| Discography of Joe Fonda | 2003 |
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Lineup
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Glenn Astarita rated Transforming the Space #7
among his 10 favorite albums of the year 2003 for bestofneworleans.com
Recorded in NY, Feb 17-18, 2003
Released by Creative Improvised Music Projects [CIMP 284]
4 stars by Glenn Astarita in a review for Down Beat
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Liner Notes by Robert D. Rusch - February 18, 2003 [ → CD Reviews ] This session was originally scheduled to start on February 17. The plan was for the group to drive over the day after a gig in Rochester, NY. Unfortunately, automotive problems stranded Billy and Barry in Albany, NY, and by the time they finally arrived in Rochester all opportunities for rehearsal and gig were lost. They all got some sleep and arrived in Rossie in the late afternoon of the 17th and spent the entire evening rehearsing the music before getting some sleep in preparation for an early morning start, giving them, in Barry's words, "an opportunity to sleep with the music in (our) heads." A good night's rest (Bang said he thought he was in the North Pole) accomplished, the group was anxious to get to work and, indeed, sound checks were underway before 9 a.m. When I asked Joe if he had slept well, he respondedwith typical Fonda exuberance, "Yeah, but when I get excited about the music, it's hard to sleep. I know something's up and I know it's good to be alive." This was a group in good spirits. Barry clearly enjoys his renewed involvement in the random challenge of the music, and Billy, invigorated by the acclaim and attention his Vietnam recording (JustinTime Records, through whose courtesy he appears) received and by his quest to pay greater attention to his health, seemed at the top of his game. The session opened with Billy's Softness..., which I felt began a bit cold. I was set togo for another take after the first one ran its course, but within moments the magic of the personal creative involvement took hold and, by the end, whatever indifference I had felt in the beginning was unimportant. Once again, it is the imperfection of this art that so often plays such an important part in the perfection of the whole. Barry's Be Out... was next, a tricky line the group had worked on extensively the night before. Bang — now warmed up from his workout on Softness — removed his sweater and announced, "I'm ready to get it now. Let's pop it." Pop it he did and then, after his solo, sat open-mouthed and amused while Barry and Joe went at it. Finished, Billy said, "OK, Barry, I nailed the shit out of it." And with that, the energy in The Spirit Room was exhilarated by the heat and hum of people deeply involved in a process bigger than the sum of their own personal spheres. Fonda's Song For... was up next, one of Joe's multifaceted journeys. After a quick strategical game plan was laid out by its composer, this piece quickly took flight, musically unfolding much like the life cycle of a flower. Joe calls it "transforming the space." Next up were acouple of takes on Barry's tribute to past masters (For Papa...), Billy's account of his (and Barry's) boyhood home (Tales...), and then — as an encore — Coligno Battatta, a free jam. Just prior to getting into the encore, with everyone in place and ready to go and with the "tape rolling," Joe began reacting to Bang's spontaneous laughing during a previous take. The trigger for the giddiness occurred when, during the previous piece, Bang looked over at Joe (a diminutive fellow who plays his bass without any extension of the bass peg) who was hunched over his bass, playing the strings at their furthest end (closest to the floor, well past the bridge), giving the visual effect of a person bent over and sweeping material into a dustpan. So, just before Coligno Battatta began, Fonda good-naturedly admonished Billy, "Don't stop if I do some stupid shit, 'cause that's me, Billy." Billy laughingly said he promised, Barry added his editorial comments from the drum chair, and they then went into the music. I've left in this exchange as it's representative of the relaxed but spirited involvement shared by the trio's members. And, with the conclusion of that piece,this FAB fest was finished. Enjoy the concert. All liner notes written by Robert D. Rusch: |
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CD Reviews
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Nov. 21, 2003 by Jason Bivins for Dusted Reviews FAB is the acronymic moniker for the power trio of bassist Joe Fonda, percussionist Barry Altschul, and violinist Billy Bang. Altschul has recently made a welcome return to recording of late (some years ago, he ended an apparent musical hiatus with some residencies at New York's now-defunct Internet Café), and has waxed some fine sessions for CIMP. Bang has also been pretty active lately, and one of his finest recent sessions was Thirsty Ear's Scrapbook, which put him in another hard-hitting trio context with William Parker and Hamid Drake. This recording captures a marvelously energized trio and it proves a great compliment to the Parker disc. But the Fonda/Altschul tandem is