring the ever-incredible Mark Feldman on violin. On each of Mr. Musillami's dozen+ discs for the Playscape label, Michael has chosen different personnel and his ensembles often vary in size, from a trio to an octet. He has used drummer George Schuller & bassist Joe Fonda on a number of previous dates, but this is his first time with violin wizard Mark Feldman. Musillami specializes in challenging compositions and thus was smart to chose Mark Feldman, who consistently soars no matter how difficult the music might be. On the opening piece, "Brooms", Michael has written a complex, fast-tempo piece and Feldman pulls off an astonishing first solo. I like the Michael's guitar solo goes in the opposite direction, slow and spacious, giving the rhythm team a chance to swirl intricately around him in layered spirals. Musillami sounds like John McLaughlin on his first album, 'Extrapolation' from 1968 and considered to be one of the greatest modern jazz discs of all time. On the title track, Michael has written another theme that has one of those difficult stop and start structures, while Michael and Mark both play fine solos that begins minimally and then build to a grand finales. "Stark Beauty" is a most appropriate title for the next track, as it is an exquisite, sublime piece with a gorgeous solo from Marks enchanting violin. The melody itself is quite touching and goes directly from and to the heart. On "Human Conditions", Michael has written a piece that is both laid back and difficult simultaneously. Although the guitar, bass and drums play this repeating line while Feldman plays a great slow burn solo, they keep changing the dynamics slightly so that the rhythm and melody are in a state of subtle flux. "Mezz Money" has one of those Mario Pavone-like bass-leading, constantly changing structures, which keeps the quartet on their toes as they work their way through some difficult passages. Both the guitar and violin take, great passion-filled solos as they move through shifting rhythmic waves. The closing piece, "Beijing to Brooklyn", is an immensely haunting work, that begins sparsely and builds ever so slowly with sublime unaccompanied solos from the guitar and violin that ascend into heavenly territory. A truly superb effort throughout. The DVD features long live versions of three of the aforementioned pieces with the quartet stretching out even more. It is indeed wonderful to be able watch these incredible sorcerers of sound play and interact on a high level of magical activity. 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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September 19, 2007 by Troy Collins for All About Jazz The Treatment offers two views of the current incarnation of guitarist Michael Musillami's working group by bundling a studio recording with live performance video. Violinist Mark Feldman was invited by Musillami to join his long-standing trio with bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller for these sessions. The augmented quartet is heard in the studio on the CD, while the added DVD documents a live performance taped three days earlier in Connecticut, at Lakeville's Hotchkiss School, where Musillami is Director of Jazz Studies. Feldman, the most in-demand violinist of contemporary creative improvised music, fits in seamlessly with Musillami's veteran trio. While instrumentally similar to guitarist John Abercrombie's quartet (which also features Feldman), Musillami's methodology is more heavily rooted in classic jazz foundations, rather than the chamber-like aesthetic pioneered by Abercrombie's groups. A traditionalist at heart, Musillami eschews excessive EFX, favoring a timeless sound. His hollow-body electric reveals a clean, warm tone bolstered by protracted, serpentine cadences of surprising lyricism. Feldman's knack for soaring melodic improvisation makes him a perfect foil for Musillami's exploratory flights. Since Beijing (Playscape,2003), Fonda and Schuller have been demonstrating their conversational repartee as Musillami's primary touring ensemble. With a penchant for penning tricky, memorable melodies of unconventional beauty, Musillami's compositions are intricate, yet lyrically direct and forthright in an age dominated by extremes of sound and concept. Musillami and company build their thematic statements organically, from the ground up, arriving at abstraction through considered modulations in melody, rhythm and harmony. Whether summoning animated swing, tense angularity or exotic atmosphere, the quartet plies these elastic structures with a sense of spirited interplay balanced by graceful restraint. The studio sessions capture the group at their most focused, trading melodic fragments and crisp rhythmic inflections with telepathic ease. The majority of the tunes employ brisk, swinging post-bop rhythms suffused with buoyant kernels of melody, tempered with hard angles and knotty charts, but on the sole ballad, the optimistic "Stark Beauty," Musillami and Feldman unveil ribbons of ebullient lyricism with their subdued, mellifluous statements. The jaunty "Brooms" bristles with shifting dynamics from the rhythm section while Feldman and Musillami unfurl labyrinthine solos of almost Baroque intensity. The snappy polyrhythmic bounce of the title track and the locomotive momentum of "Mezz Money" share a similar energy with the pensive, angular funk of "Human Conditions," which climaxes with a stirring arco solo from Fonda. Building gradually from introspective beginnings, "Beijing To Brooklyn" blossoms into a dramatic showcase for Feldman's virtuosic violin as he wrings endless variations from the insistent modal theme. Schuller pilots a Tony Williams-inspired four-on-the-floor vamp fueled by Fonda and Musillami's driving ostinati. Live, the augmented trio presents vivacious performances of three tunes from the studio album. "Human Conditions," "The Treatment" and "Brooms" are given