Tag: Jon Fishman

Jon Fishman credits Syracuse Radio Station’s “Rock Block” during Thanksgiving Episode of “Errant Path”

Syracuse, New York is a comfortable corridor of the state to spend the holidays. Dewitt native Jon Fishman told his satellite radio audience during “The Errant Path”s 63rd episode about featured artist Yma Sumac. Before Yma’s airplay Fishman said “we’re gonna do a couple of her songs back to back through out the show. Like a Rock Block of Yma Sumac music. When I would listen to 95X as a kid they would have these great rock blocks. That’s what your gonna get”

Like Lou Reed who did more than just hear a New York station and play some Rock & Roll… Reed was also a host at a Syracuse University radio station that dropped him because he was “just too weird and cutting edge”. In similar fashion Fishman’s show is also educational. He informed that Yma Sumac could possibly have the widest vocal range of all time. The Peruvian Soprano could span four and a half octaves. Fishman is accurate in picturing her work inside a Quintin Tarantino movie.

Fishman played Herbie Hancocks production of Thelonius Monks composition “Round Midnight” during the episode. NYS music spoke with Trey Anastasio, Tony Markellis, Russ Lawton and Ray Paczkowski about “Thelonius Monks Tips for a gig” this past Year. Catch Fishman on the TAB tune “In Rounds” from the Radio City tape this past Fall channeling Monk’s concepts Live.

The errant path has a buzz. It has an Airheads quality to it. It’s even had interviews with Funkadelic’s Bootsy Collins and Steve Cropper of Stax Records. Fishman also has intuition for the trails different paths under the moon. On his August 18 “Errant Path” episode, Fishman closed the show for all of us on tour sleeping under strange skies with “Moonlight Mile” by the Stones. He then commented ”For me the sound and feel of Charlie Watts will never get old. I just love that guys drumming. It stands up no matter what’s before it or after.” This episode was out in orbit a week prior to Charlie Watts giving up his ghost. After his first tour with The Rolling Stones drummer Steve Jordan told Rolling Stone that “Moonlight Mile” was played a lot during rehearsals and that he is still lobbying to play that live if there are more shows in the future.

Fishman gave a great B side nod to The Band the night before Thanksgiving that holds “The Last Waltz” in mind for all out on the town. From their 1999 Tangled up in Blues album with a young Derek Trucks playing rip snorting slide guitar on Bob Dylan’s “One Too Many Mornings.”

Jon Fishman said that Thanksgiving and Valentines Day are his two favorite holidays. “What two things are better than love and being Grateful?” “Halloween is a good one too because it’s fun. That’s also important”

Fishman’s goal during each Errant path episode is to hopefully provide all three. He paid tribute to his own musical journey on air and live from the great Bob Marley’s words… we come to conquer all of the evil in the world using nothing but music. Fishman said “I think that’s pretty much the best intent that you can have from a musical perspective”

Bob Marley told the Landmark Theater in Syracuse in 1978 “Reggae Music is like the news, it’s the peoples music. Herb is the healing of the nation right?” Fish attended a King Crimson Show at the Landmark during his years in Syracuse. On October 5 2001, Jon Fishman had Merl Saunders and his Funky Friends, Col. Bruce Hampton and the Code Talkers, and Sand Bear play the Landmark as a tribute to his mother, philanthropist and longtime Syracuse artist Mimi Fishman.

Mimi Fishman Art, Eggplant Diner Syracuse

Jon & Merl treated the crowd to an improvisational jazz jam that launched in to a Latin flavored rendition of “Fire on The Mountain”. Like Woodstock’s Levon, Cuse’s Fish led the whole cast through “The Weight” and “Turn on your Love Light” with Colonel Bruce Hampton. Steely Dan just closed their Absolutely Normal Tour at Landmark on Tuesday night. David Byrne brought his American Utopia to Landmark in September 2018. Ringo Starr had his All Star Band to Landmark in 2000. The Rolling Stones spent Thanksgiving in Syracuse in 1981 performing two shows at the Dome over the holidays.

Artists such as Alan Evans from Buffalo, Steve Gadd from Rochester and Jon Fishman from Syracuse are part of a rock block of Upstate New York drummers. They link off that unbroken chain of groove that keeps inspiring the young cats. Fish definitely locked in to the rhythm of the saints on his nine piece kit trailing off Cyro Baptista’s bells and whistles at Radio City on October 3 4 2021. Remember at Dinosaur BBQ when he told the table that his groove on Phish’s Fee was influenced by Sade’s Smooth Operator? Don’t doubt me. Enjoy Phish’s Dinner and a Movie for left over Clifford Ball footage all weekend. Fish & Phish return live to Madison Square Garden December 29 through New Years Day. Fish gets down with New Orleans cats George Porter Jr and legendary percussionist Cyril Neville on some Dead tunes in March 2022 in Maine.

