The OGJB Quartet – Ode to O (January 21, 2022 TUM Records)

Ode To O is the second release by the OGJB Quartet that features four leaders in their own right, saxophonist Oliver Lake, cornetist Graham Haynes, bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Barry Altschul. As with their first release, Bamako, each member has contributed compositions to the new recording which also features two collective improvisations.

Ever since its first performance at the Winter Jazz Festival in 2016, the OGJB Quartet has been highly acclaimed as one of the most creative collaborative groups working today. Two of its members, Lake and Altschul, are pioneers of modern improvised music going back to its origins in the 1960s, while each of the other two, Haynes and Fonda, have been a strong presence on the improvised music scene since the late 1970s.

The group’s name, an acronym of each musician’s first name, reflects its status as a true collaborative unit. Each member of the OGJB Quartet is also a composer in his own right and a master on his chosen instrument. Accordingly, their second recording together, which follows the highly acclaimed Bamako released in 2019, again features original compositions by all four of its members and two collective improvisations.

The album is named after Barry Altschul’s composition dedicated to the late Ornette Coleman. According to Altschul, “Ode to O” is a melody that came to him in a dream after hearing of the passing of Ornette Coleman in 2015. The recording also features “Da Bang,” a composition originally dedicated by Altschul to the violin great Billy Bang and designed to stimulate improvising.

Whereas Bamako was fully acoustic, Ode To O introduces a new element with Graham Haynes incorporating the use of live electronics on one of his two compositions on the new recording, “The Other Side,” and on one of the collective improvisations, “OGJB #4.” “Graham’s use of electronics took the quartet into a totally new zone,” says Fonda. “It opened up the music to new and fresh possibilities.”

Oliver Lake contributed two compositions, “Justice” and “Bass Bottom.” “Each of them is unique and quite different from the other,” says Fonda. “Whenever anyone gets the opportunity to play Oliver’s music, they are transported into the Lake universe of sound. That is where the OGJB Quartet again went when we recorded his two pieces.”

“This second recording by the OGJB Quartet draws from a wide range of musical influences that exist inside the quartet,” say Fonda. “On this recording, we pulled out all the stops.”

“Ode To O represents the huge data set that is the collective experiences of Oliver Lake, Graham Haynes, Joe Fonda and Barry Altschul, representing a wide swath of what remains vital in jazz,” says Bill Shoemaker in his liner notes. “Each performance spools out like a quintuple helix, each strand containing the humanity of music that cries, hollers and sings.”

TUM Records is a Finnish record label that began operations in May 2003. TUM produces high-quality music recordings and selectively organizes concerts and events, such as the TUMfest in Helsinki. The focus of TUM is on improvised, jazz-based music, placing particular emphasis on free expression and the performing artists’ own music. In addition to providing younger musicians with exposure and a musical platform, TUM promotes more experienced musicians whose work is not favored by the commercial trends of our time. TUM covers feature works by leading Finnish artists.         

Oliver Lake (b. 1942) is an accomplished saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet and visual artist. Lake was born in Marianna, Arkansas, but grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He began drawing at the age of 13 and started playing the drums soon after, but only picked up the saxophone in high school at the age of 18. In his hometown of St. Louis, Lake first worked in R&B and soul bands with the likes of trumpeter Lester Bowie, then formed, in 1967, his first group as a leader, the Oliver Lake Art Quartet. During the 1960s, Lake was also one of the founders of the Black Artists Group (BAG) in St. Louis. After living briefly in Paris in the early 1970s, Lake settled in New York City and has led his own groups ever since. In 1977, he co-founded the World Saxophone Quartet with David Murray, Julius Hemphill and Hamiet Bluiett. It quickly became one of the most highly acclaimed groups in modern creative music and held that position for three decades, recording a total of 20 albums He is also a co-founder, with bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille, of Trio 3, a cooperative group that has over time become one of the main performing vehicles for all three of its members, recording more than 10 albums with several of the later ones also featuring a visiting pianist. Lake is known as a broadminded musician who is comfortable moving across musical genres. In the early 1980s, he led the reggae-influenced Jump Up, a group that attained considerable popular success with its two albums. Currently, Lake continues to lead his own groups, including the Oliver Lake Organ Quartet, as well as perform with Trio 3 and the OGJB Quartet, among others.   

Graham Haynes (b. 1960) grew up in Queens, New York. He first became known as an experimental musician and composer looking for new directions in nu jazz, fusing jazz with elements of hip-hop and electronic music. With aspirations to push jazz beyond its traditional boundaries, Graham Haynes’ first foray into electronic music came in 1979 upon meeting alto saxophonist Steve Coleman. Together, they formed a band called Five Elements, which launched an influential group of improvisers called M-Base Collective in the 1980s. Soon, Haynes was also leading and recording with his own groups. Haynes has studied a wide range of African, Arabic and South Asian music and, after a move to Paris in 1990, incorporated these far-flung influences into his next releases. Haynes returned to New York City in 1993 to take advantage of the flourishing hip-hop scene and, a bit later, the emerging drum ‘n’ bass. Since 2013, Haynes has been a member of the Vijay Iyer Sextet and was featured on its debut recording in 2017. Haynes also performed over a period of several years with the late American cornetist, composer and conductor Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris (1947- 2013), originator of the Conduction method, and has begun working with various ensembles utilizing Conduction. Haynes has also composed works for classical ensembles and has worked on several critically acclaimed multimedia projects and composed music for films. 

