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Joe Fonda

Joe Fonda is a composer, bassist, recording artist, interdisciplinary performer, and producer.

An accomplished international Jazz artist, Fonda has performed with his own ensembles throughout the United States and Europe, and as a side man with Archie Shepp, Ken McIntyre, Lou Donaldson, Bill and Kenny Barron, Leo Smith, Perry Robinson, Dave Douglas, Curtis Fuller, Mark Whitecage, Marion Brown, and Bill Dixon.

Fonda was the bassist with the renowned Anthony Braxton sextet, octet, tentet, from 1984 through 1999. Fonda also sat on the Board of Directors from 1994 to 1999, and was the President from 1997 to 1999 of the newly formed Tri-Centric Foundation. He has also performed with the 38-piece Tri-Centric orchestra under the direction of Anthony Braxton, and was the bassist for the premiere performance of Anthony Braxton’s opera, "Shalla Fears for the Poor," performed at the John Jay Theater in New York, New York, October 1996.

As a composer, Fonda has been the recipient of numerous grants and commissions and has released eight recordings under his own name. (Reviews and recordings available). Fonda was also a member of The Creative Musicians Improvisors Forum directed by Leo Smith, and was the bassist with the American Tap Dance Orchestra in New York City, directed by world renowned tap dancer, Brenda Bufalino.

In 1989, Fonda performed with Fred Ho's Jazz and Peking opera in its world premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. From 1982 to 1986 Fonda was the bassist and dancer with the Sonomama Dance Company. An independent producer since 1978, Fonda is the founding director of Kaleidoscope Arts and interdisciplinary performance ensemble.

Currently Fonda has been recording and touring extensively with the Fonda-Stevens Group. They have released five CDs and have had seven European tours since 1997, with performances at the Bim huis in Amsterdam, Holland, the Prague Jazz Festival, Czech Republic, the Jazz Halo Festival, Belgium, and Jazz Festival Thurinsen, Weimer, Germany.

Three of Fonda’s most recent projects are From the Source, Conference Call and the FAB Trio.

From the Source is a group that incorporates the tap dancing and poetry of Brenda Bufalino and the healing arts of Vicki Dodd, and four jazz musicians. The group has released their first CD entitled, Joe Fonda and From the Source, on Konnex Records.

Conference Call is a quartet, featuring drummers, Han Benik and Matt Wilson, with pianist Michael Stevens, and bass Joe Fonda. Conference Call has released two CDs, one of Soul Note, Final Answer and one on Leo Records Variations on a Master Plan.

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Album Review

Michael Musillami Trio: Block Party

Read "Block Party" reviewed by Troy Dostert


A relentlessly active and inventive guitarist whose first recordings date back to the '80s, Michael Musillami began to hit his stride in the '90s alongside veterans of the New York downtown scene such as bassist Mario Pavone, drummer Michael Sarin and saxophonist Thomas Chapin. But one of his foremost partnerships took shape in the early 2000s, when he first teamed with bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller, themselves long-standing veterans of creative jazz. Twenty years and ten albums later, ...

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Album Review

Dreamstruck: With Grace In Mind

Read "With Grace In Mind" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


With over one hundred and twenty-five years of gigging and recording between them, one might rightfully argue that pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Joe Fonda, and drummer Harvey Sorgen have said, played, performed, and heard everything that needs be said, played, performed, and heard. The argument could continue that the trio-- Dreamstruck-- have individually and collectively contributed to some of the best by such fellow travelers as Anthony Braxton, Karl Berger, Carla Bley, Archie Shepp, Paul Motian, and Pauline Oliveros. But, ...

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Album Review

OGJB Quartet: Ode To O

Read "Ode To O" reviewed by John Sharpe


An assemblage of stars doesn't always result in a constellation. But astronomers will need to take note in the case of the OGJB Quartet, called after the forename initials of the four members: reedman Oliver Lake, cornetist Graham Haynes, bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Barry Altschul. On the venerable collective's second album Ode To O following their eponymous debut in 2019, one of the most striking traits is how much they sound like a band. As might be expected in ...

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Album Review

The OGJB Quartet: Ode To O

Read "Ode To O" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


The OGJB Quartet, a formidable all-star grouping of saxophonist Oliver Lake, cornetist Graham Haynes, bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Barry Altschul, are back with their second album, one even more wide-ranging and soulful than their first, Bamako, (TUM, 2019). The album combines tracks based on gutbucket rhythms with others full of exploratory abstractions. The album title, Ode To O, refers to Ornette Coleman and the title track, written by Altschul, has he and Fonda laying down an assured ...