November 26, 2021
Phish Opens Fall Tour, Honors ‘Billy Breathes’ in Lake Placid: October 16, 1996
With the Clifford Ball and their first massive festival now in the rearview mirror, Phish began their fall tour just two months later in Lake Placid, NY. Conveniently, the tour opener was scheduled for the day after the release of Billy Breathes, their sixth studio album which was recorded in Bearsville, NY earlier in the year.

This show would seem to serve as a celebration of that, with a whopping nine songs pulled from it for duty this evening. Combined with the usual tour opening gaffs, it doesn’t make for the most free-flowing of shows in the world, but certainly offers more than a good glimpse of Phish at a time when they are skyrocketing in popularity while still trying to find ways to innovate and explore new musical paths. After two acclaimed shows at the Olympic Center last year, Phish would return for their third and final show at Lake Placid to date.

Accordingly, the show begins with the first of many selections from Billy Breathes in “Cars Trucks Buses.” A feisty Page McConnell piano solo highlights this one and gets a serious round of applause from the Lake Placid crowd. This immediately gives way to the familiar ambient noise and iconic bass lick opening of “Down With Disease.” Trey flubs a few of the early lyrics but still manages to nail his signature guitar riff before the band is off and running with a first set jam that stalls early before picking up speed instantly and coming to rousing climax.
Fall Tour “Cars Trucks Buses” shirt courtesy of Warren Baker via PhanArt
After a standard run through of “Wilson,” Jon Fishman cranks up the percussive intro to “Buried Alive” which yields another hearty Anastasio guitar solo. The tempo goes up even another notch with the juiced up “Poor Heart” that follows and is played to perfection. Then it’s back to the Billy Breathes catalog with album’s title track, which was also played in soundcheck before the show. McConnell, Anastasio and bassist Mike Gordon nail the complex vocal harmonies before going into the instrumental section that doesn’t stray too far from the studio version.

Fall tour postcard via PhanArt

“Mound” and “Sample In A Jar,” two traditional first set building blocks, are each played with precision, with the latter garnering another giant round of applause from the Lake Placid faithful. In addition to “Mound,” the rest of the first set is peppered with more cuts from Phish’s acclaimed Rift album like “It’s Ice,” which has a little trouble on the dismount, and the traditional “The Horse” and “Silent In The Morning” pairing. The “I think that this exact thing happened to me just last year” lyric in “Morning” is especially apt here, with two Phish shows occurring at this very same venue just eleven months ago, technically last year. And as it tends to do, “Character Zero” closes out the first set with its customary panache.

Tonight’s second set begins with “Wolfman’s Brother” which produces another mild jam that doesn’t veer too far. This is succeeded by “Taste,” another Billy Breathes tune that goes a little deeper and features some wonderfully dissonant guitar phrasing from Trey. Things then slow down tremendously as Mike Gordon leads the band through his contribution to the new album, “Train Song,” only the fifth one ever performed at this point.

Lake Placis fan poster, image courtesy Warren Baker

Phish then revs the Lake Placid engine back up with the opening licks to “Simple.” This features, by far, the most exploratory improvisation of the night with another jam that has good intentions but never seems to really lift off the ground. An extended ambient-sounding section soon gives way to heavy drum and bass with Anastasio feverishly working his guitar’s funky “wah” tone. Meanwhile, Page is rotating between organ fills and pounding on the piano before Trey jumps on his percussion kit that was on stage these days. As the lone extended jam of the evening, it failed to strike a chord with at least one attendee this evening.

That Simple is by far the most interesting song of the night, foreshadowing that it will be one of the top-tier jam vehicles for the rest of the year. But a large span of its 16 minutes are spent with Trey on his percussion kit, with Page switching between organ and piano to try to keep it afloat, unconvincingly. It’s an example of the mini-kit as momentum-killer, and more broadly, of Trey’s well-meaning but wrong-footed attempt at forcing band democracy.
Rob Mitchum

Phish then goes back to the Billy Breathes playbook in a big way with the three songs that follow, starting with the first ever performances of “Swept Away” and “Steep.” Both go off without a hitch and at the explosive end of “Steep,” the opening chords of “Prince Caspian” immediately begin. McConnell leads the way on this one with some thunderous play on piano early before it winds down. “Run Like An Antelope” then rears its head, much to the delight of the crowd, starting a vintage show-closing sequence. The band takes their time with this one and delivers a mesmerizingly dark jam that gradually gains intensity and a slew of audio effects before peaking.

“The Squirming Coil” has a few rough edges as well but is bailed out by its customary delightful piano solo ending from McConnell. And in a show full of original material, some of it brand new, Phish does throw one cover into the mix with a ferocious take on Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” This allows one last chance for Trey to lay down another few blistering runs on the fretboard and he takes full advantage. The encore for this evening should come as no surprise. It’s “Waste,” the ninth and final selection from Billy Breathes for the evening. With the tour opener now under their belt, Phish would then travel to Pennsylvania for two gigs before returning to Upstate New York in Buffalo for a show at Marine Midland Arena three days later.