OGJB / photos by ©Enid Farber

Joe Fonda (b. 1954) was born in Amsterdam, upstate New York, and played guitar and bass guitar in his youth. At Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts (1973-75), he studied composition and arranging while also focusing on the double bass as his main instrument. After Berklee, he settled in New Haven playing and recording with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, among others. Soon after moving to New York City in the early 1980s, Fonda participated in the collaborative group Mosaic Sextet that both increased his prominence on the New York scene and served as a basis for some key relationships that continue today. In 1992, Fonda and Michael Jefry Stevens co-founded the Fonda/Stevens Group that became the longest lasting and perhaps the hardest working of all the collaborative groups in which Fonda has participated. Between 1993 and 2003, Fonda became particularly well known for his collaboration with Anthony Braxton and was Braxton’s bassist of choice during that period. In 1996, Braxton appeared on Fonda’s From The Source recording that served as a blueprint for the group From The Source, which Fonda continued to lead. Since that time, Fonda has toured and recorded with the FAB Trio, the 3dom Factor, The NU Band, Bottoms Out, Conference Call, Off Road Quartet, Trio Generations, Eastern Boundary Quartet, Dreamstruck and The J. & F. Band, among many others.  

Barry Altschul (b. 1943), was born and raised in New York City. He began playing the drums at the age of 11 after having earlier played the piano and the clarinet. In the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Altschul was involved in the local hard bop scene playing in jam sessions in the Bronx and in other New York City boroughs with his contemporaries. However, his first “proper” gig was with the Paul Bley Trio in 1964 resulting in Altschul working regularly with pianist Paul Bley for the remainder of the 1960s and sporadically during the next three decades. Altschul’s work with Paul Bley drew the attention of others active on New York’s free jazz scene of the 1960s and resulted in tours and/or recording sessions with many of the genre’s notables, while his familiarity with the tradition also led to performances with many mainstream musicians. Soon, Altschul was performing and recording with some of the most influential groups of the period, including those led by pianist Chick Corea and saxophonists Anthony Braxton, and Sam Rivers in the 1960s and the 1970s. Altschul has also led several groups of his own, particularly in the 1970s and the 1980s, recording some of the finest “freebop” albums of the period. After living in Europe for a decade and then focusing mostly on teaching following his return to New York City in 1993, Altschul returned to active playing in the new millennium establishing the FAB Trio (History Of Jazz in Reverse, TUM CD 028) with violinist Billy Bang and Joe Fonda in 2003. Since 2013, Altschul has led the 3dom Factor with saxophonist Jon Irabagon and Joe Fonda (The 3dom Factor, TUM CD 032, and Tales of the Unforeseen, TUM CD 044).  

01 Ode to O (Barry Altschul) 06:52

02 Justice (Oliver Lake) 05:22

03 Me without Bela (Joe Fonda) 12:24

04 Da Bang (Barry Altschul) 09:06

05 The Other Side (Graham Hyanes) 06:55

06 Caring (Barry Altschul) 04:56

07 OGJB #3 (Lake, Haynes, Fonda & Altschul) 03:53

08 Bass Bottom (Oliver Lake) 02:37

09 OGJB #4 (Lake, Haynes, Fonda & Altschul) 05:10

10 Apaixonado (Graham Hyanes) 05:10

Oliver Lake alto saxophone

Graham Hyanes cornet, electronics

Joe Fonda double bass

Barry Altschul drums, percussion

TUM Records

Satoko Fujii & Joe Fonda - Thread Of Light (January 21, 2022 Fundacja Słuchaj)

I became acquainted to Joe Fonda’s musical creativity in 1998, precisely on November 6th at a concert of the Fonda/Stevens Group at Bunker Ulmenwall in Bielefeld, Germany. Along with some friends, I was curating the club‘s jazz program since 1996 at that time. After the enthralling show in 1998 Joe was a frequent artist at our club as his music was immensely inspiring - full of enthusiasm and playfulness. On November 8th 2003 there was Satoko Fujii Quartet playing a show in Bielefeld. On this evening an enduring friendship with Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura began to develop. I go to know two wonderful artists as well as human beings and – what I did not know at that time – two of the most thrilling and versatile musicians in the jazz scene.

Both Satoko and Joe, have been touring Europe separately in many different group selections over and over again. ...And while attending a duo-concert of Joe Fonda with guzheng playing musician Xu Feng Xia, I got the idea of also bringing Satoko and Joe together – at least for one musical (live) encounter. It worked out and since then they both have played together not only as a duo but in numerous projects with changing players. They also began recording together or taping live shows. Focussing on their duo output, their first duo-record „Duet“ was released in 2015. Natsuki Tamura was joining on some compositions as well as on the „Mizu“ album in 2017. The aptly named „Four“ was released in 2019.

Now it is 2021, and The Thread of Light was recorded during the Corona-pandemic separately in their distant homes in Kobe and New York and put together for release. It is featuring fantastic music full of inspiration and optimism for a time after the pandemic. Musical pieces full of power and emotions reflecting anger, anxiety and sorrow as well as a way out of it with their inherent musical energy. One can literally sense the leaves falling quietly down the tree before they got whirled up magically. Ease and Restlessness. Sunshine, Rain and Storm take it in turns. Yes, that’s the „Fallen-leaves-dance“. All ends up in broad confidence.

Extraordinary music for an extraordinary time. Wolfgang Gross , July 12, 2021 

1. Kochi 4:35

2. Fallen Leaves Dance 4:09

3. Reflection 9.00

4. Anticipating 5.44

5. My Song 3.18

6. Sekirei 2.52

7. Wind Sound 6.07

8. Winter Sunshine 2.17

9. Haru 4.29

10. Between Blue Sky and Cold Water 9.04

Satoko Fujii – piano

Joe Fonda – bass, cello, flute

All composed by Joe Fonda (GEMA) and Satoko Fujii, Koro Music (BMI) except #5 My Song by Joe Fonda and #8 Winter Sunshine by Satoko Fujii.

Satoko Fujii’s tracks were recorded by Fujii at her home in Kobe, Japan in January and February 2021.

