- Billy Bang - violin
- Joe Fonda - double bass
- Barry Altschul - drums
- FAB
- For Frank Lowe
- B.B
- Tune For Barry
- For Don Cherry
- Song For My Mother (Joe Fonda)
| Discography of Joe Fonda | 2004 |
|
Lineup
|
Recorded by Ron Cote at Iron Works, Vancouver, BC in April 2004.
Released 2005 by Konnex Records [KCD 5158]
Special Thanks to Coastal jazz and blues society
and Ken Pickering for bringing us to Vancouver
| This CD can be ordered at the → Online Shop |
|
Liner Notes by Josef Kaempf [→ CD Reviews] |
|
When I was listening to the first CD of the FAB Trio "Transforming the Space", I was deeply touched with something unexpected, and it even affected me physically, getting a "chicken skin". FAB's music is to me like listening to stories, told by elders, who are looking back to a rich past, musically and personally. Stories what remind of the ups and downs in life, giving us moments of comfort and discomfort, quietness and anxiety, harmony and sadness and, shifting us from melancholy to ecstasy suddenly. FAB's stories are told by Billy Bang on violin, caressing, distorting or picking the strings, Joe Fonda on double bass, groovy, swinging, "groaning" along and Barry Altschul performing his large variety of precise and sensitive drumming. The abundance of FAB's mainly improvised music fades from beautifully simple melodies to complex free phrases with an obvious ease. This is only possible due to the completeness of musicians with their extraordinary personality and outstanding capacity of delightful and almost vicious interaction. Their musical and personal backgrounds lets them play this creative, soulful and joyful jazz; jazz beyond mainstream, jazz as exciting as it can be. This new CD, recorded live at the "Iron Works" in Vancouver, Canada, is a further surprising step of this exceptional project. Relax, listen carefully to this music, if possible loud, listen twice, three times, share and enjoy the wizard's new stories. This FAB record won't be the last one, there is still much more to be told. Josef Kaempf, August 2005 |
CD Reviews
|
|
By Nic Jones for All About Jazz There aren't too many violin/bass/drums trios out there, and while the live setting might not be the ideal format in which to capture the music of this particular threesome, there's enough here to provoke the hope that this isn't just a one-off venture. The moments when the trio thinks as one, notably after Altschul's four-minute solo introduction on "Tune For Barry," are countered in the negative sense by the music's longueurs, where at least one of the participants gives the impression of waiting for inspiration to strike while the other two accompany him until it does. This is arguably a problem inherent in the making of live recordings, even though there is much here to lend substance to the notion that the trio is the ideally sized unit for this semi-free idiom. The fact that Billy Bang's violin will always have roots in a tradition that goes way beyond his musical preferences lends the music a rarefied air, as on "FAB," where the trio displays a cohesiveness that works against the idea that this was a pickup group. Both Fonda and Altschul also have pedigrees not lacking in depth, and as a section they serve notice of the fact that they are a rhythmic cartel of the first order. This is arguably best exemplified by Fonda's "Song For My Mother," where, after a lengthy solo introduction by the composer, they show an extraordinary aptitude for rhythmic nuance, the likes of which simply isn't acquired overnight. On the trio composition "For Frank Lowe," however, the ear yearns for the presence of that underrated musician's tenor sax as a means for projecting greater tonal colour, if nothing else. The piece might almost serve as a springboard for group improvisation, as opposed to the theme-solos-theme routine, and though the rendition here is obviously heartfelt, I hope that this will not be the only time it makes it to record. All in all, the division is roughly sixty-forty in favour of the music transcending the contention that you had to be there to get the most out of this group's efforts, which makes the thought that this might be the only time they record live together even more frustrating than usual. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All About Jazz and Nic Jones. |
|
