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Dave Fox

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In his career, the inventive keyboardist-composer Dave Fox has created a distinctive and appealing musical personality along with more than his share of memorable music. He is easily recognizable whether playing modern mainstream jazz, avant-garde explorations, rock or original classical pieces.

Dave first became interested in becoming a jazz musician when he heard Chick Corea on one of the early Return To Forever albums. He earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in classical music, developing his jazz chops on his own. Since 1996 he has taught at Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina. One of Dave's recordings as a jazz musician is as a sideman on The Greg Hyslop Trio, a set from 2000 that mostly consists of inventive versions of standards.

Around that time, Dave became very interested in the concept of free improvisation. "I realized that improvisation is more than just learning licks, scales and chords. It is a mindset, a musical philosophy. I began to make up music on the spot and looked for other musicians who were into that concept." Forming a quartet, Dave recorded Gatewalk, a powerful set of avant-garde jazz. Playing electric keyboards, Dave Fox led his group through a dozen free improvisations that utilized sparse and minimalistic melodies. His next recording was the solo keyboard album Dedication Suite which found Dave utilizing some stronger melodies, even while taking startling and improvisations worthy of Cecil Taylor.

In 2004, Dave Fox began an association with the innovative guitarist Eugene Chadbourne, premiering Dave's composition "Sonata For Banjo And Piano," recording a live duet album (Foxbourne Chronicles) and touring France. Next, in 2006 he recorded passionate free form music with a quartet on ORM. But he was starting to search for something else. "I began to feel a need to explore more melodic music without completely abandoning the free jazz influences. I become very interested in improvising chordal jazz, reworking standards in an original way." 2007's quartet CD If These Songs Could Talk features Dave alternating standards with original jazz composition. His creative renditions of such familiar material as "Cherokee," "Going Out Of My Head" and "I'm In The Mood For Love" made the songs sound fresh and brand new.

One of Dave's best received recordings is 2008's Home Again. Teamed with guitarist Bruce Eisenbeil, Dave plays a variety of inventive solos on such colorful titles as "Of All The Tapas Bars In The World," "The Well-Prepared Suitcase" and "An Encounter With A Street Troll." This memorable set was picked up by the German Konnex label and received a lot of attention, including being named “Whack Album of the year” by PICO of the online publication Something Else.

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173
Album Review

Dave Fox Group featuring Bruce Eisenbeil: Home Again

Read "Home Again" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


The third release of the Dave Fox group, augmented now by avant-guitarist Bruce Eisenbeil, presents free improvised music at its best. This is adventurous music that's raw, muscular, unstructured, intense, idiosyncratic in its risk-taking approach but still cohesive in a unique way.

The group is comprised of North Carolina's Greensboro College music educator Fox (here on Fender Rhodes, Hohner clavinet, grand piano and Hammond B3 organ) and New York-based Eisenbeil on guitars--quite often processing their sound--alongside Fox's musical partners, bassist ...

226
Album Review

Dave Fox: Dedication Suite

Read "Dedication Suite" reviewed by Eddie Becton


Although Dedication Suite is reminiscent of New York City's creative improv scene, pianist Dave Fox resides in North Carolina, quite removed from the Big Apple. Where many jazz fans embrace soft melodies and rhythms of the likes of Horace Silver and McCoy Tyner, Fox not only pushes the envelope, he simply ignites it. At times, he pursues subtle harmonies and complex rhythms, and just as you're beginning to settle in, bang!--a completely different direction.

On “Dedication #2: Impromptu," Fox begins ...

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Home Again

Label: Konnex

Web: http://www.konnex-records.de/

Personnel: Dave Fox, keyboard; Bruce Eisenbeil, guitar; Pat Lawrence, bass; Jon Marc Ryan Dale, percussion.

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By Pico

Dave Fox teaches piano courses at Greensboro College in North Carolina, but the stuff he's puttin' down with his combo The Dave Fox Group couldn't be any more opposite of what you'd find in a classroom setting. It simply has too much panache for formal academic study.

The DFG, consisting of Fox on various keyboards, Jon Marc Ryan Dale on drums and Pat Lawrence on bass, make music that doesn't bend for convention. Heck, it doesn't bend for anything. It's free-form jazz that finds kinship with Cecil Taylor, Paul Bley and just about anybody who's recorded for ESP-Disk. They compose their songs collectively on the spot, most likely as the tape is rolling.

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Home Again

Konnex Records
2009

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Dedication Suite

Umbrella Recordings
2006

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