| Discography of Joe Fonda | 1996 |
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Lineup
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Recorded March 9, 1996 at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY
Produced by Joe Fonda
Released 1996 by Konnex Records [KCD 5075]
| This CD can be ordered at the → Online Shop |
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Notes [→ CD Reviews] |
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Joe Fonda This session was multi-dimensional for me and I'm still thinking about it, and feeling its effects and influences. During the session we bridged the gap that exists between the dance world and the music world by making dancer (Brenda Bufalino) an equal part of our ensemble. She was incorporated into the collective group for her sounds, her rhythms, her tones, her time and her music — not for her visual presence which historically has so often been the reason for bringing musicians and dancers together. Here we come together as equals. No one is, per se, the accompanist for someone else, or some small 20-minute addition to the show in order to bring about some variety to the program. My hope for the future is that we'll hear and see more of this way of thinking and collaborating. We all win when we do and we lose when we don't. Another thing that was bridged during this session was the connection between the healing arts and the performing arts. The music of Vickie Dodd, up to this point of time, has primarily been focused in the healing arts. She has been a body worker for the last 15 years. I had visited Vickie Dodd a year or so ago, prior to this session because I heard of her work and my body was hurting. I was in need of some body work. The work she did on me that day was incredible, but the music that came from this woman's voice while she was working on me, was like nothing I had ever heard before. It was so cosmic, so powerful that I never forgot it. I knew that there would be a time and a place for us to come together to do as Vickie calls it, "Sound ourselves and everything else." The healing arts and the performing arts belong together as they were in the past, when they are joined together you truly have a tool that can be used for transformation. Again my hope for the future is that we will see the return of this relationship between the healing arts and the performing arts. Another thing I'd like to say about this session that was very moving for me, and I believe for everyone else involved, even if they don't know it yet, is the fact that we had both men and women come together to create this music. So often it's been the boys with the boys and the girls with the girls. It's so clear to me and self-evident when I listen to this music and there's both male and female reality in it, and the music had a special richness because of it. This is yet another gap we've bridged during this session, and again my hope for the future is we'll see a whole lot more of this because we desperately need it. I would like to mention that working with Anthony Braxton has been an inspirational experience for me. Words barely describe the depth of this man and his work. His music is incredible, full of life and forward motion, and the purpose and intent of his work is even greater. I feel very fortunate to have his contribution on this recording. |
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Brenda Bufalino I can't say I was completely convinced when Joe first sent me the music. He had a very definite concept about how to use my taps in his scores. The process demanded all of my skill and attention, reading the chart while figuring out an interesting manipulation, changing my weight at just the right moment, or missing the top of the next phrase, left me quite frustrated. Yet after each of our three rehearsals, I was exhilarated and very moved that Joe was integrating my taps into the music with the same consideration and integrity as all the other instruments. A perfect collaboration, what is that? When a conductor/Composer brings together kindred souls, unique voices so often spinning alone in the far reaches of the galaxy, pulled together by the magnetism of the music and each other's improvisations, like planets coming together for a single night, for a single dance in the firmament. Attention riveted on the notes to be played, how to play them, how to feel them, listening, responding ... That's jazz. Working on this project reminded me of all that I love about jazz and the discipline whose reward is freedom. I'm so glad there's a recording of that day, that I will return with others to those eight hours of riveted attention and spontaneous creativity. Women Be Warriors |
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Anthony Braxton There is more to creative mastership than 'the surface of satisfaction and political certainty.' The music of Joe Fonda is part of a living tradition of belief and dedication. Future historians will be surprised at the breadth of Mr. Fonda's offerings. This is a real virtuoso and composer of the highest order. |
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Grisha Alexiev For the memory of a melody which followed you home, |