May 15, 2006 by Daniel Spicer for One Final Note Take three jazz heavyweights — downtown violinist and veteran loft musician Billy Bang, erstwhile Anthony Braxton bassist Joe Fonda, and ex-Circle drum legend Barry Altschul — put them on stage in front of a loudly enthusiastic audience and leave them to have a good time. This infectiously joyous album is what you get. For the most part, the music here is spontaneous free jazz, but it fairly bursts with an irrepressible sense of swing. The three musicians seem unable to resist falling into a deep groove whenever the possibility presents itself — and it frequently does: the music is crammed with memorable moments of coalescence. Take, for example, the way Bang and Fonda come together with a bluesy grind to introduce Altchul's "fours" in the swinging opener, "FAB"; or how the soaring free jazz of "For Frank Lowe" transforms into a hulking brute as Fonda introduces a stomping riff, before changing again into a kind of military strut as Altshcul marches it home; or how a few pizzicato chords from Bang drive "Tune For Barry" into a genuinely funky break. Bang is in scorching form throughout, with plenty of frantic, Michel Sampson-esque sawing and crazed, neck-climbing avant-gardism — often quite audibly spurred on to increasingly fevered heights of intensity by the shouts and cheers of the audience — as well as more lyrical playing as on the unaccompanied introduction to "B.B", where an imperious pseudo-classicism gives way to a bluesy swagger. He also provides the album's most conventionally catchy number, "For Don Cherry", with its lilting, pizzicato Fourth-World melody. Much of the music's irresistible bounce is due to Altschul's deeply swinging approach to free improvisation — a seeming contradiction that helped characterize the sound of the early 70s recordings of free jazz supergroup Circle. Here, his relentless sense of pulse is given a certain heft by Fonda's chunky contributions. The only misstep on the album is the closer, Fonda's rambling "Song for My Mother", which never quite seems to get going, and is little more than a 15-minute noodling bass solo without any of the intensity that we might expect from contemporaries like William Parker. Still, the CD is a highly enjoyable document of three world-class improvisers at the top of their game. And did I mention that it swings like hell? Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 One Final Note and Daniel Spicer. All reviews written by Daniel Spicer:
|
|
July 15, 2006 by Kurt Gottschalk for All About Jazz Conference Call Fab Trio Although the Fonda-Stevens group is a strong band, bassist Joe Fonda is best known as a sideman. His first recording was with Wadada Leo Smith in 1983 and he spent much of the '90s working with Anthony Braxton. Fonda has also played in groups led by Walter Thompson, Kevin Norton and others. On two recent releases, both albeit by collective ensembles, he shows the two sides of being a sideman. Fonda has been a member of Conference Call - with saxophonist Gebhard Ullmann and pianist Michael Jefry Stevens - since the group's 2002 debut Final Answer (Soul Note). With the band's range of tones, he and a variety of drummers (Gerry Hemingway now fills the seat previously occupied by Matt Wilson and Han Bennink) are called upon to support driving, rhythmic tunes and slow, moody passages, often in the same piece. Across five tracks he does so with a mix of strength and deference, never pushing but always matching. On Stevens' "Circle Dance", he picks up a phrase from Ullmann and carries it as the horn slips into a short blues, then sidesteps slightly when Hemingway begins suggesting a soft rhythm on cymbals. It's the kind of subtlety that makes a band like Conference Call work. The trio with Billy Bang and Barry Altschul (FAB Trio) is an altogether different affair. Bang's violin is almost impossibly bright and Altschul pushes harder than Hemingway. Fonda rises to the challenge by making the band something of a string duo with drums. His big bull viol darts quickly around the violin, with Altschul seeming to revel in the pointillist rhythms. The group shares writing credits on four of the six songs and repeat Fonda's "Song for My Mother" from their 2003 debut [Transforming the Space] on CIMP. Violins are as formidable sparring partners as saxophones and it's sometimes hard to aim your ears at the rest of the band. But in both cases and with two exceptional groups, Fonda finds his way through. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All About Jazz and Kurt Gottschalk. All reviews written by Kurt Gottschalk: |
|