altogether different, with a kind of slippery pointillism that, for all the power it can muster, is quite different from the Parker/Drake machine. The three of these guys have such an impressively broad history — each a leader/composer in his own right, Bang a distinguished co-founder of the String Trio of New York, and both Altschul and Fonda having played with the great Anthony Braxton — that they are able to touch on a wide number of musical bases without losing their focus or the uniqueness of their group's sound. The musicians prod each other, at times in a frenzy, but elsewhere in a serene manner. They embody virtues developed during an earlier period of American improvisation, when finely wrought compositions first grew from contexts of what had previously been complete freedom, and yet their playing still sounds vital. This is probably evident most on the free swing of "For Papa Jo, Klook & Philly Too" (note the dedicatees), which generates — much like the rest of the disc — the comforts of vintage sessions like John Lindberg's Give and Take (with George Lewis and Altschul) while also confirming faith in the future. And there's even an Altschul classic ("Be Out S'cool") from that period, which gets the recording off to a very vigorous start. They range through other territory too, as on the dark drone of "The Softness of Light" (where rich tones evolve into a jagged three-part drama, including some great dual arco amid Altschul's hiss and patter), the earthy "Tales from Da Bronx" (a perfect, lightly funked Bang vehicle), and the circuitous, episodic "Song for my Mother". There is serious synergy in this band and you can just hear their integrity and intensity. Additionally, there's a lot of lyricism and humor (listen to the chatter that begins the closing free piece "Coligno Battata"). That should be enough to please any fan of improvised music. Reprinted with kind permission of Dusted Magazine All reviews written by Jason Bivins:
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December 29, 2003 by Ken Waxman for Jazzword FAB MALCOLM GOLDSTEIN/MATTHIAS KAUL Combining the timbres from the violin and percussion symbolically characterizes the miscegenation that has defined modern music since at least the beginning of the last century. There's probably a no more European instrument than the violin, or a more African one than the drum. Thus contemporary musical history involves a gradual rapprochement between those two powerful sources. Take the results of manipulating these two sounds and find the midpoint where notated scores meet free improvisation means that the mixture becomes even more volatile and rewarding. That's precisely what these two CDs set out to do. Interestingly enough, both come from supposedly diametrically opposite sources. FAB's Billy Bang (violin) and Barry Altschul (drums) — aided by a distantly recorded bassist Joe Fonda — are out and out Free Jazzers, working their magic on six original compositions. Vermont-based violinist Malcolm Goldstein and German percussionist Matthias Kaul are from the New music side of the fence and on the 13 tracks here interpret five compositions by American composer Christian Wolff. Wolff, whose improvisational experience included music making with the British band AMM, created pieces whose shape gives the performers enough latitude to distend the written score. Goldstein, who has collaborated with sonic seekers raging from composer John Cage to Canadian percussion John Heward and German bassist Peter Niklas Wilson, is an old hand at these sorts of improvisations. A bit younger, Kaul, whose coworkers have included such composer/performers as John Zorn, Carla Bley and Slovenian trombonist Vinko Globkar is easily able to do the same. Linchpin of the session is "For 1, 2 or 3 People" in 10 separate sections, with Kaul cranking the hurdy-gurdy as well as playing percussion and Goldstein vocalizing — well sort of — as well as fiddling. The ratcheted buzzing of string friction from the hurdy-gurdy actually extends the assembly line of abrasive scratches that make up the violinist's part on these tracks. At the same time, though, between the murmured nonsense syllables and alpine yodels and growls, you hear Goldstein's extensive violin technique that allows him to suddenly sound out a single emphasized line as well as its vibrations. On their normal instruments, Goldstein and Kaul don't so much play together as improvise or read in parallel, a distinctive difference from the close cooperation among the FAB three. They also make more use of silence then the American trio does. Applying torque to his arco lines, either high up, almost near the pegs or bandsaw-like across all four strings, Goldstein is able to move from a sonority that's almost textbook legit to a shrilling in the furthest reaches of experimentation. And all this is done in the time it takes to gliss from one note to another. Elsewhere he demonstrates protracted string swoops, split-second pizzicato plucks, and concentrated mouse squeaks and bird chirrups. For his part, Kaul moves from applying gentle pressure on unselected and attached cymbals and creating miniature pealing bell noise to scraping a drum stick right on top of