2
Album Review

Satoko Fujii & Joe Fonda: Thread Of Light

Read "Thread Of Light" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Damn the liner notes! If you didn't read the explanation of how this duo recording was produced, you would never guess it was not a studio session between pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda. Thread Of Light was actually a product of the pandemic isolation, with Fujii in Kobe, Japan, and Fonda in New York. At the suggestion of Fonda, the pianist recorded her parts at home and sent music files to the bassist to study and, in time, ...

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Album Review

Satoko Fujii & Joe Fonda: Thread Of Light

Read "Thread Of Light" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


When pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda first recorded together in 2016 on Duet, it was a shot in the dark. Neither was familiar with the other's music. Nevertheless, that album generated outstanding synergy between these two master improvisers. So much so, that in a few short years they have recorded five albums together, occasionally in the company of other artists including Natsuki Tamura. The duo returns with Thread of Light an inventive and unusually produced album.

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Album Review

Satoko Fujii & Joe Fonda: Thread Of Light

Read "Thread Of Light" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Music finds a way. The potentially deadly Covid-19 virus and the quarantines cannot stop it; they cannot even slow it down. Resourceful artists continue to create, and pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda continue to be perhaps the most resourceful and creative voices out there. Thread of Light, the Fujii/Fonda teaming's fifth album release, came about in a way unlike anything they had done together before. Stymied by the quarantine, Fonda emailed Fujii and expressed his frustrations ...

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154

Interview

Bassist Joe Fonda Interviewed at AAJ

Bassist Joe Fonda Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

Bassist Joe Fonda has nourished so many groups and projects with his unerring time, deep and constant imagination and rich tone that one struggles to imagine a New York jazz scene that doesn't include him. He's played as a sideman with dozens of great, prominent players (including Anthony Braxton, with whom he played in various musical combinations for 15 years) and has led, and still leads, a number of his own groups--none of them less than worth hearing, and most ...

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Performance / Tour

Fab Trio Joe Fonda, Barry Altschul, & Billy Bang Sweet Rhythm Fri. & Sat. Feb 8 & 9 Sets @ 8PM 10PM & 12PM

Fab Trio Joe Fonda, Barry Altschul, & Billy Bang Sweet Rhythm Fri. & Sat. Feb 8 & 9 Sets @ 8PM 10PM & 12PM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

F A B Trio Joe Fonda, bass Barry Altschul, drums Billy Bang, violin at Sweet Rhythm 88 Seventh Avenue South (at Bleecker St) New York, NY 10014 (212) 255-3626 Fri. & Sat. Feb 8 & 9 Sets @ 8pm 10pm & Midnight Manhattan-based bassist Joe Fonda assembled this unconventional trio on an uncanny hunch that the combination of sonorities and ...

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Performance / Tour

Insell/Fonda Duo "Loft Party" Series Williamsburg Music Center Jan.11, 2008 1 Set: 10 PM

Insell/Fonda Duo "Loft Party" Series Williamsburg Music Center Jan.11, 2008 1 Set: 10 PM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Judith Insell - Joe Fonda Duo Viola - Bass A Unique jazz duo that explores the Rich Timbres and Harmonic possibilities of two String instruments, Through Original Compositions and Lesser-Known Jazz Standards. Performing Selections from The Upcoming Debut CD: “Dark wood Explorations" Friday, January 11, 2008 1 set: 10 pm “Loft Party" Series Williamsburg Music Center 369 Bedford Avenue (@ South 5th. Street) Brooklyn, ...

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Performance / Tour

Judith Insell-Joe Fonda Duo the Player's Theater 1st Annual Arts Festival Sunday, December 16th 1 Set: 4PM

Judith Insell-Joe Fonda Duo the Player's Theater 1st Annual Arts Festival Sunday, December 16th 1 Set: 4PM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Judith Insell - Joe Fonda Duo Viola - Bass A unique jazz duo that explores the rich timbres and harmonic possibilities of two string instruments, through original compositions and lesser-known jazz standards. Performing Selections from the upcoming debut CD: Dark wood Explorations Sunday, December 16, 2007 1 Set: 4pm The Player's Theater 1st Annual Arts Festival ...