Bruce Lee Gallanter for Downtown Music Gallery This is the second disc by this FAB-ulous veteran trio, the first was on CIMP [Transforming the Space]. FAB features Billy Bang on violin, Joe Fonda on contrabass and Barry Altschul on drums. This wonderful trio also played at The Victo Fest that same year and I recall that set quite well, since it was so magical. This is mainly an acoustic trio with a fine, organic sound. There is no leader here, just three strong musicians, playing together as one superb unit. This music, this trio has a most joyous vibe. As the bass and drums play that hypnotic groove, Mr. Bang dances and gives voice to his violin, embracing the melody as he turns notes inside-out. "For Frank Lowe" is a touching lament to Billy's late cohort, sax great Frank Lowe. All three musicians play with a delicate, melancholy restraint, swirling softly around one another as they float together like ghosts, building into a trance-like state. "B.B." features one of those amazing Billy Bang unaccompanied violin solos, when it begins, but soon erupts as the trio take off sailing to the stars on the rambunctious magic carpet. Too much! "Tune for Barry" features a fine, solo drums interlude from Mr. Altschul, as well as another infectious groove-fest, a quote from "Take the A Train", an incredible plucked solo from Joe Fonda and the unstoppable Mr. Bang exploding on violin. Billy Bang's "For Don Cherry" includes one of the lovely, folky melodies that Don Cherry dug so much. Billy plays the piece pizzicato, sounding somewhat a kora or a dousongooni, an African instrument that Mr. Cherry loved to play. This great gig ends with Joe's "Song for My Mother", which starts with Joe's sublime solo bass bowing and strange string twangs, eventually turning into a laid back, poignant piece. It is a perfect prayer-like song to bring this excellent endeavor to fine finish. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Downtown Music Gallery and Bruce Lee Gallanter. All reviews written by Bruce Lee Gallanter:
|
|
November 7, 2006 by Ken Waxman for Jazzword Thomas, Storrs and Sarpolas FAB (Fonda/Altschul/Bang) Filled with flowing fancy fiddling, these West-Coast recorded CDs showcase the initial and most recent violinist from the long-running String Trio of New York. They offer much more than that, of course and despite a similarity in personnel, the discs couldn't be more different. An Eugene, Ore.-native on visit to Corvallis, Ore., violinist Rob Thomas slides through a set of spontaneous compositions in the company of local drummer — and label owner — Dave Storrs, plus other New York visitors, fellow Pacific Northwest expat, bassist Dick Sarpola and his son, percussionist George Sarpola. Thus the TS&S name. Backyard snapshots in the booklet testify to the informality of the session: everyone is wearing shorts and sandals and a nearby table is heaped with chips, dips and soft drinks. On the other hand, Thomas' long-ago antecedent, Billy Bang, works over six compositions and improvisations with the other members of the jocularly and alphabetically designated FAB trio, in a Vancouver, B.C. concert. Besides B, or Bang, F is Joe Fonda, who has performed with players as varied as pianist Michael Jefrey Stephens and Chinese guzheng player Xu Fengxia; while A is legendary drummer Barry Altschul, who backed Anthony Braxton long before percussionist Sarpola's birth. Along with Leroy Jenkins, Free Jazz's pre-eminent violinist, Bang's list of collaborators ranges from the late Memphis saxophonist Frank Lowe — honored on the second tune here — to Chicago percussionist Kahil El'Zabar and New York bassist William Parker. Less high profile, Thomas, associate professor of Strings at Boston's Berklee College, is also a member of drummer Greg Bendian's Mahavishnu Orchestra, and has worked with The Jazz Passengers and The Soldier String Quartet. Relaxing into the homey vibe, his playing on Time Share is noteworthy, but all-and-all there's a certainly sameness to the five tracks. Storrs lays down a strong beat as does the bassist, but the ratcheting percussion from Sarpola Junior often sounds vestigial, while overall it's often hard to distinguish the improvisations on one track from those on the next. Featuring one original each from Bang and Fonda, plus four group compositions, the skills and techniques of the veteran players on Live however, not only demarcate tunes that reflect FAB's identity, but also present them with a variety of musical strategies. For instance the nearly 14-minute "Tune for Barry", features the