Joe Fonda’s tracks were recorded by Greg DiCrosta

Mixed by Nick Lloyd

Mastered by Nick Lloyd

Liner Notes: Wolfgang Gross

Photo: David Wade

Cover Design: Piotr Biegański

Executive Producer: Maciej Karłowski

All Rights Reserved: Fundacja Słuchaj

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Barry Altschul 3Dom Factor 'Long Tall Sunshine' – July 30, 2021 via Not Two

Pioneering drummer Barry Altschul returns with a thrilling new live performance by his exploratory trio 

The 3Dom Factor

 

Long Tall Sunshine, due out July 30, 2021 via Not Two, reconvenes Altschul’s adventurous group with bassist Joe Fonda and saxophonist Jon Irabagon

 

" The best way to hear this band is live and wild in the moment."

– Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes

 

“The 3Dom Factor… epitomizes the energy, exuberance and capriciousness of most great jazz… a small, highly intuitive combo that uses bop as a springboard into the great unknown of avant-garde.”

– Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews

Three, as those of us who grew up on Schoolhouse Rock will remember, truly is a magic number. It’s enshrined in the name of The 3Dom Factor, the astounding trio led by legendary drummer/improviser Barry Altschul for the last decade or so. That sobriquet reflects the vital importance of all three voices in the band: not only Altschul’s powerful, ever-inquisitive drumming, but the tirelessly venturesome saxophone playing of Jon Irabagon and the acrobatic muscularity of bass great Joe Fonda.

 

So naturally, the release of the 3dom Factor’s third album, Live in Kraków, in 2017 felt like a natural conclusion of sorts for the project. It summed up a neat trilogy that began with the band’s self-titled 2012 debut, which concentrated on Altschul’s original tunes; followed by the 2015 follow-up, Tales of the Unforeseen, a second studio date that was almost wholly improvised save for a pair of intriguing covers; and finally, Live in Kraków, a dazzling showcase of the trio’s onstage inventiveness.

 

Fortunately for lovers of exploratory jazz at its finest, Altschul decided against letting that trilogy stand alone. After four years of recorded silence, The 3dom Factor makes its welcome return with Long Tall Sunshine, an exhilarating concert performance captured somewhere in Europe during the trio’s spring 2019 tour. (Unfortunately the band’s record-keeping isn’t quite as skillful as its interplay, leaving the specifics as something of a mystery.) Due out July 30, 2021 via Not Two, Long Tall Sunshine finds The 3dom Factor at the top of its form, navigating five of Altschul’s expansive compositions with a staggering display of in-the-moment inspiration and tightrope-walking audacity.

 

“This album is kind of a bonus,” Altschul says. “The third album felt like a nice way to end the series, but I read several reviews that said they hoped this wasn't the last release. The audience wanted more.” As did Altschul’s triomates, who strongly encouraged him to release this particular concert after hearing the dauntless imagination of the performance.

 

“More” is precisely what Long Tall Sunshine has to offer. Four of the five tracks will be familiar to longtime fans of the drummer, having made up the repertoire not only of the previous 3dom Factor outings but of Altschul’s early-80s trio with Ray Anderson and Mark Helias and his FAB Trio with Fonda and the late violinist Billy Bang. The exception is the title track, a previously unrecorded composition dedicated to a former paramour who Altschul describes as “long and tall, with this sunny disposition.”

 

Anchored by Fonda’s pulsating bassline, the tune’s sinuous theme is an alluring mix of the sleek and the sunny, an ideal launching point for Irabagon’s inexhaustible array of melodic variations. Altschul prods the saxophonist onward with an invigorating barrage of combustible percussion, laying back only to make room for Fonda’s eloquent bass solo, which the drummer parries with conversational expertise, reflecting the pair’s long history together.

Irabagon, Altschul & Fonda

The remaining four pieces all appeared on The 3dom Factor, with three of them reprised on Live in Kraków. The multiple versions of each make for enlightening comparison, shining a spotlight on the trio’s unceasing creativity and gift for completely reinventing each tune from one performance to the next. It’s also reflective of Altschul’s philosophy of improvised music.

 

“I don't really believe that anything is really new,” he emphasizes. “I'm a believer in ‘fresh.’ I listen to Miles Davis when he said that Louis Armstrong played everything that could be played. So it's just a matter of being fresh. So using the same compositions just provides a springboard to let us get into some fresh improvisational spaces.

 

“Plus,” he adds, a wry smile creeping into his voice, “I'm lazy.”

 

It’s difficult to put much stock into that claim given the longevity of Altschul’s career, which now stretches out over more than five decades and includes collaborations with many of the music’s most towering figures, including Chick Corea, Paul Bley, Lee Konitz, Anthony Braxton, Sam Rivers and Andrew Hill. Another deciding factor in releasing Long Tall Sunshine (though the breathtaking quality of the music is reason enough) was Altschul’s encroaching 80th birthday, which will arrive in January 2023. With the pandemic taking live performance out of the equation at a moment when the drummer was contemplating the winding down of his touring schedule, it felt all the more important to remind the world of the continuing vitality of this major voice in free music.

 

The cover portrait of Long Tall Sunshine, by Altschul’s friend and NYC neighbor Nora Howard, captures its subject’s energy as well as his forward-looking attitude. “Nora's a very dear friend, and when she showed me this painting I said, ‘It looks like it's not finished.’ And she said, ‘Well’ neither are you!’ That worked for me.”

01 Long Tall Sunshine

02 The 3Dom Factor

03 Irina

04 Be Out S'Cool

05 Martin's Stew

Barry Altschul - drums & cymbals

Jon Irabagon - tenor & soprillo saxophones and alto clarinet

Joe Fonda - bass

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The J. & F. Band - Me and the Evil (April 2021 Long Song Records)

The J.&F. Band, already hailed by some as “the blues version of the Sun Ra Arkestra”, returns with the third incredible chapter of its musical history, “Me and The Devil” and thus closes an ideal trilogy where it has increasingly expanded its creative journey through many genres and styles, the result of a passion and musical vision now without limits.