extended work-outs with ample solo space for all. Shot with multiple high definition cameras, the DVD provides a snapshot of adventurous music rarely captured so well. Seeing musicians of this caliber in action makes apparent how intricate the ensemble charts are and how intuitive their level of interaction truly is. Energized in this live setting, Feldman pulls out all the stops on "Human Conditions," delivering a searing violin solo of epic proportions before Musillami and Schuller lock horns in a fire-spitting duel. The dynamic title track is given a far more rambunctious read than the studio version. Featuring Musillami's most explosively frenetic playing of the session, the tune closes with a marvel of melodic improvisation from Schuller. The kaleidoscopic head melody of "Brooms" makes way for a free-flowing rubato structure that culminates in a bass solo from Fonda bowing simultaneous arco harmonics from opposing ends of his instrument. Musillami's final solo takes the tune out with a machine-gun volley of staccato notes, proving that a career in academia hasn't mellowed him one bit. The Treatment represents an intensely rewarding and conceptually promising avenue for the future of jazz that is accessible and exploratory in equal measure. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 All About Jazz and Troy Collins. All reviews written by Troy Collins → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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September 18, 2007 by Mark Corroto for All About Jazz Guitarist Michael Musillami asks the musical question: when is a working trio recording with a guest more like a quartet than an invitation to sit in? The answer, of course, is when a very sympathetic player joins you for a session and tour. Musillami's trio of Joe Fonda (bass) and George Schuller (drums) has been working together for quite some time, releasing Beijing in 2002 and Dachau in 2005 on Musillami's Playscape Recordings label. The guitar/bass/drums format is the foundation for Musillami's intricate music experimentation and creativity. To that, he adds perhaps the most creative violinist working in jazz today, Mark Feldman. His discography and session work includes the John Abercrombie Quartet, Dave Douglas, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Uri Caine, The Arcado String Trio and various John Zorn projects. His 2006 disc What Exit for ECM made many "best of" lists, including mine. Paired with the hour-long CD is a 45-minute concert DVD shot in high definition by three cameras. The chemistry is evident on the title track, an intricate yet faux-rocker that features duos of guitar/bass then violin/drums. Whereas Musillami and Feldman can play as one, the band swaps partners to great effect through these intricate compositions. The blues inflection of Musillami and Fonda drips with emotion as the pair flex their musical muscles. Contrasting style is Feldman, slowing matters to a more measured duo with Schuller. The DVD version of the title track is twice the studio version's length, allowing for the players to really stretch out. While the immediate draw here is the interplay between Musillami and Feldman, repeated spins draw you into the compositions themselves and the supporting players, Schuller and Fonda. Musillami has a knack of presenting his compositions in a highly digestible format. His complex writing never bogs down into distraction, largely due to a bright rhythm section that solos and accents with equal measure as the front line. All that bravado is tabled on "Stark Beauty," a gentle ballad that is brimming with expression, Musillami and Feldman trade solos, each softer then the other. Elsewhere they play the intricate "Human Conditions," a spy movie sounding track with Feldman playing some sneaky pizzicato; a very swift-swinging "Mezz Money"; and the odyssey of "Beijing To Brooklyn," a lengthy piece that gathers momentum as the quartet steams toward Brooklyn. Momentum is not one of the features this recording lacks. 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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September 20, 2007 by John Kelman for All About Jazz Violinist Mark Feldman may be the link between John Abercrombie's The Third Quartet (ECM, 2007) and Michael Musillami's The Treatment, but there are as many differences as there are similarities between these two guitarists' projects. Abercrombie's group leans more towards a chamber jazz approach that, while not without its occasional edges and unmistakable freedom, is sparer and, at times, ethereal. Musillami's trio-together about as long as Abercrombie's quartet-featuring bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller, swings harder and, when it heads towards the outer limits, does so with greater assertion. Feldman may be a guest (albeit a relatively regular one) with Musillami while being a permanent member of Abercrombie's group since its inception, but you'd never know it. He winds his way through Musillami's knotty head on the modal "Brooms" like he's been playing it forever, and there's the same kind of magical interaction with the rest of the trio when he solos. Not since the late Zbigniew Seifert (1946-1979) has there been a violinist as capable of Coltrane-esque fire and reckless abandon, while remaining equally comfortable with Musillami's lyrical ballad, "Stark Beauty." Musillami's guitar and amp may create a monochromatic tone, but his attack makes it anything but. His generally warm sound turns sharper, much like Larry Coryell, when he weighs down more heavily with his right hand. And while he's a melodic and economical player on "Stark Beauty," he takes a more angular right turn on the irregular meter of "Human Conditions," where his repetitive pattern, in support of Feldman's solo, leads into his most impressive solo of the set. Rapidly moving from elliptical and gradually evolved motifs