| Discography of Joe Fonda | 2001 |
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Lineup
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All compositions by Joe Fonda & Gilbert Isbin
Recorded at the Tonesetters residence, Torhout, Belgium on March 16, 2001
Remix and mastering by Jean-Marc Foussat on May 12, 2001
Produced by Gilbert Isbin & Jos Demol
Executive producers: Jos Demol & Emile Clemens
Released 2003 by Jazz'halo [TS 016]
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CD Reviews
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Ron Bierman for Rambles Someone once asked Russian composer Prokofiev if there was a risk of running out of melodies. After all, we've been making them up for thousands of years and there are only 12 notes in the Western chromatic scale. He basically said that if you consider the number of different mathematical combinations and throw in note duration, there is no practical limitation, so not to worry. Bassist Joe Fonda and guitarist Gilbert Isbin have outstanding credentials in styles from pop to classical. Here they push the farthest edges of music providing support for Prokofiev's view with melodies and tonal effects never heard before. But they raise a new issue — is there a risk we'll run out of melodies anyone would want to listen to? This album will appeal to only a very limited audience and I'm not in it. I'll try to explain why. If it seems like heavy going, you're probably best off just skipping most of the rest of the review and all of the album. The music is nominally free jazz. One of the delights of modern jazz, free or otherwise, is the way influences are mixing to produce new sounds. The most obvious influences on Fonda and Isbin include traditional and free jazz, blues, flamenco and modern classical chamber music. I applaud the eclectic approach, but not the unattractive result. The musicians too often sound like they are playing at random, even though they aren't. There are lots of rhythmic and arrhythmic plinks and plunks. Lots of finger and hand-thumping of sound boxes. There are occasional recognizable melodies, though both bass and guitar are used primarily as rhythm rather than melodic instruments. There is vocalizing in the style of Charles Mingus when he was urging the troops on or just really feeling it. There's even at times the suggestion of a bizarre remake of Bob Crosby's "Big Noise From Winnetka." So far, so good. The whole point of free jazz is to break loose from traditional harmonic and rhythmic straightjackets so that your talent and feelings can take you to wilder places. There are potential problems in communicating with an audience, however. Emotional free-jazz musicians can get carried away and abuse listeners with overly lengthy solos concentrated on single emotions such as anger or aggression. Fonda and Isbin are too sophisticated for that. Sometimes the sounds are ugly, but more often the problem is clever abstraction. They seem like academics playing for each other rather than a general audience. There aren't even any album notes to help with what's going on. If you're not smart enough to know, they apparently don't care. Critics have often proven wrong in their judgements of new music, so it's tempting to avoid the possibility of looking like a fool by making innocuous statements about this sort of thing, such as "breaks new ground" or "hypnotic." I'll take the chance. The appropriate word is "painful." The musicians probably had fun making the album, but few listeners are likely to join in. Not recommended. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2003 Rambles and Ron Bierman. |
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Edward Kane for JazzReview There are many reasons why oysters are usually served on the half-shell. For one, presentation is a factor — they just look better garnished and arranged around a plate that way. Another consideration for the chef preparing them is how much work can and should he do for his patrons? Most restaurant goers don't want to go the trouble of cracking a whole oyster just to get at the little bit of meat inside, but they'll happily enjoy them if the process is made a little more inviting. Joe Fonda & Gilbert Isbin's Blisters is like a plate of raw, unprocessed oysters. There's some good meat to be found in the CD's thirteen tracks, but you have to go through a lot of dense material to get at it. The music here is almost completely deconstructed. Fonda's bass still retains elements of melody and rhythm, but Isbin's guitar is largely reduced to a percussion instrument for the first half of the album. Toward the conclusion of the disc, Isbin starts to play his instrument in a more recognizable manner — his playing on "Two Times" contains some nice traces of Flamenco, for example — but by that time you may have lost interest. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2004 JazzReview and Edward Kane. |