"… Atmospherical intros? Super funky grooves? Extended improvisations mixed up with great vocal parts? Yeah! You’re in the right place, you’re gonna find everything you need right here, in J&F Band’s third chapter! “Me And The Devil” is the musical melting pot in which Funk meets Blues, where the spirit of John Gilmore from the Sun Ra Arkestra encounters the ghost of Gil Scott-Heron... with the incredibile guitars of David Grissom (Joe Ely, John Mellencamp and many others), Bobby Lee Rodgers (Codetalkers with Colonel Bruce Hampton) and Scott Sharrard (Gregg Allman Band, Little Feat); the super high-energy rhythm section of Jaimoe (legendary Allman Bros drummer), Joe Fonda (jazz bass giant) and Tiziano Tononi (explosive and revered drummer); the crazy keyboards of Pee Wee Durante (funky keys master); the tight violin /tenor sax duo section of Emanuele Parrini (the best jazz violin player on the scene. period.) and Jon Irabagon (fantastic and versatile player from NY).

It’s not for everybody: for STRONG HEARTS only! AND - AS ALWAYS - REMEMBER TO... PLAY IT VERY LOUD!" 

1. Tizville 10:23

2. Me And The Devil Blues 10:20

3. Hendrix Lane Long 13:45

4. Seven Seas Crossing 10:45

5. Get Some Love 06:19

6. Spanish Moon 08:11

7. Nothing Matters 19:17

JAIMOE:

drums

JOE FONDA:

electric and double bass,

vocals, flute, vocals a backing

TIZIANO "TIZ THE WIZ" TONONI:

drums, percussion, gongs

PAOLO “PEE WEE”

DURANTE:

keyboards

DAVID GRISSOM:

guitar

JON IRABAGON:

tenor saxophone, flute

EMANUELE “5P”

PARRINI:

violin

BOBBY LEE RODGERS:

guitar, vocals, backing vocals

SCOTT SHARRARD:

guitar, vocals

produced by FABRIZIO PERISSINOTTO

recorded at Firehouse 12 Studio, New Haven, by NICK LLOYD and GREGG COSTA, with special support by ASHLEY REDBONE

mixed by MAURIZIO GIANNOTTI, TIZIANO TONONI and FABRIZIO PERISSINOTTO at Newmastering Studio, Milano

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Musiconspiracy - Do I The In? (2021 Simlas Produksjoner)

«This was recorded live at Alchemia in Cracow in September of 2007 and has excellent sound. I had not heard of Polish drum wiz, Jacek Kochan, before we got a half dozen discs of his from Not Two & Gowi. After reviewing a few of them I was impressed with his playing, arranging and the varied personnel on each disc. This new disc also has an inspired line-up of musicians from Austria (FH), Norway (TO), Poland (JK) and the US (JF). Each player has contributed two pieces as well as three great groups improvisations. Starting with Joe Fonda's "Song for My Mother", the rhythm team hits their stride quickly with some twisted fretless guitar and Miles-like electric trumpet upfront.

What is great here is how well the guitar and electric trumpet play together and sound similar. On "Golden Angel", the bowed bass, el. guitar and mutant trumpet seem to complete each other's line as they swerve around one another and bend their notes close. The band swings hard on "Feed the Hamster" with Franz taking that great Electric Miles-like tone and squeezing it higher. The ever-incredible Joe Fonda sounds splendid throughout as his bass buzzes underneath all of the action, creating a tight connection with Jacek's uplifting drums.

All four of these musicians are play wonderfully throughout, exchanging ideas, tossing riffs back and forth and consistently surprising us with their tight, interconnected tapestry. Another outstanding disc from the folks at Not Two.» (Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery)

2. Golden Angel 03:50

3. Feed the Hamster 05:44

4. Famous Disappearing Act 03:17

5. Ectoplasmatics 09:16

6. Summer is Far 05:20

7. Before or After 08:06

8. For Mingus 07:38

9. Restless Apple 06:18

10. Organic Boots 03:40

11. Choose the Mud 06:12

Recorded at Alchemia, Kraków, Poland in September of 2007

Joe Fonda b, Franz Hautzinger trp, Jacek Kochan d, Tellef Øgrim g

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Thomas Heberer / Joe Fonda / Joe Hertenstein - Remedy (April 2021 Fundacja Słuchaj)

When Europe headed to Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, Joe Fonda and I were there with the Michael Musillami Quintet. Our concert tour was cut short, and we returned to NYC with no musical interactions for the next few months. Basically, we quarantined at home, particularly as our city became the epicenter of this health crisis.

In June, Fonda called me up. He had met my old friend and partner in crime from many gigs and recordings, drummer Joe Hertenstein, at a pre-pandemic event. Both had spoken about getting together and working on some new music at the time and were wondering if I’d be up for joining. With coronavirus cases dropping locally, it was the first time in a while that such an idea could be entertained.

We started playing together once a week, everybody bringing in tunes – making music and socializing a little, creating a space beyond the grim realities of our surroundings.

A routine started to take shape. Fonda would come down from his place in Washington Heights and pick me up on the Upper West Side. We then would drive, all masked up, to Brooklyn, where Hertenstein lived on Ocean Avenue in a spacious apartment. There we’d play. After our rehearsal, we’d take a slightly different route than on the way in, going through the Lower East Side, SoHo and West Village in Manhattan, each time on the lookout for signs of a re-emerging vibrancy. Beyond that, we always liked to stop by our favorite Swedish bakery on 14th Street for a loaf of their cranberry-rye bread and a cardamom bun – everybody needs a little treat from time to time.

In August, our drummer told us that he and his wife Daisy had decided to leave the US for Berlin, hoping to sit out the situation, and return once NYC got back to a “new normal.” We concluded that our music deserved to be documented; we literally recorded this album the day before Joe left town.

