Everybody Was Friendly

Videographer extraordinaire Marie Le Claire has posted some new footage of the BITING FISH, from our show last month at (le) Poisson Rouge in NYC. Check it out!

This month (December 2008), I’m doing something a little wild to celebrate the tenth anniversary of my musical debut.

Beginning on Tuesday, Dec.9th, I’ll be performing 10 consecutive shows, with 10 different bands, in (almost) 10 venues (one venue has two different bands over two nights).

It’s going to be a little nuts, but I’m excited…not least because I’m bringing back a number of players that have been with me over the years AND bringing back some projects that mean a lot to me. There will be a brand new showing of a revamped “we are destroyed” at galapagos , a return to the Algonquin where it all began (with my erstwhile bandmates Russell Farhang, Jon Flaugher, and special guest Orange Kellin), a new outing for the Basement Tapes project, a rock show at PIANOS, and another chance to play my newest material (with a string section!) at Joe’s Pub.

I’ve highlighted each show with its own page, so have a look on this blog, and click away to see what’s in store. Hope to see you at a few of them!

Complete show listings are on the schedule page back here.

HF

I’m pretty excited about debuting my “Romania Project” on October 24th, 2008 here in NYC with my old pal Michael Benanav.You can buy tickets here

This current blog actually gets its name from a blog I wrote a few years ago about the trip that inspired this project. You can read it here.

Performing with me will be a large cast of characters, including:
Skye Steele on violin,

Roland Barber on trombone Nathan Peck on upright bass,
Mazz Swift on viola and violin, Bill Malchow on piano and accordion and Marika Hughes on cello

Should be a pretty special night. Hope you can make it!

RSVP on Facebook!

It’s a two-night run at the Knickerbocker (for the full skinny, see the post about the first show on Friday, below).  On night #2, I’ll be joined by my old pals, Jon Flaugher on bass and Russell Farhang on violin.  Both guys played and toured with me extensively in my early days, and both are prominently featured on the CDs “I LIKE YOU A LOT” and “DO WHAT I WANT” (Russell also plays on HFQ Vols. I and II).

Jon is this guy:

Russell is this guy:

Here’s Russell at a show of ours in Chicago a few years back:r-far-in-chicago1

It’s gonna be a fun time, hope you can make it!

One of the things this blog may be useful for is to give audiences a preview of what a given upcoming show(s) will be like. Because my bands and projects change from night to night, and because they’re all simply called “Howard Fishman,” people often don’t know what to expect. Let’s start to change that a little, shall we?

 

This weekend, on Friday, 9/12 and Saturday, 9/13, I’ll be performing at the Knickerbocker in New York City (http://knickerbockerbarandgrill.com).  Both nights will feature predominantly jazz standards, played in trio format.  

 

Joining me on Friday will be Victor Lin on violin and Ian Riggs on upright bass.  Victor is this guy:

Victor toured with me extensively back in 2004. He’s a virtuosic player, swings hard, and has a strange sense of humor. Plus, at the Knickerbocker, he gets to show off his skills on both violin AND piano (his primary instrument.  

Playing bass on Friday night, is this guy:

Ian’s been playing with me fairly steadily since 2004 as well, and he appears on two of my CDs: “LOOK AT ALL THIS!” and “PERFORMS BOB DYLAN & THE BAND’S ‘BASEMENT TAPES.’” Aside from his fine, always-creative playing on the bass, Ian is also adept at singing harmonies with me and bouncing around stylistically like STEVE.

Here’s a clip of Victor and Ian playing with me a while back at BARBES:

The Knickerbocker is a funny place. It’s a well-known jazz venue, but it’s also an old-school NY culinary destination.  When the music starts at 9:45, the place is usually still jammed full of diners chowing down who may or may not know that there is live music being played.  This always makes the first set a little dodgy, from a musical perspective.  My suggestion is to come for one of the later sets: 11pm, 12:15am or 1:30am.  The kitchen is open late, so you won’t miss the food, and the noise level will abate as the evening goes on, making the music much more listener-friendly and intimate.

Jazz standards? Yeah, but as the evening wears on, that becomes a more and more relative concept of what we play, when originals, gospel and even some country music starts to work into the sets.

Hope to see you there. Don’t miss the cornbread!