a heavy brass cymbal, formulating press rolls and kettle drum resonation and unveiling an unvarying assembly line of rhythmically resonating wood — drum stick upon drum stick. Finally, on "Edges", the scrapes, clawing and plucking become even more diffuse with Kaul introducing gamelan-like timbres and Goldstein somehow managing to replicate harmonica inflections. Solo, the shrill modernism and double stopping the violinist displays during "For 2, or 3 People" turns to primitive Americana as he elaborates the theme of the CD's title composition. Playing legato, but with enough dissonance to herald his reconstitution of the melody, Goldstein manages to simultaneously recreate the old ballad and comment on it. Using only the snare drum for his solo feature, "Exercise 27", Kaul, like a New music Max Roach, uses brushes for polyrhythmic slides and scrapes. With the sensitive recording equipment picking up his every nuance, he whistles at, blows on and rubs other spots than the drum head using the metallic results as counterpoint to decidedly non-militaristic rat tat tats. Violinist Bang's storied Viet Nam experience notwithstanding, the only militaristic influences in FAB's campaign experience is the time spent as foot soldiers in the jazz wars. Collectively the three have been in the biz for a good 75 years, leading their own bands and working behind such leaders as Anthony Braxton and William Parker, to pick two at random. This connection to history is made most obvious on Altschul's "For Papa Jo, Klook & Philly Too", where the thoroughly modern trapsman salutes and recreates approximations of the styles of some of his predecessors: (Papa) Jo Jones, Kenny "Klook" Clarke and Philly Joe Jones. Defiantly anachronistic when expressing the emulations, Altschul soon extends his skills into the 21st century in this finger-snapper. He's backed by a walking, but distant Fonda and an unrestrained Bang, using short bow strokes like an updated Stuff Smith. On his own "Tales from Da Bronx" — home borough of the fiddler and percussionist — Bang starts off playing slowly than in lockstep with Fonda. He accelerates to a swinging bounce complete with sprawling screeches, vocal encouragement from the bassman and heavy bass drum thumps plus surging snare rolls from Altschul. Coda is an extended legato string fantasia. Squirming, squeaking, near-atonal glissandos and multi-stops characterize most of Bang's work elsewhere, with the string high jinks aurally suggesting the picture of a whirling dervish fiddler. Bang's dissonant output can be used in many ways as he demonstrates on Fonda's more than 16½-minute "Song for My Mother". Here his abrasive runs turn into string kisses, then almost classically cliched buzzing bee tones. With the drummer playing as softly as he can, enlivening the proceedings with the odd rim shot, you can usually hear sporadic ringing notes from Fonda's bass and his verbal encouragement to himself. As the piece gets faster and more orotund, Bang sweeps out some shrill triple stops and Altschul drops a few bass drum bombs. As you can see musical miscegenation like this produces some of the most memorable and thought-provoking sounds. And that description characterizes both these sessions. MALCOLM GOLDSTEIN/MATTHIAS KAUL Reprinted with kind permission of the author. Copyright © 2006 Jazzword and Ken Waxman. All reviews written by Ken Waxman:
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February 1, 2004 by Jeff Stockton for AllAboutJazz When I hear musicians shouting or humming on a recording because they can't help themselves, I take it as a good sign. The spontaneity, intensity, and pure joy that comes across in those brief outbursts raises the level of excitement and intimacy so that you almost forget you're sitting in your living room listening to a CD. Bassist Joe Fonda, drummer Barry Altschul, and violinist Billy Bang clearly enjoyed playing the tunes on Transforming the Space, and the disc's sheer musicality and accessibility took me by surprise. I admire Billy Bang's virtuosity, but the jazz violin, in its more avant garde moments, screeches with a harrowing intensity and raw grittiness that can be too much to bear. There are moments of that here, but not many, and on Bang's composition "Tales from Da Bronx," his violin sings in a sweet woman's voice. You can imagine the teller of the story inhabiting the notes. This theatrical quality extends to Fonda on his "Song for My Mother," where he forms one half of a dialogue with Bang, both of whom have speaking parts in this conference of two birds. After the duo have their say, Altschul changes course with a military-march drum roll that leads into an expressive extended solo from Fonda who bears down on his instrument with concentrated effort. On "The Softness of Light" Fonda plays beautiful arco bass, freed from everything but rich, sonorous melody, and on Altschul's "For Papa Jo, Klook & Philly Too," Fonda walks alongside the drummer whose opening solo threatens to bounce like he's swinging a '30s big band. Through it all, Bang's violin is nimble and quick, short and sharp, classically melodious and ominously dissonant, but always energized and coherent. Just before the last track begins Bang and Fonda are heard joking with each other, and this glimpse into the studio serves as a fitting coda to a session brimming with empathic interplay. The players were loose, and the result is as tight a trio session as you're likely to hear. This review originally appeared in AllAboutJazz-New York. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 AllAboutJazz and Jeff Stockton. All reviews written by Jeff Stockton:
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January 8, 2004 by Derek Taylor for AllAboutJazz Operating under the somewhat dubious moniker of FAB, an amalgam of surname initials, the trio of Joe Fonda, Barry Altschul and Billy Bang dispels any concerns as to its sincerity with music of startling intellect and emotion. The Beatles this group is not, but in the context of creative improvised music, that's a mighty good thing. Fonda claims in the liners that it's "one of the most enjoyable recording sessions" he's ever done and producer Bob Rusch makes repeated mention of the jovial atmosphere that infused the Spirit Room during the date, but curiously the music is mostly of a contemplative cast. Both the bassist and Bang approach their instruments from an amplified vantage and the added juice defuses any danger of their strings being subsumed sonically by Altshul's traps. The drummer's "Be Out S'cool" opens the program and Bang wastes no time in shaving off keening arco ribbons from his strings. Fonda plays havoc with the tempo, moving from brisk speed walking plucks to spaced-out floating notes and Altschul breaks up the beat on a variety of surfaces behind him. If there's a drawback to the disc, it's probably most prominent in the chosen lengths of some of the pieces, which drag a bit beyond comfortable durations. Fonda's routine vocalizations, especially prominent in his more flurried fingerboard runs, are another distraction, but one that is easily reconciled by his incredible facility. Bang's "The Softness of Light" originates from that unique emotional reservoir where so many of his compositions reside. His style on the violin has antecedents in the swinging ebullience of Stuff Smith, but he brings a somber, blues-informed spiritualism that is wholly his own. It's the sound of suffering and of joy, those two sides of the coin that is life, and there are few who can tap into it like he can. Altschul's "For Papa Jo, Klook & Philly Too" reveals itself as more than a simple paean to that triumvirate of percussionists. Predictably taking wing on an extended solo that furnishes Altschul with space to run a gamut of drumming styles, the piece expands into an ensemble showcase with Bang wailing and torquing away above Altschul's polyrhythms as Fonda buttresses the action with clever harmonic commentary. "Tales from Da Bronx" starts at a mournful, methodical pace before unfurling in a thicket of prickly arco scribbles that gain density and complexity as Bang's bow moves with blinding speed. A forceful drum break from Altschul cracks the tension, leaving room for a return to the somber theme and a slow dissolving exit. The odds of this trio coalescing into a long range-working outfit for all involved are probably slim. But in its studio-only guise, FAB generates a body of music on par with what the players' individual reputations would suggest. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All About Jazz and Derek Taylor. All reviews written by Derek Taylor:
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October 7, 2003 by Nils Jacobson for All About Jazz Although each of these three players is at the peak of a relatively mountainous career, the playing of Billy Bang has simply exploded. The violinist has been active as a leader since the late '70s, but in the last few years it seems he has come back with a vengeance, most notably on Vietnam: The Aftermath (Justin Time, 2001) and William Parker's Scrapbook (Thirsty Ear, 2003). There's no need to enumerate his ample credentials in the out-jazz world, but there are very few violinists out there today who can combine soul, search, and fire in the same natural way as Bang. Seeing as how Billy Bang is the "melody" player in this trio, his voice quite frequently rises to the top. But Joe Fonda is not a bass player to sit idly by, and Barry Altschul also takes plenty of opportunities to shape the course of the trio's path. One might expect more high-end (and arco) interaction between the two string players, but Fonda tends to hang on the lower end of his instrument, using those deep notes to complement the violin's often piercing tone and the drums' sparkly textures. A few exceptions, of course. Transforming the Space provides yet more evidence that Fonda has traveled far beyond the usual roles of his instrument, though he does so in a way that emphasizes tone over overtone, unlike most of his contemporaries in the free jazz world today. Perhaps that reflects his tenure with Anthony Braxton, who personally is quite fond of "incorrect" playing but who also places great emphasis on the structural aspects of his music. The same holds true for Altschul, another Braxton vet whose playing tends to be quite melodic and ceaselessly inventive. But in the end it's Bang