Very proud of the results. This will always serve as a reminder of an insane period in mid-2020, when our gatherings served as a Remedy that kept our bodies and minds together. Thomas Heberer

1. Closer You Are, the Further It Gets 10:01

2. For Wadada Leo Smith, Opus 2 06:03

3. Pink Umbrella-Panicballad 07:45

4. You Are There-Roadmap 616-James J. 12:27

5. Zebra 05:51

6. Fast #2 05:56

7. Wadada Leo Smith, Opus 1 07:57

8. Waltz for Daisy 04:56

Thomas Heberer - trumpet

Joe Fonda - bass, flute (track 7)

Joe Hertenstein - drums, percussion

tracks 1, 4a, 4b, 5 composed by Thomas Heberer (GEMA)

tracks 2, 4c, 6, 7 composed by Joe Fonda (GEMA)

tracks 3a, 3b, 8 composed by Joe Hertenstein (GEMA)

Recorded August 26, 2020, by Tom Tedesco, Tedesco Studios, Paramus, NJ

Mixed & mastered January 2021 by Jon Rosenberg, Brooklyn, NY

Joe Hertenstein plays Bosphorus cymbals exclusively

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Satoko Fujii & Joe Fonda - Mizu (LONG SONG RECORDS 2018)

Satoko Fujii Turns 60!

Pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda 

deepen their dialogue on a new duet album Mizu

Available July 27, 2018 via Long Song Records

“The degree of intimate listening and deep exchange between Fujii’s piano and the woody, natural-sounding bass of Fonda is breathtaking.” 

— Robert Bush, NBC San Diego

“The conversation is intuitive, at times seemingly telepathic and it creates an enormous amount of drama and joy.” 

— Steve Feeney, The Arts Fuse

On Mizu, pianist-composer Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda pick up where they left off two years ago when they released their first duo album, titled simply Duet, to rave reviews. Mizu, recorded live on a 2017 European tour, finds them delving deeper into their musical connection. There’s a surprise around every corner as these two play with even greater emotional abandon, lyricism, and freedom.  The album will be released July 27, 2018 via Long Song.

At the urging of a festival producer in Europe, Fonda contacted Fujii in 2015 to see if she’d like to get together to play. They eventually were able to coordinate their busy international performing schedules for a New England tour later in the year. They managed two other concerts before their next opportunity to play together for an extended period emerged, on a 2017 four-city European tour. The tour produced the music on this new duet CD, as well as Triad, a trio recording with Italian saxophonist Gianni Mimmo released earlier this year as part of Fujii’s 60th birthday celebration.

Despite a lengthy gap between performances, the chemistry between Fujii and Fonda has grown. “I find that the more we play together, the more free we feel to take risks. We talk to each other in music,” says Fujii. 

Fonda agrees. “Now that we've had a chance to play together more, the vocabulary and the possibilities that we’re using have expanded,” he says. “We trust and respect each other, that’s where the freedom comes from.”

The freedom results in exhilarating music that is both inviting and challenging. On “Rik Bevernage,” a dedication to the late Belgian concert producer and label owner, there’s an elastic give and take between Fujii and Fonda as they exchange ideas and develop them. Sharp percussive motifs give way to flowing waves of music and then to sounds of unusual timbre. Fonda sounds especially inspired on this track, joyfully springing off in his own direction one minute, then curling around Fujii’s piano inventions like a vine. “Long Journey” also finds bass and drums in perfect sync, playing in parallel without ever directly echoing or following the other.

“Mizu” is focused and unhurried as it winds its way through one fascinating musical landscape after another. Throughout the album, the pianist and bassist are co-equal creators, with no sense of a leader and an accompanist, just two voices intertwined in a profound dialogue.

“I would not get the same inspiration from Joe if he played only like an accompanist,” Fujii says. “For me instrumentation and traditional soloist-accompanist roles are not that important. Who I play with and the quality of their ideas and willingness to work together are far more important to me.”

“I feel free to play whatever I want and so does she,” Fonda says. He points to a moment on the title track to illustrate what he means. “There is a place where I start singing. I remember all of a sudden Satoko started playing something that sounded like opera to me. And I said to myself, wow, someone's gotta sing—and that's what I did. This is the kind of freedom we've arrived at.” 

Fujii’s unprecedented birthday bash continues in August with a concert recording by Quartet Mahobin, featuring Fujji, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, saxophonist Lotte Anker, and Ikue Mori on laptop. Her duet with Australian keyboardist Alister Spence follows in September and a new recording by Orchestra Tokyo is also in the works. Other surprises and delights will be in store in the fall and winter, in what is sure to be an unforgettable outpouring of musical riches.

Joe Fonda “is a serious seeker of new musical horizons,” according to the Boston Phoenix. From 1984 to 1999, he was the bassist with composer-improviser and NEA Jazz Master Anthony Braxton. Fonda also has been an integral member of several cooperative bands, including the Fonda-Stevens Group with Michael Jefry Stevens, Herb Robertson, and Harvey Sorgen; Conference Call, with Gebhard Ullmann, Stevens, and George Schuller; the Fab Trio with Barry Altschul and Billy Bang; and the Nu Band with Mark Whitecage, Roy Campbell, and Lou Grassi. He is currently a member of 3dom Factor, Altschul’s trio with saxophonist Jon Irabagon, and guitarist Michael Musillami’s trio, among others. He has collaborated and performed with other artists such as Archie Shepp, Ken McIntyre, Lou Donaldson, Bill and Kenny Barron, Wadada Leo Smith, Randy Weston, and Carla Bley. He has led some truly unique ensembles of his own including From the Source, which features four instrumentalists, a tap dancer, and a body healer/vocalist; and Bottoms Out, a sextet with Gerry Hemingway, Joe Daley, Michael Rabinowitz, Claire Daly, and Ullmann. He has released twelve recordings under his own name. 