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October 20, 2003 by Jerry D'Souza for All About Jazz Joe Fonda and Gilbert Isbin, partners in time, create vivid imagery via the many manifestations of sound they take their instruments through, over, and across. What is more remarkable is that they do it with an astute aesthetic: there is no howl or cry in their music. What they have is rhythm, a pulse and a kinetic energy that constantly bristles. The compositions are credited to Fonda and Isbin, but the heartbeat lies in the improvisation that gives the music its depth and character. It has a spontaneity that rises and endears. One never knows where the two are headed. In this lies both the delight and the lure. And it does not matter whether they are on an exuberant roll or are locked in quiet communication. One of the characteristics of this album is that Fonda plays the melodies while Isbin, for the most part, thunks the body of the guitar, rustles the strings and slaps and slides, but adds enough dynamics to make the tunes vibrant. The first song, describing a cycle of varied time, opens on the funky beat of the bass before Isbin comes in to do his dance on the guitar and help shape the ebb and tide of structure. Fonda's arco, always a strong element that shows droves of imagination, gets a particularly virile workout on "The House of J," the roiling intensity fuelling chunky chord work from Isbin. The bowing that ushers in "Fonda" is mellow, a molten warmth essaying its presence and shimmering in a chamber music-like feel. The artists constantly tweak the sonic palette, the shades of sound and metre making for an elevating experience. Free music and unabashed rhythm drive the blues away. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All About Jazz and Jerry D'Souza. All reviews written by Jerry D'Souza:
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Dick Metcalf a.k.a. Rotcod Zzaj for Improvijazzation Nation Issue # 64 As soon as you hear Gilbert's guitar(s), you'll know where th' CD title came from... lightning-fast, high-energy picking, & Fonda's double-bass drives the pace to th' kind of frenzy that only raw talent can accommodate. The duo keep up a running background scat on quite a few of the pieces, though you have to listen pretty closely to hear their chanting. Fans of players like Ernesto Diaz-Infante will relate to this style immediately! Rather than epic compositions, most of the pieces are quite short (under 5 minutes, except for one), so it (actually) makes for a wonderful listen. Gilbert is from Belgium, Joe from the U.S., but they're definitely soul-mates with a clear understanding of the directions their music is traveling towards... subtle oblivion & energetic excellence. If you're looking for full-blown orchestral, or "pop" jazz, you'll hit "eject" right away... but if you love strings that vibrate & move the strings of your heart, you will have to have "Blisters". The keyword here is subtle... but, nothing is obscured, the recording has captured ev'ry moment, with no need to screech/whistle/pop to cover anything over. I enjoyed this greatly, & listened to it (at least) 5 times through before I felt I had "absorbed" (a part of) their vision. This gets a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fans of string-based improvisation. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Zzaj Productions and Dick Metcalf. All reviews written by Dick Metcalf:
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Glenn Astarita for All Music Guide Knowing the track record of bassist Joe Fonda (United States) and guitarist Gilbert Isbin (Belgium), it should come as no surprise that these modernists would turn in a creative duo session. Isbin's acoustic guitar discography features reconstructions of rocker Nick Drake's compositions amid avant/folk-based recordings and much more; Fonda co-leads the Fonda-Stevens jazz group, amid his affiliations with world music artists and his first-call session status for an assortment of modern jazz-based endeavors. On this outing, they stretch the sounds and capabilities of their acoustic instruments to the hilt. An extremely rhythmic endeavor, the musicians tap their axes, de-tune strings, and collaborate for a sequence of twisted themes. The listener will be treated to an assortment of countermelodies and free-form excursions on pieces such as "This Longing," "Check Please," and the remaining 11 works. Here, rules are meant to be broken, as the artists' carefree and sometimes humorous approach might be akin to the inventiveness of toddlers attempting to re-engineer their toys. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All Media Guide, LLC and Glenn Astarita. All reviews written by Glenn Astarita:
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2004 by Sabine Moig for JazzoSphère Le prolifique label Jazz'halo nous présente la rencontre de deux musiciens obsédés par les recherches et les explorations acoustiques les plus inventives et suggestives : Joe Fonda et Gilbert Isbin. Le contrebassiste et le guitariste s'adonnent à des tentatives sonores qui questionnent des facettes aux consonances plurielles et aux mélanges goûteux. Loin des standards éprouvés et éprouvants, la musique se livre à une aventure humaine qui semble nous plonger dans des territoires inconnus, lointains et captivants. L'auditeur se sent comme happé par ces sonorités à partir desquelles les musiciens parviennent à inventer des ailleurs pleins de promesses. Un moment très précieux. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 JazzoSphère and Sabine Moig. All reviews written by Sabine Moig:
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Guillaume Belhomme for Jazz Hot Magazine Sideman accompli de Bill Dixon, Anthony Braxton ou Archie Shepp, le contrebassiste Joe Fonda est aussi l'auteur d'œuvres singulières plus personnelles. Blisters, par exemple, exposé d'improvisations libres du duo qu'il forma en 2001 avec le guitariste Gilbert Isbin. Multipliant sans cesse les approches possibles de leur instrument, les musiciens mêlent le hard-piking haletant à quelques réminiscences de free - cordes tirées ou arrachées, arpèges sous tension d'Isbin, nappes dissonantes de l'archet ou incantations vocales de Fonda. Pour faire court, un jazz expérimental inspiré, et un disque incontournable de la musique improvisée à deux. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Jazz Hot Magazine and Guillaume Belhomme. All reviews written by Guillaume Belhomme: |
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