to quick tremolos, intervallic jumps and sharp chordal passages, Musillami manages to create a sense of freedom without the kind of aggressive behavior that might alienate those disposed to a more mainstream approach. The perennially undervalued and stylistically broad Fonda and Schuller, both leaders in their own rights, are not only as dynamically simpatico rhythm partners, but they're just as adept as soloists, demonstrating a similarly selfless concern of working for the material rather than the other way around. The closing "Beijing to Brooklyn," centered around a single pedal tone that's nevertheless milked for all it's worth over the course of thirteen minutes, finds the quartet keenly attuned, as Musillami's nuanced solo leads to another tour de force from Feldman. A DVD, recorded live a few days before the CD recording session, finds the quartet stretching Musillami's material even further, in most cases nearly double the length of the studio takes. "Brooms" is, again, another highlight, with the energy ratcheted up a few more notches. Musillami may not have Abercrombie's cachet, but The Treatment is his best record yet, and the chemistry of his trio-with or without Feldman-makes it one that more people need to hear. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 All About Jazz and John Kelman. All reviews written by John Kelman → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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October 2007 by Elliott Simon for All About Jazz New York Guitarist Michael Musillami's trio with bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller previously released two "worldly" CDs for Playscape: their debut Beijing (2002) and the vigorously creative Dachau (2005). With The Treatment, the trio invites master violinist Mark Feldman to join them for a soaring new presentation of Musillami's music. As a guitarist, Musillami kisses up against free jazz and beautifully floats down the mainstream, sometimes within a single phrase. Feldman is a violinist of awesome technical and improvisational abilities, bringing a singular mixture of classical and avant to any project with which he is involved. Fonda and Schuller provide both depth and breadth - Schuller has never been so delicate without sacrificing his trademark intensity and Fonda is a sonorous glue, plucking and bowing all over his bass. While both Musillami and Feldman have ties to multi-instrumentalist Thomas Chapin, until this release, they had not recorded together. On these six elegantly complex pieces, five of which were written specifically for this quartet, they mesh flawlessly for in-tandem guitar/violin themes that break apart for breathtaking solo work. In addition to the studio CD, there is a 45-minute concert DVD. Shot in glorious high-definition, the music and musicians explode into your living room for extended versions of three tunes. Recorded in concert on Musillami's home turf at Lakeville, Conn.'s Hotchkiss School, where he is the head of Jazz Studies, the wooden stage and walls of the acoustically superb Katherine M. Elfers Hall make for a delightfully warm sound. This suits the nuances of Musillami's guitar and the rich timbre of Feldman's mic'd violin for an exceedingly intimate experience. As his ponytail and goatee have lengthened so has Musillami honed and formed his sound: idiosyncratic melodies, flawless technique and an energetic attack set against unusually-metered rhythms. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2007 All About Jazz New York and Elliott Simon. All reviews written by Elliott Simon → Overview of all CD/LP reviews and liner notes |
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November 21, 2007 by Mischa Andriessen for Jazzenzo De bezetting gitaar, bas, drum en viool doet onmiddellijk denken aan het kwartet van John Abercrombie waar Mark Feldman ook in speelt. Niet alleen muzikaal is er verwantschap al is Musillami wel experimenteler. Net als Abercrombie is de veel minder bekende Musillami iemand die een geweldige techniek paart aan een grote ideeënrijkdom, als muzikant en als componist. Op "The Treatment" worden zes van zijn composities uitgevoerd door een sterrenkwartet. Feldman is als altijd fenomenaal. Gevoelig én avontuurlijk. Virtuoos maar toch sober. De ritmesectie is echter de belangrijkste troef van deze band. Schuler en Fonda volgen hun frontmannen op de voet. Als zij een rechercheurteam zouden zijn, zou er geen crimineel meer vrij rondlopen. Een zeldzaam alert ritmetandem dat de drive geen moment uit het oog verliest en met perfect getimede accenten heel subtiel sturing geeft aan solo's van de met veel schwung spelende Musillami en Feldman. Musillami's schijnbaar eenvoudige jazzy folkthema's krijgen door de opmerkelijke toewijding en de grote opmerkzaamheid van de muzikanten een zeer spannende uitwerking die de luisteraar minstens zo bij de pinken houdt. Alle vier de musici leggen een ingetogen speelsheid aan de dag, waarbij zij alle tijd nemen die ze nodig hebben. Op de bijgeleverde DVD is bijvoorbeeld mooi te zien hoe Musillami midden in een solo zijn bril rechtzet, Feldman zijn strijkstok aanschroeft en Fonda zijn bas op de grond legt, twee strijkstokken pakt en heel ingenieus het hout en de kam van zijn instrument begint te bewerken. De betrokken en geconcentreerde manier van spelen die bij al beluistering van de cd evident was, komt op de DVD nog duidelijker naar voren. Houding en gezichtsuitdrukking van alle vier de vertolkers spreekt wat dat aangaat boekdelen. De DVD brengt de live-registratie van drie nummers die ook op de cd worden gespeeld, maar dan in een veel langere uitvoering. Het is tekenend voor de immense technische beheersing en enorme zeggingskracht van dit viertal dat juist die uitgerekte versies een nog sterkere indruk achter laten. Copyright © 2007 Jazzenzo and Mischa Andriessen. |
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