Critics and fans alike hail pianist and composer Satoko Fujii as one of the most original voices in jazz today. She’s “a virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and a bandleader who gets the best collaborators to deliver," says John Fordham in The Guardian. In concert and on more than 80 albums as a leader or co-leader, she synthesizes jazz, contemporary classical, avant-rock, and Japanese folk music into an innovative music instantly recognizable as hers alone. Over the years, Fujii has led some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music, including her trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black, the Min-Yoh Ensemble, and an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins. Her ongoing duo project with husband Natsuki Tamura released their sixth recording, Kisaragi, in 2017. 

“The duo's commitment to producing new sounds based on fresh ideas is second only to their musicianship,” says Karl Ackermann in All About Jazz. Aspiration, a CD by an ad hoc band featuring Wadada Leo Smith, Tamura, and Ikue Mori, was released in 2017 to wide acclaim. “Four musicians who regularly aspire for greater heights with each venture reach the summit together on Aspiration,” writes S. Victor Aaron in Something Else. She records infrequently as an unaccompanied soloist, but Solo (Libra), the first of her projected monthly 60th-birthday-year albums, led Dan McClenaghan to enthuse in All About Jazz that the album “more so than her other solo affairs—or any of her numerous ensembles for that matter—deals in beauty, delicacy of touch, graceful melodicism.” As the leader of no less than five orchestras in the U.S., Germany, and Japan, Fujii has also established herself as one of the world’s leading composers for large jazz ensembles, leading Cadence magazine to call her, “the Ellington of free jazz.” 

www.satokofujii.com

www.joefonda.com

Satoko Fujii, Joe Fonda & Gianni Mimmo – TRIAD (LONG SONG RECORDS 2018)

“Fujii exhibits a kind of boundless exploration that finds her often in new pairings or with new lineups, a never-ending pursuit of new sounds, new groups, and new collaborations.” – Lee Rice Epstein, The Free Jazz Collective

“Joe Fonda is a real virtuoso and composer of the highest order.” – Anthony Braxton

“Mimmo’s music . . . is based on balance. Not only the moment-to-moment balance of register, phrasing, dynamics, and articulation, but a larger, more fundamental balance of abstraction and direct lyricism.” – Daniel Barbiero, Avant Music News

What better way for pianist-composer Satoko Fujii to celebrate turning 60 than with an album recorded on her birthday. Last year, Fujii, bassist Joe Fonda, and Italian soprano saxophonist Gianni Mimmo went into the studio to record Triad (May 25, 2018, Long Song Records) on Fujii’s 59th birthday. Though they had only played together once, in concert the night before, the trio is remarkably confident and communicates on a deep level. The music is unhurried and graceful, yet always challenging. 

Fujii and Fonda were planning a European tour in October 2017 and asked Long Song label owner Fabrizio Perissinotto, who released their 2016 album, Duet, if he knew of any opportunities to perform in Italy. Perissinotto talked with his good friend Mimmo and a concert and recording session were arranged. (In July, Long Song will release another Fonda-Fujii duet album recorded later on the same tour.) They had never heard Mimmo before, but “Joe and I listened to his music and we both had the feeling this would be great,” Fujii says. 

They were wise to trust their feelings; the album is consistently engaging. The music they make transforms and flows effortlessly while always maintaining focus. There is no sense of Mimmo intruding on established duo partners, but instead there’s a beautiful, almost classical, balance to the ensemble, with each musician engaging equally in an intimate conversation. The centerpiece of the album is the 40-minute long improvisation “Birthday Girl,” a title which highlights Fujii’s youthful spirit. The music evolves organically as the trio splits into different instrumental combinations and shifts between lyricism and abstraction, highly rhythmic passages and gently flowing ones. 

“It’s just amazing how we can communicate with other musicians even if we don’t speak the same language,” Fujii says. “Of course, there are certain things we only can say with spoken language, but musical language is a more direct communication between soul and soul.”

After their marathon improvisation, they decided to play several shorter pieces to round out the album. Each one is distinct in character. “Accidental Partner” is a quiet little gem that unfolds over Fonda’s rich bowed tones. “No More Bugs” is a busy piece in which the players scurry around one another. The spare, powerfully atmospheric “Available Gravity” neatly balances abstraction and pure sound with lyrical wood flute and soprano sax. “Joe Melts the Water Boiler” is a tightly integrated collective improvisation.

“I think all my musical experience prepares me for improvisations like this album,” Fujii says. “Practicing and composing both feed into improvisation. I just need to trust myself and accept myself. Actually, my whole my life is practice for free improv.”

Fujii’s unprecedented birthday bash continues in June with 1538 by This Is It!, a trio featuring Fujii with Natsuki Tamura on trumpet and Takashi Itani on percussion. Fujii and bassist Fonda follow up their acclaimed 2016 duo album with MIZU in July. Look for a concert recording by Quartet Mahobin, featuring Fujji, Tamura, saxophonist Lotte Anker, and Ikue Mori on laptop in August, and Fujii’s duet with Australian keyboardist Alister Spence in September. Later in the year, a new recording by Orchestra Tokyo and the debut of a new piano-bass-drums trio will arrive and there will be one more coming before the end of 2018. All together it’s an unforgettable outpouring of musical riches. 

Joe Fonda “is a serious seeker of new musical horizons,” says the Boston Phoenix. From 1984 to 1999, he was the bassist with composer-improviser and NEA Jazz Master Anthony Braxton. Fonda also has been an integral member of several cooperative bands, including the Fonda-Stevens Group with Michael Jefry Stevens, Herb Robertson, and Harvey Sorgen; Conference Call, with Gebhard Ullmann, Stevens, and George Schuller; the Fab Trio with Barry Altschul and Billy Bang; and the Nu Band with Mark Whitecage, Roy Campbell, and Lou Grassi. He is currently a member of The 3dom Factor, Altschul’s trio with saxophonist Jon Irabagon, and guitarist Michael Musillami’s trio, among others. He has led some truly unique ensembles of his own including From the Source, which features four instrumentalists, a tap dancer, and a body healer/vocalist; and Bottoms Out, a sextet with Gerry Hemingway, Joe Daley, Michael Rabinowitz, Claire Daly, and Gebhard Ullmann. He has released twelve recordings under his own name. 