who turns this record into a near-masterpiece. "Song For My Mother" gets started rather spontaneously with some bird-like scratching and tinkling, only to be interrupted by a flighty series of cadences from the violinist. It turns pensive and the soulful aspect of Bang's playing warms things up dramatically. Over the course of the next 16 minutes (rather gluttonous, but not excessive), the music takes its share of twists and turns, but it seems like Billy Bang is always riding at the cusp. Military beats cut in a few minutes later, and once you've ridden out the suspense Bang waxes naked and emotional. "The Softness of Light" similarly benefits from a deliberately paced warmth. It's hard to avoid getting sucked in. It seems that FAB is a democracy more than anything else, and that means there is no single star, leader, or composer. Without the particular combination of talent and experience each of these articulate players brings to this table, the risks involved would almost certainly have yielded total disaster. But somehow, magically, this hour of music ends up open, expansive, and hearty. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All About Jazz and Nils Jacobson. All reviews written by Nils Jacobson: |
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Glenn Astarita for Down Beat, Volume 70 - Number 11 (November 2003), page 72 FAB: Fonda-Altschul-Bang William Parker Violin Trio Featuring some inspired, free-spirited music, Transforming The Space should cement notions that violinist Billy Bang is one of the finest modern jazz improvisors in the business. Drummer Barry Altschul performs with the resourcefulness and drive observed during his 1970s jaunts with Chick Corea, Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton. Bassist Joe Fonda anchors this undeniably thrilling engagement, which finds the musicians dazzling listeners with finesse via their intricately executed unison choruses, concentrated firepower and interminable poise. The trio makes use of precious recording time from the inception of "Be Out S'cool," where they steer through difficult time signatures, complete with variable swing grooves and intensely stated dialogues. Bang is ablaze here and throughout, via his undulating staccato lines and viscious gut-scrapings, to complement a colorific approach to the program. Altschul's tribute to drummers Jo Jones, Kenny Clarke and Philly Joe Jones, titled "For Papa Jo, Klook & Philly Too" commences with a drum boogie, featuring his melodically orchestrated snare/tom rolls and snappy rim shots. Fonda lays down a nimble bottom as the rhythm section creates a torrid fabric for Bang who proceeds to soar skyward. Besides a few somber deviations from the norm, the trio surges forward with the self-assuredness of heavy-weight champs anticipating a furious battle. Similar in scope to Transforming The Space, Scrapbook, led by bassist/composer William Parker, is founded upon a "scrapbook of images collected from childhood until now." One of the more noticeable components resides within the bassist's close musical relationship with drummer Hamid Drake. The duo's fluidity of concepts is re-emphasized along with Bang's fusing of lush melodies with free-jazz initiated excursions. It's the little things that often make a big difference — witness Parker's ability to toggle between plucking the strings and implementing bowed lines in support of Bang's various endeavors. Many of these works feature Parker's harmonically and lyrically rich patterns, in concert with his lithely executed walking bass lines. He's the traffic director partly due to his symmetrically engineered shifts in tempo within various swing vamps and ostinato movements. Band flirts with the red zone on several accasions while deconstructing classically oriented motifs and engaging in a mock hoe-down, via his pizzicato maneuvers on "Dust On A White Shirt." Other highlights include Parker and Drake's whirling dervish-like performance during the kinetic piece, featuring an Ornette Coleman-based primary theme on "Urban." Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 Down Beat and Glenn Astarita. All reviews written by Glenn Astarita:
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Tom Hull It's getting hard to overpraise violinist Billy Bang. He showed himself to be a worthy heir to Leroy Jenkins with his early avant-garde work, and he showed he could swing with his A Tribute to Stuff Smith (1992, Soul Note). His Vietnam: The Aftermath (2001, Justin Time) brought back both the melodies and nightmares of his tour of duty, in what felt like, especially post-9/11, the album of the year. And his astonishing work on the William Parker Violin Trio's Scrapbook (2003, Thirsty Ear) makes that the jazz album of this year. Still, his fans have been known to tout this trio record as the real, unadulterated Billy Bang. They have a point, up to a point: this trio is a much more typical jazz showcase for Bang's work, especially his phenomenal art of improvisation. This is also a strong outing for Barry Altschul and Joe Fonda, although it's tricky to get the volume right to bring out the details in Fonda's bass. A- |
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