drummer's terpsichorean exposition of extended nerve beats, press roll, flams, paradiddles and ruffs, expressed with cross sticking and counter-crosswise rhythms. Yet this percussion extravaganza merely sets up sprawling, sharp screeches from Bang's violin, that quote "Take the A Train" in a flurry of flying triple stopping, as Fonda slaps his strings as accompaniment. Continuing to outline the ostinato, the bassist's pulses underline the fiddler's work, which tapped and plucked with either hand moves from claw-hammer-like banjo strokes to flanging vibrations More low-key, "For Frank Lowe" is built up from a basso bottom and cymbal quivers to chromatic bull fiddle strums, serpentine sul ponticello lines from Bang and break beats from Altschul. Exhausting in the fashioning of unique oscillating lines in honor of his former combo-partner, Bang eventually picks up the tempo along with the number of strings he vibrates. Meanwhile Fonda walks powerfully and the drummer colors the proceedings. While almost turning around the beat with rim shots and shattering cymbal feints, he martially gooses the rhythm by the composition's finale. Often working in tandem with the bassist, Bang not only holds up his part in polyphonic exchanges, but also melds his tremolo movements so the ricocheting pumps and patterns take on koto-like echoes as well as the more common guitar and banjo suggestions. Climax is achieved on "Song For My Mother", the Fonda-penned, nearly 16-minute final track. An intermezzo of deep bass notes and slap rhythms, the composition finds the bassist working his way on the strings from the tuning pegs to below the bridge as Altschul bounds and bounces and Bang exposes erhu-like textures for theme variations. In near-hoedown mode, Bang's playing is tonic, legato and dance-like, with Fonda shadowing his every time shift. Accentuating watery undulating lines as he concludes his solo, Bang allows the drummer's low-key irregular beats and the bassist's fading single strokes to make the final comments. Featuring song titles even further out than FAB's, you get the feeling that TS&S' free-form antics resulted in track naming after the fact. As accomplished in instrument manipulation as FAB, the veteran trio's polyrhythm and contrapuntal interaction keeps the five tunes from dragging, while tyro Sarpola judiciously adds sonic colors from what sound like lightly smacked bongo drums, rattled maracas and undifferentiated drum heads. The most accommodating of pals, the bassist and drummer are similarly unobtrusive. Keeping the rhythmic emphasis going with pumping bass pulses and clattering pops and chops from the drum set, they allow Thomas to be the cynosure, while subtly guiding him away from exhibitionism. On his own, the violinist adapts multiphonic sideswipes and carefully focused legit phrasing with the same ease. Frequently double-stopping, as on the title tune, he alternates breakneck pizzicato strumming with gypsy-fiddle-like spiccato at such blinding speeds that you often don't realize he's shifted from fingers to bow and vice-versa until that motion has already concluded. Allegro is a favored pace and agitato a preferred performance directive. Throughout, whether Thomas shuffle bows, triple stops or saws staccato-like, Storrs plus Sarpola and son are there with the proper blunt rhythm or cascading vibration to frame his bravura patterning. Teamwork even allows for the subtle mitosis of the three dividing the beat into its component parts without altering the size and shape of the tune. However as educational as it must have been to expose the younger Sarpola to profound free-form improv, and as much fun as it allowed the older musicians to renew their association in a smaller forum than Storrs' Tone Sharks band, discipline is lacking. With every track a showpiece — especially for Thomas' impressive technique — the ebb and flow goes missing. Storrs describes it this way: "We talked about a session for a few years … And finally …we went out to the studio and played for a few hours." Spectacular in some of the cooperation and soloing, a better strategy would have involved more shape and focus like FAB's CD. Track Listing: Time: 1. It's Not Always Pretty 2. Clay Hippopotamus 3. Time Share 4. Tut Tut Tudala 5. Helping Hand Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Jazzword and Ken Waxman. All reviews written by Ken Waxman:
|
| © Joe Fonda | maintained by hepcat1950 | TOP | Back to discography | last update: February 21, 2008 |
|---|