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Herb Robertson Joe Fonda's session was a special day for me. Anthony and I finally had a chance to play together in a small band context instead of the usual large ensemble. Joe and I go back many years and we love to bust each other. I always have a gas of belly laughs with him. He's heavy! Everyone involved with this project gave their full creative juices and I was elated. Thank you all. |
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Vickie Dodd Music and Sound used as an evolutionary tool is music of the present to create a future for memory, a future for possibility. Evolutionary music is not used to cultivate memory so as to repeat the past, but to gather enough memory, enough self un-hook the past. Closed systems, fixed systems, maintenance systems, that we are all very familiar with, maintain the status quo: The Past... But, it does mean that you nearly always know where it's heading, and how much time you have, and essentially keeps you in a terrain that is familiar, nearly always you're in a place you know. But, to take the risk of not-knowing, to take the risk of becoming present, conscious, is to dwell in new terrain. It is to listen for the possibility of evolution: and to Sound and Play with the intention and invitation to unravel that which is numb, to awaken that which is asleep, to bring memory to the amnesia, to embrace not-knowing-what-we-do-not-know ... with the knowingness that our lives depend on such action. Here lies the freedom for the possibility of awakening. Being in the presence of such brilliance and vision of each of these musicians as an opportunity to be held in this threshold, and to explore this evolutionary laboratory. I started Sounding to stay alive. |
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CD Reviews
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By John Murph for JazzTimes On From The Source, bassist Joe Fonda has constructed an elaborate multi-disciplinary program that meshes tap dance, otherworldly vocals acrobats, esoteric poetry, and freedom swing. Complemented by reed master, Anthony Braxton, tap dancer, Brenda Bufalino, body healer/vocalist, Vickie Dodd, trumpeter Herb Robertson, and percussionist Grisha Alexiev, Fonda's ambitious efforts are successfully realized by Fonda's spacious, melodically rich compositions and the ensemble's amazing empathy. The hypnotic "High Tech #1," which Braxton's haunting flute, and Bufalino's twinkling taps glide gently above Fonda's infectious ostinato figure affords the easiest listening experience. For header, sonic explorations, "An Internal Look" is this program's taster's choice. Intriguing, soothing, and invigorating, Fonda's From The Source is one of the most hauntingly beautiful arguments for free jazz to come along in a long while. Source: CD Reviews section from the December 1997 issue of JazzTimes |
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Ed Hazell for Boston Phoenix Bassist Joe Fonda proves his versatility as a composer and accompanist on this unique date. With tap dancer Brenda Buffalino and throat singer-vocalist Vicki Dodd in a sextet featuring Anthony Braxton and trumpeter Herb Robertson, the ensemble sound is unlike any you've ever heard. Yet the quality of the compositions and the performances make this disc more than just an oddity; Fonda is a serious seeker of new musical horizons, and he's clearly thought about ways to deploy his musicians and work to their strengths. "Something About the Past" drifts slowly through contrasting tone colors from Braxton's many reeds, the short, dry clicks of the taps, Robertson's kaleidoscopic use of mutes, and a wide variety of vocals sounds. For more variety, there's the medium groove of "High Tech #1," which features some sensitive group improvisation and a flute solo accompanied by voice and tap. Fonda's feature on "My Song" highlights his rich tone, clear articulation, and lyrical imagination. Fonda's liner notes speak of his utopian social agenda in bringing together men and women as equals in an ensemble that also integrates dance and the healing arts (vocalist Dodd is a body therapist). Certainly all the elements on this date — musical and otherwise — work together for an album of uncommon warmth and intelligence. Issued in the CD Reviews of Boston Phoenix, September 21, 1998 |
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Bruce Lee Gallanter for Downtown Music Gallery A long lost studio gem from one of our favorite bassists - the ever inspired and hard working - Joe Fonda. What is truly amazing here is how well everyone involved works together and is an equal part of the entire seamless journey - the singing, narration and tap dancing are especially well chosen. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Downtown Music Gallery and Bruce Lee Gallanter. All reviews written by Bruce Lee Gallanter:
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Jesús Moreno for Tomajazz El contrabajista americano Joe Fonda es un músico ciertamente polifacético. Lo mismo lo encuentras con los Sweet Daddy Cool Breeze haciendo blues cañero, que coliderando un grupo junto al pianista Jefry Stevens o en los más variopintos saraos del genial Anthony Braxton. Y lo cierto es que se mueve en todos los contextos con gran soltura y sobre todo con total honestidad. Para él, el tipo de música no es lo realmente importante. Lo importante es la actitud. En estas mismas páginas se puede encontrar la reseña de un disco aparecido tan sólo hace unos meses y en el que comparte protagonismo con el pianista italiano Carlo Morena. Ese "What We're Hearing" poco tiene que ver con este "From The Source". O quizá sí. Como estilo no tienen nada que ver, cierto, pero comparten la misma actitud de respeto y conocimiento de la tradición. Encasillable en los amplios terrenos de "las vanguardias", este trabajo de Fonda (cuya fotografía de portada pertenece al zaragozano Antonio Angel), al igual que los que firma junto a Jefry Stevens, bebe de las fuentes de la tradición y con ellas (el tap dance básicamente, en este caso) como inspiración apuesta por la creatividad. Buenas composiciones y una gran prestación de conjunto. En una banda en la que brilla con luz propia Braxton, que se dé imagen de homogeneidad es todo un acierto. A destacar en los papeles solistas, amén de Braxton, al líder y al trompetista Herb Robertson, músico prácticamente desconocido en España, con el que suele contar Fonda y que a su nombre tiene un interesante trabajo en CIMP "Sound Implosion" además de colaborar en el cuarteto electroacústico de Paul Lytton "The balance of Trade" para el mismo sello... A buscar y disfrutar. Una joya. Rating: 5 stars Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Tomajazz and Jesús Moreno. All reviews written by Jesús Moreno:
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Pawel Baranowski for Muzyka Joe Fonda zdecydowanie bardziej znany jest jako "basista od Braxtona" niz twórca autorskich plyt. A przeciez wydal ich w swojej karierze kilka. Pomimo wielu plyt i koncertów jakie razem zagrali Fonda z Braxtonem, pomimo udzialu w projektach basisty Anthony'ego Braxtona, w muzyce Fondy nie slychac jego wplywów - jest to wlasna wypowiedz basisty. Niekiedy latwiejsza, niekiedy trudniejsza w odbiorze ale zawsze nietuzinkowa. Z muzyka taka mamy do czynienia takze na omawianym albumie. Juz sam sklad jest nietypowy. Pomine udzial Braxtona, który jawi sie jako stylowy saksofonista, ale uzycie stepu jako pelnoprawnego partnera innych instrumentów zdarza sie niezwykle rzadko. Nadto jeszcze glos - wlasnie nie spiew (pomimo tego vocals), a glos. Taki sklad, organizacja dzwieku, powoduje, ze calosc sprawia wrazenie performance, gdzie glówna postacia jest tancerz - wokalista. A muzyka? Cóz, nie jest latwa. Wymaga skupienia. Wymaga zasmakowania w tych dzwiekach, a w zasadzie w tych zestawieniach dzwieków, które proponuje Fonda. Mamy tu bowiem z klasycznym przykladem spotkania sie z nie znanym uprzednio zestawieniem dzwieków. Kontekst ich podania jest znacznie bowiem rózny od naszych doswiadczen, ale przeciez wlasnie to czyni te muzyke ciekawsza. Zaden z grajacych na plycie muzyków nie traktuje swego instrumentu w zwykly sposób. Ów spiew (?!) to albo melodeklamacja, albo gardlowe pokrzykiwania. Perkusja odzywa sie kiedy chce i jak chce - trudno byloby to nazwac podkladem rytmicznym. Ten jest (chyba ?) realizowany przez step. Trabka i instrumentarium Braxtona zajmuja sie jedynie ksztaltowaniem barwy, a nie melodii. Melodia? - a co to jest? No i zostaje Fonda. Ten jest wkomponowany w tygiel pozostalych muzyków doskonale. Prózno w jego grze szukac elementów rytmicznych. Calosc sprawa wrazenie jakby podstawowym, by nie rzec jedynym celem, jaki postawili przed soba muzycy, to ksztaltowanie barwy. Taaak. Ale to byl pierwszy dopiero utwór. Potem nieco sie zmienia. Przynajmniej zaczyna byc widoczny kontekst rytmiczny. Deciaki i glos dalej sluza jedynie ksztaltowaniu barwy a nie melodii. Slad jej jest podawany jednoczesnie z rytmem przez bas. Ale to byl dopiero utwór drugi. Utwór trzeci przypomina w konstrukcji pierwszy, ale tak, jakby zmieszany z drugim, tzn. do barw dotychczas znanych dolaczony jest rytm znany z utworu drugiego. Poczatkowo takze deciaki sluza w jego armii, stad tez znane z big bandów ich wejscia, krótkimi urywanymi atakami, by zaznaczyc jedynie akcenty. Pojawia sie tez normalna jazzowa improwizacja, wpierw trabki Robertsona potem altu Braxtona (czy ktos mówil, ze Braxton nie gra jazzu???). Na koniec jeszcze solo Fondy. Moja Piesn jest rzeczywiscie Jego. Rozpoczyna ja dlugie, pieciominutowe solo Fondy, a potem pojawia sie step oraz deciaki. W tle instrumenty perkusyjne. Jeszcze glos traktowany tak jak do tej pory, tzn. bez slów (za wyjatkiem pierwszego utworu i zawartej w nim deklamacji wiersza Brendy Bufalino). W utworze piatym wpisujemy sie w tendencje znane z pierwszego. Barwa über alles. Ma jednoczesnie ten utwór najbardziej swobodna forme ze wszystkich dotychczasowych. I plyta sie konczy. Piosenka. Zagrana w duecie: Buffalino (glos i stepowanie) i Fonda (bas). Jaka to plyta? Dla milosników poszukujacych nowych dzwieków, nowych koncepcji, choc daleko w niej do laczenia hard core z free jazzem, ekstremalnych koncepcji free i tym podobnych "wynalazków". Milego sluchania. Copyright © 2006 Muzyka and Pawel Baranowski. |
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