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Performance / Tour

21 Century Schizoid Music (Mon) Joe Fonda (Tue) Soul of the Blues (Wed) Gnu Vox Vocal Series (Thu) Lily Maase (Fri) This Week at Cornelia Street Cafe

21 Century Schizoid Music (Mon) Joe Fonda (Tue) Soul of the Blues (Wed) Gnu Vox Vocal Series (Thu) Lily Maase (Fri) This Week at Cornelia Street Cafe

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

CORNELIA STREET CAFE 29 Cornelia Street, NYC 212-989-9319 between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, V, F to West 4th St. This Week At Cornelia Street Cafe Mon Nov 26, 8:30PM 21 CENTURY SCHIZOID MUSIC PRESENTS GENE CAPRIOGLIO Gene Caprioglio with his drone group and Italian wedding band Le Nozze di Carlo Cover $10 http://www.cdroots.com/ndc-1.html Tue Nov ...

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Performance / Tour

Judith Insell-Joe Fonda Duo the Player's Theater 1st Annual Arts Festival Sunday, December 16th 1 Set: 4PM

Judith Insell-Joe Fonda Duo the Player's Theater 1st Annual Arts Festival Sunday, December 16th 1 Set: 4PM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Judith Insell - Joe Fonda Duo Viola - Bass

A Unique jazz duo that explores the Rich Timbres and Harmonic possibilities of two String instruments, Through Original Compositions and Lesser-Known Jazz Standards.

Performing Selections from The Upcoming Debut CD: Dark wood Explorations

Sunday, December 16, 2007 1 Set: 4pm

The Player's Theater 1st Annual Arts Festival The Player's Theater 115 MacDougal St, NYC

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Performance / Tour

Fab Trio Joe Fonda, Barry Altschul, & Billy Bang Sweet Rhythm Fri. & Sat. Sep 28 -29 Sets @ 8PM 10PM & 12PM

Fab Trio Joe Fonda, Barry Altschul, & Billy Bang Sweet Rhythm Fri. & Sat. Sep 28 -29 Sets @ 8PM 10PM & 12PM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

F A B Trio Joe Fonda, bass Barry Altschul, drums Billy Bang, violin THEIR NEW YORK CITY DEBUT! at Sweet Rhythm 88 Seventh Avenue South (at Bleecker St) New York, NY 10014 (212) 255-3626 Friday, Sep 28 Sets @ 8pm 10pm & 12pm Saturday, Sep 29 Sets @ 8pm 10pm & 12pm Manhattan-based bassist Joe Fonda assembled this unconventional trio ...

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Performance / Tour

Carlos Morena with Joe Fonda & George Schuller

Carlos Morena with Joe Fonda & George Schuller

Source: All About Jazz

N E W I M P R O V @ Z E I T G E I S T G A L L E R Y 1353 Cambridge St. Inman Sq. Cambridge, Mass. 02139 617.876.6060 ~ ALL AGES ~ WWW.ZEITGEIST-GALLERY.ORG Thursday, 27 October 2005 7:30-10:00pm $12 or b/o rob chalfen & subconsciouscafe new chamber music presents Italian pianist CARLOS MORENA with JOE FONDA & GEORGE SCHULLER Carlos Morena - piano / Joe Fonda - bass / George Schuller - drums ...

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Performance / Tour

All About Jazz-New York Presents 1s & 2s Featuring KATIE BULL/JOE FONDA (7/7) at Cornelia St. Cafe

All About Jazz-New York Presents 1s & 2s Featuring KATIE BULL/JOE FONDA (7/7) at Cornelia St. Cafe

Source: All About Jazz

THURSDAY JULY 7th, 2005 AllAboutJazz-New York Presents “1s & 2s: Music For Solo & Duo" FEATURING: KATIE BULL (vocals) & JOE FONDA (bass) CD release concert of Cup of Joe, No Bull: The Bull-Fonda Duo (Corn Hill Indie) at Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street Greenwich Village, NY 10014 Tel: 212-989-9319 Fax: 212-243-4207 Web: corneliastreetcafe.com *8:30 and 10pm sets - $12/ (student discount $8) Katie Bull Katie Bull is a jazz vocalist and multi-media performer living in New York City ...

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Concerts

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Block Party

Playscape Recordings
2023

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Ode To O

TUM Records
2022

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Prism

NotTwo Records
2021

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Long Tall Sunshine

Not Two Records
2021

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Ode to O

From: Ode To O
By Joe Fonda

Long Tall Sunshine

From: Long Tall Sunshine
By Joe Fonda

Painted By Moonlight

From: Four
By Joe Fonda

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