Improviser and composer Gianni Mimmo has built an international reputation for his unique treatment of musical timbre and his exploration of advanced techniques on the soprano saxophone. Based in Milan, Italy, Gianni is known for his innovative cross-disciplinary projects with poetry, photography installations, and film, as well as solo performances and international collaborations with improvisers in the US and throughout Europe. He has worked in duos with US cellist Daniel Levin, Basque guitarist Xabier Iriondo, English violinist Alison Blunt, pianist Gianni Lenoci, and fellow soprano saxophonist Harry Sjöström. He is a member of improvising ensembles the Shoreditch Trio and the Wild Chamber Trio. He performs improvised scores for film, composes graphic scores for chamber quintets and of poetry and spoken word texts. He has operated Amirani Records since 2005.

Critics and fans alike hail pianist and composer Satoko Fujii as one of the most original voices in jazz today. She’s “a virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and a bandleader who gets the best collaborators to deliver," says John Fordham in The Guardian. In concert and on more than 80 albums as a leader or co-leader, she synthesizes jazz, contemporary classical, avant-rock, and Japanese folk music into an innovative music instantly recognizable as hers alone. Over the years, Fujii has led some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music, including her trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black, the Min-Yoh Ensemble, and an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins. Her ongoing duet project with husband Natsuki Tamura released their sixth recording, Kisaragi, in 2017. “The duo's commitment to producing new sounds based on fresh ideas is second only to their musicianship,” says Karl Ackermann in All About Jazz. Aspiration, a CD by an ad hoc band featuring Wadada Leo Smith, Tamura, and Ikue Mori, was released in 2017 to wide acclaim. “Four musicians who regularly aspire for greater heights with each venture reach the summit together on Aspiration,” writes S. Victor Aaron in Something Else. She records infrequently as an unaccompanied soloist, but Solo (Libra), the first of her 12 birthday-year albums, led Dan McClenaghan to enthuse in All About Jazz, that the album “more so than her other solo affairs—or any of her numerous ensembles for that matter—deals in beauty, delicacy of touch, graceful melodicism.” As the leader of no less than five orchestras in the U.S., Germany, and Japan, Fujii has also established herself as one of the world’s leading composers for large jazz ensembles, leading Cadence magazine to call her, “the Ellington of free jazz.” 

www.satokofujii.com

Eastern Boundary Quartet - Live at Jazzforum Bayreuth (2018)

Jazzforum Bayreuth, Germany is the location of this 2016 performance by the Eastern Boundary Quartet featuring Balazs Bagyi (drums), Mihaly Borbely (sax, tarogato), Joe Fonda (bass), and Michael Jefry Stevens (piano). All of the songs were originals – two compositions from each player. The tarogato is a woodwind instrument that visibly resembles a clarinet or sax and it gives some songs an Eastern flavor. The program is a step or so away from mainstream, straight ahead jazz but it is not difficult listening. There are some stretches and some wonderful moments as well.

1. Allegretto (Continuity Suite) 09:13

2. Tempo Rubato (Continuity Suite) 06:14

3. Turtle Waltz 04:57

4. GS#2 12:52

5. Be By Me Tonight 09:08

6. Fogoska (Tag) 09:01

7. First Thought 05:45

8. There's Too Much Sorrow Today 06:38

Michael Musillami Trio +2 - Life Anthem (PLAYSCAPE RECORDINGS 2018)

Playscape Recordings is proud to release Life Anthem (PSR#091717), featuring veteran guitarist/composer Michael Musillami with his flagship trio. Life Anthem is Musillami's ninth Playscape Recordings release with the trio, featuring bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller. As he has done in the past, for this latest release Musillami augmented the trio with the addition of cornetist Kirk Knuffke and Jason Robinson on saxophones and flute.

"The MM Trio as been creating music since 2002, with our first release, Beijing being released in 2003," writes Musillami in his liner notes. "It has been, and continues to be, a wonderful journey filled with multiple tours to Canada and Europe, as well as our home in America. Life Anthem offers the trio in full bloom, fearless and on fire. The addition of Jason Robinson and Kirk Knuffke punctuates our message in all CAPS!!!”

Life Anthem documents Musillami's journey back from sudden illness followed by a months-long recovery during which this music was composed. On June 8th, 2016 Musillami woke up with what he termed as a "crashing headache." After waiting two days with what he thought was a migraine, he found himself in a life or death situation after an ambulance ride to the ER followed by a flurry of tests which revealed not only a brain hemorrhage, but (oddly) an unrelated brain tumor.

"I opened and closed this record with the title tune Life Anthem, because it is an optimistic melody," writes Musillami. "For the opening track I asked each player to play this melody alone, their own way, as they think it should be played. All renditions were beautiful. The simplicity and warm tone Kirk achieved on his horn made for a perfect opener. The most beautiful things in life can be the most simple. We closed the set out with the full ensemble in a spirited, open and free reading of the melody, Life Anthem."

"The music contained on this CD was written during late June, July and August of 2016 as I slowly recovered from my ordeal," writes Musillami. "I am happy to report that I am fine and better than ever."

