- Herb Robertson - trumpet
- Daunik Lazro - alto and baritone saxophones
- Michael Jefry Stevens - piano
- Joe Fonda - double bass
- Harvey Sorgen - drums
| Discography of Joe Fonda | 2002 |
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Lineup
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All compositions by Fonda, Stevens, Robertson, Sorgen and Lazro
Recorded on October 23, 2002 at 'Le Carre Bleu', Poitiers, France.
Post Production at Nevessa Productions - Woodstock, New York.
Mixed by Harvey Sorgen, edited by Harry Fulcher.
Cover Art by Imke Gatzemeier
Released 2004 by Leo Records [LR 394]
Special Thanks to: Bernard Prouteau, Daunik Lazro, Bernard Aime, Philippe Levraud and Leo Feigin without whom this recording would not have been possible.
Special thanks to Harvey Sorgen and Herb Robertson for their untiring and unswerving dedication to our music.
This music only exists because of their efforts and patience.
Thanks guys!
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Liner Notes [→ CD Reviews] |
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Joe Fonda and I started playing together in 1984 with saxophonist Mark Whitecage and drummer Art Lillard. That group became the Mark Whitecage and Liquid Time Group and featured Dave Douglas on trumpet and either Peter Lemaitre, Mike Sarin or Gerry Hemingway on drums. In 1988 Joe and I were founding members of the Mosaic Sextet which again featured Dave Douglas on trumpet and included Mark Feldman on violin, Michael Rabinowitz on bassoon and introduced Harvey Sorgen on drums. That rhythm section nucleus became the starting point for the Fonda/Stevens Group which began in 1993 and included Mark Whitecage on saxophone and Herb Robertson on trumpet. We recorded our first CD "The Wish" for Music and Arts in 1993. The last recording Mark made with the group was "Evolution" (Leo Records). Since 1999 the group has been a quartet primarily with Herb Robertson on trumpet. We did one tour with Paul Smoker on trumpet as a quartet, and the "Live at the Bunker" CD which features the group as quartet with Paul Smoker comes from that tour (also on Leo Records). This current CD (Twelve Improvisations) is our 7th CD as a group and the first recording which is entirely improvised. In that sense this is a landmark recording for the group and features us in collaboration with French saxophonist Daunik Lazro. The quartet was on tour in Europe in October 2002. We had several concerts in France and had performed with Daunik the previous year in Tours, France. We asked him if he wanted to do a recording with us and a recording was arranged in Poitiers, France the day before our concert at the same location. The music from that recording session is included in this CD. I want to thank all of our supporters over the past 11 years (fans, presenters, writers). Without your generous support we would not be able to continue to present this music, which is still and will always be a labor of love and dedication to the great art form known as "jazz". Enjoy the music. Michael Jefry Stevens |
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CD Reviews
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August 30, 2004 by Ken Waxman for Jazzword MYRA MELFORD'S THE TENT THE FONDA/STEVENS GROUP Building on jazz's standard two-horns-and-rhythm combo format, these CDs impress by showing how the players manage to make things new by tweaking sounds to match their own aspirations. A team for over 20 years, pianist Michael Jefry Stevens and bassist Joe Fonda do this by not only insisting that all the sounds on their CD be completely improvised, but by adding another voice to the line-up. French alto and baritone saxophonist Daunik Lazro is one of that country's foremost experimenters, working in contexts as varied as solo recitals and bands with saxophonist Michel Doneda and Joe McPhee. Here his unique articulation and sound sources add another dimension to that supplied by the pianist, bassist, long-time drummer Harvey Sorgen, and endlessly inventive trumpeter Herb Robertson, who has worked with Fonda and Stevens in various bands, on-and-off for more than a decade. Pianist Myra Melford approach to the situation is a bit different. Following her Fulbright scholarship-sponsored, nine-month residency in Calcutta, this session finds her integrating the sounds of Northern India on harmonium with her own influences which range from distinctive poetics to salutes to earlier jazz heroes. Furthermore, her band, The Tent, melds sidefolk from her earlier combos. Trumpeter Cuong Vu and bassist Stomu Takeishi — who are both in Vu's trio — join with busy Manhattan reedist Chris Speed and drummer Kenny Wollesen who has played with John Zorn. Encompassing sampled traffic noises and vocal exhortations recorded in Calcutta, "No News At All" is the only track that directly refers to Melford's experience on the subcontinent. But the accordion-like repetitive riffs she produces on the harmonium and the drummer's backbeat color that so-called exotica in a different way. So do Vu's brassy squeals and Speed's clarinet trills, both of which end in sibilant whistles. If anything the end product resembles a jolly tarantella more than Hindustani music. Not only that, but any time Takeishi is front and centre, his flat picking, thumb pops and flailing confirms that these are bass guitars he's playing not a sarod or an acoustic stand up bass. Harmonium timbres may be on display in a viscous mixture with a clarinet reed on the nearly 12 minute "Where the Ocean Misquotes the Sky", but that doesn't stop Melford from eventually switching to high frequency piano tone clusters to emphasize the theme. Shortly after that, her cascading overtones and modal attack introduce pure swing accompanied by press rolls from the drummer and a walking bass line. Earlier, any eclogue resemblance is lost among the trumpeter's glottal smears and slurs. With the horns playing double counterpoint quietly in background, the pianist gradually gooses the tempo to a satisfactory conclusion. Or listen to "Brainfire and Buglight" where a jagged swaying and hocketing tenor line mixes it up with irregular note clusters from the piano, electric bass blasts that sound like tuba toots, and rolls and flams from the drummer. As Speed becomes more aggressively abstract, and Vu adds quacking runs and basso pedal tones, Melford keep everything together with glissandi. Summation of all this is "Hello Dreamers (for Lester Bowie)", which celebrates the pan musicalism of the late Art Ensemble trumpeter. Beginning with Vu approximating Bowie's sour tone, varied drum work and a massed polyphonic horn line soon double the tempo to a more ambulatory, almost joyous pace. Following Speed's exhibition of double tonguing and split tones, Melford turns to key clipping for a spell. Then she slows the tempo down to a two handed quasi boogie-woogie exercise, propelling cascading note clusters into different tempos and harmonies. Enlivened by a splayed Rent Party beat, the piece reaches a galloping climax, then reprises the melancholy section at the top. At home or abroad, the power of improvised music means that you can be celebratory even in the midst of sorrow. Alive with a dozen improvisations to Melford's eight, Fonda, Stevens and crew have more scope in which to exhibit their talents. Additionally, while these may be TWELVE IMPROVISATIONS, they're definitely not 12 pieces of indulged abstraction. Veterans, each member of the quintet knows what he can do, and gets enough space to do it within a group context. Take, "Distant Voices," at almost 9½-minutes the longest track. Here modulated stick pressure and knuckle duster rolls from Sorgen lead into ponticello bowing from Fonda and the continuous spew of accented timbres from Robertson. As Lazro adds harmonic color, the trumpeter's lines get more expressive and legato. Soon the brassman is chromatically severing single notes as Stevens accompanies him with church-like low frequency chords. Lazro, now on baritone, smoothly resonates underneath, as Robertson decorates the line with stairstep obbligatos. The Frenchman's bari can squeal as well as snort as he demonstrates on "Talking Drum", most of which is taken up by Sorgen doing just that. Lazro double tongues searing altissimo squeaks that are later amplified by Robertson's quivering valves. Meanwhile the percussionist resonates, rattles and rolls as if he was playing a bata or a darbuka, using his palms, fingers and palms more than his sticks. Robertson and he exhibit classic teamwork between brassy triplets and pardiddles and flams on the aptly named "Call and Response". Throughout the CD, the trumpeter seems to be functioning at a level even higher than in years past, having finally exchanged European expatriate life for the United States. Two example of this are "Extracurricular Activity" and "The Meeting". The former finds Stevens' high frequency, circular piano accents succeeded by split-second, tongue stopping blasts from Lazro and exaggerated wah-wah blowing from Robertson in Clyde McCoy mode. More serious, the latter sets up a series of meetings among the group members. Concerned with cascading chords and right-handed plinking, Stevens