1. Life Anthem (solo cornet)

2. I Hear Sirens In The Distance

3. MRI Countdown

4. Slow Bleed

5. Dr. Mohamad Khaled, Neurosurgeon

6. I'm Beginning To Feel Life's Pulse Again

7. June Recovery

8. Nurse Roe

9. ICU Blues

10. Visions

11. Night Walker

12. Renewed Focus

13. Family

14. Think Of Something Beautiful

15. Life Anthem (full ensemble)

Michael Musillami- guitar, composer

George Schuller- drums, bells

Joe Fonda- bass

Jason Robinson- tenor sax, soprano sax, alto flute

Kirk Knuffke- cornet

Anthony Braxton - Sextet (Parker) 1993 (TRI-CENTRIC FOUNDATION March 2, 2018)

"I think he exemplifies the spirit Charlie Parker had - the fact that he dares to do something different, to try another direction." (Max Roach discussing Anthony Braxton) 

On March 2nd, 2018, the Tri-Centric Foundation and New Braxton House Records will release Anthony Braxton's "Sextet (Parker) 1993" - an epic 11-CD deluxe box set meticulously documenting Braxton's now legendary European tour performing music composed by and associated with Charlie Parker. As Stuart Broomer writes in his extensive liner essay, "we've come across a signal here in which two of the greatest minds of African-American music have somehow crossed their signals, crossed and combined, fused, modulated, and combined with others." 

Widely revered as one of the most original composers and conceptualists of the past fifty years, Anthony Braxton has also pursued his own idiosyncratic path through the jazz repertoire throughout his career - from his 1974 recording "What's New in the Tradition" to his seven-album tribute to Lennie Tristano, "Quintet (Tristano) 2014". This Charlie Parker project stands as the centerpiece of that journey, a body of music that simultaneously acknowledges, expands, and explodes the bebop tradition, re-radicalizing Parker's musical revolution. 

As Braxton approaches his 75th birthday (arriving in 2020), and increasingly his own compositions became favored repertoire of emerging musicians from both the jazz and new music communities the world over, it is fascinating to see his in-depth examination of another artist's oeuvre. This recording offers insight on both Braxton and Parker - demonstrating the clear roots of a still-searching experimentalist, and reminding the listener of the joyful liberation inherent in Parker's genius. 

Braxton is joined by an extraordinary band well-versed in both the jazz tradition and creative music practice: pioneering Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg, the undersung trumpet master Paul Smoker, Chicago tenor sax stalwart Ari Brown, the rock-solid bassist Joe Fonda, and the volcanic drummer Pheeroan akLaff. (Another Dutch jazz innovator, drummer Han Bennink, substitutes for akLaff on one disc). Representing multiple communities, styles, and generations, the interplay between the performers is sublime. Each musician is pushed to the height of their skills and rises to the challenge in this one-time only meeting - never again would this group assemble. (With the recent passing of Smoker and Mengelberg, the set also serves as a worthy tribute to their brilliance.) 

Near the 25th anniversary of the original recordings, this reissue massively expands upon the original two-disc set released in 1995 by Hathut Records under the title "Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project 1993." The deluxe 11-CD box set, with a 26-page booklet including Broomer's insightful essay and rare historical photographs, will be solely available in a limited-edition run of 500 copies. (The music will also be available for streaming or digital download via Bandcamp.) As Broomer writes, "The music satisfies a special need, engendered by jazz as history and idea, for simultaneous movements in time, both forwards and back, these ecstatic arcs in time that link these musicians and this art in a thousand ways, the ways in which this music never sounds contrived, the way it shares with us its own expansive space."

1. Confirmation 10:27

2. Quasimodo 10:33

3. Don't Blame Me 12:05

4. Repetition 05:06

5. Klactoveedsedstene 06:44

6. Relaxin' At Camarillo 15:39

7. Darn That Dream 11:49

8. Hot House 14:06

9. Laura 08:43

10. Scrapple From The Apple 05:18

11. Bebop 17:06

12. Charlie's Wig 06:51

13. Klactoveedsedstene 06:49

14. Autumn In New York 09:10

15. Parker Melodies 34:47

16. Yardbird Suite 09:25

17. Ari/Misha Duo 01:48

18. Charlie's Wig 06:36

19. Klactoveedsedstene 06:51

20. A Night In Tunisia 08:30

21. Another Hair-Do 10:37

22. Sippin' At Bell's 04:10

23. An Oscar For Treadwell 09:00

24. Bongo Bop 07:14

25. Blues For Alice 11:13

26. Dewey Square 15:33

27. Mohawk 03:34

28. Repetition 04:17

29. An Oscar For Treadwell 07:56

30. A Night In Tunisia 06:23

31. Quasimodo 10:01

32. Cardboard 08:16

33. Koko 07:30

34. Milestones 07:47

35. Hot House 12:52

36. Klactoveedsedstene 07:07

37. Yardbird Suite 08:10

38. Passport 06:20

39. Repetition 04:20

40. A Night In Tunisia 06:22

41. Hot House 15:51

42. A Night In Tunisia 08:59

43. An Oscar For Treadwell 19:22

44. Dewey Square 12:25

45. Repetition 05:11

46. Klactoveedsedstene 10:49

47. Hot House 15:18

48. Another Hair-Do 16:26

49. April In Paris 04:59

50. An Oscar For Treadwell 28:32

51. Repetition 05:12

52. Don't Blame Me 10:37

53. Confirmation 13:03

54. A Night In Tunisia 11:41

55. Dewey Square 14:52

56. Klactoveedsedstene 05:34

57. Darn That Dream 12:05

58. Autumn In New York 07:56

59. Sippin' At Bell's 05:35

60. Bebop 08:25

61. Another Hair-Do 10:32

62. Koko 07:13

63. Repetition 05:03

64. Cardboard 10:10

65. Blues For Alice 10:34

66. Confirmation 10:12

67. Don't Blame Me 13:05

68. Cheryl 09:39

Released March 2, 2018 

Anthony Braxton - alto and soprano saxophone, flute, contrabass clarinet, piano

Ari Brown - tenor and soprano saxophone

Paul Smoker - trumpet, flugelhorn

Misha Mengelberg - piano

Joe Fonda - bass

Pheeroan akLaff - drums (all tracks expect 41-46)

Han Bennink - drums (tracks 41-46 only)

TRI-CENTRIC FOUNDATION

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