pushing broken note patterns into a swinging centre meets rumbles, glances and bounces from Sorgen. Then Harmon-muted tones from Robertson meet sharp slurs from Lazro's alto, As the trumpeter maintains his feathery timbres, staying concise and concentrated, Lazro moves to split tones and lip vibrations. Sometimes the sounds move far beyond the expected. Arco bass lines and pronged internal piano string constraint on "In the Distance" are succeeded by what could be electro-acoustic oscillation and distortion mated with buzzing brass tones. As Fonda cushions everyone with arco bustles both high-pitched and lower, Lazro adds altissimo flutter tonguing. Finally the resolution appears in Stevens rubbing the internal piano strings with a light, cylindrical object as Robertson continues twittering short phrases on his own, as if he was a homeless person mumbling to himself. Improvisations also include variations on jazz's bedrock, with "Front and Center" a finger snapping blues piano showcase, complete with rolling drumbeats and walking bass. Andante, Stevens reveals his inner Red Garland and Fonda displays a bass line that would do Milt Hinton proud. Only at the very end does Lazro contribute dissonant split tones and irregular vibrated slurs and cries. If the CD has a weakness, it's that the final track founders on slow moving hard handed descending piano tones and a whiny, vibrated trumpet egress. Considering what went before the CD should end with a flourish not a whimper. Still one lapse can be forgiven. MYRA MELFORD'S THE TENT Reprinted with kind permission of the author. Copyright © 2006 Jazzword and Ken Waxman. All reviews written by Ken Waxman:
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October 29, 2004 by David Dupont for ONE FINAL NOTE I've always associated the Fonda/Stevens Group with sprawling spontaneous compositions that could veer from righteous free jazz squalling to ironic renderings of maudlin folk tunes. One of the most enjoyable concerts I saw last year was the quartet (Joe Fonda, bass, Michael Jefry Stevens, piano, Herb Robertson, trumpet and Harvey Sorgen, drums) at Edgefest in Ann Arbor, MI. I had my elder teenage son with me and, though no fan of free jazz, he was entranced by watching them fashion a symphony for four right before his eyes and ears. On Twelve Improvisations Daunik Lazro on alto and baritone saxophones joins that quartet for a series of impromptu etudes. The group's usual melodic predilections are most evident on "Electricity", where Stevens plays rhapsodic piano punctuated by jabs into the bass register. Sorgen's tom-tom tattoo urges the pianist to develop long, swirling runs. Robertson then adds a longing line against Lazro's strangled saxophone runs. Most of the improvisations' focus is the extended techniques that inform the group's usual work, though serving as just part of their musical arsenal. On "In the Distance", Fonda and Lazro's ventures into the upper register, paired with Stevens' ventures inside his piano, sound like electronic distortion. On "Dante's Inferno", Robertson and Lazro reach down to plumb the deepest parts of their horns. Not that the band forgets to swing: The piano trio track "Front and Center" swings easily and freely. Robertson develops an intense ballad statement over the first 7:30 of "Distant Voices", and the ensemble winds down the track with a loping medium ballad groove. Interestingly, Lazro has no part on "Front" and is a minimal presence on "Distant". He tends to drive the proceedings outward. "Bariphonics" has him all alone, at his most introspective with 1:45 over breathy, overblown baritone saxophone. This track gives a sample of the element he brings to the session that helps shape it into a fascinating addition to the Fonda/Stevens discography. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 ONE FINAL NOTE and David Dupont. All reviews written by David Dupont:
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June 2, 2004 by Glenn Astarita for All About Jazz Arguably one of the finest working units in modern jazz, this particular CD is somewhat notable due to the addition of top European improviser, saxophonist Daunik Lazro. The Fonda/Stevens Group is known for meshing structured compositions into an improvisational format. However, the mission here is solely based upon free-form explorations via a sequence of mini-motifs initiated upon the musicians' dialogues and loose methodologies. On this effort, the band merges dissonance with an energized line of thought. It's mainly about synergy and vast expressionism rolled into one concise little package. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All About Jazz and Glenn Astarita. All reviews written by Glenn Astarita:
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Riccardo Capobianchi for AllAboutJazz Italy Il Fonda/Stevens Group e' un collettivo di jazz d'avanguardia basato a New York, ed esiste ormai da 11 anni. Questo e' il loro settimo CD, ma il primo contenente solo musica completamente improvvisata. Il disco e' stato registrato in un'unica giornata dell'ottobre 2002 in Francia, il giorno prima di un concerto a Poitiers, e per l'occasione il gruppo, che di solito e' un quartetto, si e' trasformato in quintetto invitando il sassofonista francese Daunik Lazro. Oltre ai due titolari, rispettivamente al piano e al contrabbasso (Joe Fonda e' stato il contrabbassista di Anthony Braxton per svariati anni), ritroviamo la tromba di Herb Robertson, che ricordiamo con piacere a fianco di Tim Berne e negli ottimi Miniature, e Harvey Sorgen alla batteria. Il CD si apre con "Ostrich", forse il brano pi? free della seduta, e prosegue proponendo un caleidoscopio di atmosfere e sonorit?, confermando che anche quando le idee non mancano si puo' riuscire a catturare l'attenzione dell'appassionato. Da citare "Electricity", con la sordina Harmon di Robertson in bell'evidenza (la stessa usata da Miles per intenderci), "In the Distance", che crea un ambiente misterioso ed astratto dipinto dal contrabbasso di Fonda suonato con l'archetto e dalle dissonanti esplorazioni pianistiche di Stevens, ed ancora "Dante's Inferno", tutta basata su un rincorrersi di note bassissime scambiate tra baritono, piano e contrabbasso, e "Distant Voices", illuminata dalle linee melodiche di Robertson, prima lirico e via via sempre pi? incisivo, al quale fa seguito un bell'assolo di baritono di Lazro che nasce dagli accordi impressionistici di Stevens. Si fa anche notare "Front and Center", forse perche' e' l'unico brano basato su una ritmica stabile e quasi swingata, sulla quale si innesta il piano post-bop del co-titolare del gruppo. Un CD di buona fattura, non rivoluzionario o indispensabile ma nel quale la fantasia e l'affiatamento tra i partecipanti sono davvero palpabili, nonostante la non facile situazione di improvvisazione totale. Segnaliamo pero' che per poterlo apprezzare appieno e' necessario un ascolto veramente attento. Valutazione: * * ½ Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All About Jazz Italia and Riccardo Capobianchi. |
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Rui Eduardo Paes Por mais voltas que lhe queiram dar, a verdade é esta: o jazz é uma forma de música popular e urbana. Assim sendo, o que dizer do “jazz” que ouvimos neste título, em toda a subtil fulgurância do seu geometrismo abstracto? Sim, o que dizer de um disco apresentado como uma recolha de improvisações, único do Fonda/Stevens Group a prescindir totalmente de partituras, quando ouvimos um Herb Robertson ao trompete, totalmente distinto da verbosidade que é habitual em si, fazendo reiterações frásicas de acompanhamento que mais parecem temáticas enquanto Daunik Lazro sola? Como explicar os quase uníssonos, as súbitas, tácticas e simultâneas reduções ao silêncio para deixar um dos instrumentistas a desenvolver uma ideia, o espectralismo microtonal que vai aparecendo? E como conciliar o cerebralismo de certas construções (afinal, Fonda é um colaborador próximo de Anthony Braxton, é preciso que não o esqueçamos) com a visceralidade com que esses edifícios são cimentados, algo que não é muito usual? Poderemos responder só que se trata de belíssimos instrumentistas de jazz? Não chega - os pianismos de Michael Jefry Stevens vêm de outras paragens (Schoenberg? Stockhausen? Depressa ficamos confundidos, tal a bagagem que este músico evidencia), Joe Fonda é clássico quando pega no arco (pena que o faça poucas vezes) e até os burburismos de Robertson parecem vir directamente dos pigmeus do Centro de África. Mas eis que a faixa 7, «Front and Center», é piano jazz da mais arreigada tradição, perdida no tempo, com um saxofone alto a gemer como só Albert Ayler fazia. E depois a 8, «Call and Response», com Harvey Sorgen na bateria em altíssimo destaque, começa com algo de muito parecido com Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, para depois se dissipar em pinceladas free. Esta música pode ser popular e urbana, mas estudou os “eruditos” e os “primitivos” e confronta-os com o seu próprio vocabulário. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Rui Eduardo Paes. All reviews written by Rui Eduardo Paes:
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July 5, 2004 by Christian Carey for Splendid The Fonda/Stevens group, co-led by bassist Joe Fonda and pianist Michael Jefry Stevens, usually record in a quartet format, with drummer Harvey Sorgen and trumpeter Herb Robertson. This time, the addition of alto and baritone saxophonist Daunik Lazro makes for a rousing quintet date. Twelve Improvisations may be more "In" than some avant-jazz that Leo records, but it is still plenty challenging and filled with musical rewards. In just four minutes, "Ostrich" encapsulates both the lyrical and aggressive sides to the group's playing. An edgy opening, filled with questing free jazz colloquoy, is followed by a more ruminative slow section, rife with bent notes from both Lazro and Robertson and punctuated by Sorgen's heavy fills. "Electricity" features some truly inspired playing from Stevens, encompassing both intricate polytonal progressions and noise-based free play in the same piece without the juxtaposition proving curious. Robertson has a singular style too, often simmering edgily beneath the music's surface, only to leap violently into the foreground at strategic points in the piece. "In the Distance" features mysterious and supple arco playing from Fonda, who creates a whole range of extended technique-filled sounds. He is abetted by Stevens's ruminative treble solos, accumulating dissonances in a flurry of activity. "Talking Drum", predictably, is a showcase for Sorgen's multi-limbed polyrhythms; while he uses a drum set instead an actual talking drum, his playing remains most communicative, entering into a dialogue with a soaring, stentorian line from Robertson. Lazro is an exciting soloist. His playing on "Front and Center" covers the saxophone's entire range, from shrieking caterwauls to fleet arpeggiations. Robertson matches him squall for squall, while Sorgen engages in some soloist punctuations of his own. Stevens's playing remains ever-versatile, alternating between comping changes and fistfuls of chromatic clusters. Improvisations like this are born out of a special musical rapport between musicians who really listen and react well to each other. Whether in a quartet or quintet line-up, the Fonda/Stevens Group engage in a musical ESP that is wonderful to behold. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Splendid and Christian Carey. All reviews written by Christian Carey:
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Thom Jurek for All Music Guide Twelve Improvisations marks the seventh recording by bassist Joe Fonda and pianist Michael Jefry Stevens' quartet (with Herb Robertson on trumpet and drummer Harvey Sorgen), and their first fully improvised date. It also marks a new collaboration with French saxophonist Daunik Lazro sitting in for the session. These 12 pieces are full of sprightly ideas, quick communication, and the willingness, on the part of all players, to bend. Lazro and Robertson complement each other wonderfully. Both have bright, strident tones and while their individual phrasing styles are very different in terms of line and scale, they interweave beautifully. The pieces range from the short and explosive "Ostrich" which opens the set, to the more middle-length explorations of tone and color such as in "Distant Voices." But it is on "Electricity," with its smattered trumpet lines, running bass groove, gorgeously open and tempered chord voicings by Stevens, and shifting saxophone registers and polyrhythmic attack where the ensemble comes together as whole seamlessly, articulating the full flight of improvisation with shifting dynamics and tensions incorporated as they are being discovered. Recommended. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All Media Guide, LLC and Thom Jurek. All reviews written by Thom Jurek:
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2004 by Sabine Moig for JazzoSphère Créé en 1992, le Fonda/Stevens Group a connu une relative évolution tant au niveau des musiciens différents qui s'y sont succédé, que de la musique qui parvient à se renouveler et, tout en gardant à l'esprit l'exigence propre aux musiques créatives, à proposer des pistes encore inexplorées. Cette longévité du groupe tient sans aucun doute à la foi de Joe Fonda et de Michael Jefry Stevens ; leur énergie et leur volonté de laisser s'exprimer des musiques libérées des propos convenus et par trop faciles transparaissent à chacune de leurs prestations et sur les sept albums à l'actif de la formation. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 JazzoSphère and Sabine Moig. All reviews written by Sabine Moig:
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