You can listen to this 25th anniversary show at Relisten or Phishtracks.

Phish Olympic Center – Lake Placid, NY 10/16/96

Set 1: Cars Trucks Buses, Down With Disease, Wilson > Buried Alive > Poor Heart, Billy Breathes, Mound > Sample In A Jar, It’s Ice, The Horse > Silent In The Morning, Character Zero

Set 2: Wolfman’s Brother, Taste, Train Song, Simple > Swept Away > Steep > Prince Caspian, The Squirming Coil, Johnny B. Goode

E: Waste
October 16, 2021
Trey Anastasio Band Bring New Life To Classics At Radio City Music Hall

Trey Anastasio Band officially closed out their fall tour with back-to-back shows at Radio City Music Hall over Saturday, October 2nd and Sunday October 3rd. It was the group’s first performance at the legendary venue since 2018’s ” A Concert for Island Relief,” where TAB teamed up with Dave Matthews Band and more to raise money for hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

photo by Rene Heumer

This year’s Radio City shows arrived during a similarly turbulent time for both the world and Trey Anastasio Band. Despite the band’ precautions, the lineup was drastically affected by COVID – 19. First came the loss of Jennifer Hartswick to a mild case of the virus, which put the rest of the brass section in quarantine. Then, shortly before a Columbus, Ohio show, Russ Lawton tested positive as well. Thus, on Saturday night, TAB performed as a five piece, with Jon Fishman again stepping in for Lawton.

As Ray Paczkowski put it:

We thought about it like, half the band is TAB, half the band is Phish. And we want it to sound like something that isn’t quite either.

Though powerhouses like Hartswick and Russ Lawton were impossible not to miss, the tapered-down nature of the band allowed TAB the freedom to improvise. The set stayed playful and experimental throughout, and Jon Fishman’s presence behind the drum kit felt familiar while adding a layer of mystery.

Furthermore, a smaller band gave newer members an opportunity to shine. Bassist Dezron Douglas joined the band this fall with enormous shoes to fill after the tragic loss of Tony Markellis. Markellis, who joined Trey’s earliest solo project in 1998, was a force of nature and a steady heartbeat within the band. Though Markellis remains one-of-a-kind, Douglas’ jazz roots and dexterous abilities add a new element to TAB. Reportedly, Russ Lawton specifically requested working with Douglas as the band sought a new bassist for this tour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KklDY5VjUkI

Douglas, who studied at the Hartford Conservatory of Music with Hartswick, brings the life and freedom of jazz to his masterful electric bass work. A classically trained double-bassist who first heard Phish in high school, he embodies the timeless quality of TAB’s music. No matter how many times TAB has performed a song, it never feels the same. Their music, like their ensemble, grows and changes as the years go on.

With their rendition of “Mr. Completely” thoroughly embodying their ability to rejuvenate old classics. Highlights included Douglas’ perfect syncopation on bass to Cyro Baptista’s insane percussion break, where he built a beat out of bird calls as the rest of the band went silent. The energy in the audience marked a TAB show at its very best; fans of all ages focused on letting a rhythm take them, dancing their hearts out together. For some 20-odd minutes, the harmony rang throughout the audience.

Despite setbacks along the road and the constraints of touring during COVID-19, the TAB live experience was fully intact at Radio City. After their hiatus from the venue, TAB offered a little bit of everything, from a heartwrenching Paczkowski/Anastasio duet of “Shade” to crowd favorite “Twist.” The packed house got a joyous and poignant set that honored those missing and welcomed new (and familiar) faces back again. As Paczkowski said, the goal was to create something a little TAB, a little Phish, but also new and singular. By the time TAB landed on classic closer “First Tube,” the crowd dancing madly in the aisles, it was clear that job was done.

Setlist via Phish.net

Trey Anastasio Band – Radio City Music Hall, New York City – Sunday, October 3, 2021

Set 1: 46 Days, Tube, In Rounds, Gotta Jibboo, Cayman Review > Blaze On

Set 2: Party Time > Ghost > Mr. Completely, Shade > Twist

Encore: When the Words Go Away*, Theme From the Bottom*, More*, First Tube

* = Trey Anastasio solo acoustic

Sunday review by Matt Romano

The final evening of Trey Anastasio Band’s 2021 tour was a Sunday to remember. The revolving cast of musicians included Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman’s first time together on the infamous stage at Radio City since Spring of 2000. It’s important to understand the level of composition versus improvisation Trey’s music takes on for whomever joins him on stage. Keyboardist Ray Packzkowski, percussionist Cyro Baptista and bassist Dezron Douglas were all the right cats to join in the moment at Rockefeller.

A nod to the NYC subways helped the show open with “Get Back on the Train.” Having Cyro add another layer of percussion to Fishman’s grooves all night was reminiscent of Phish’s Halloween’s shows in Atlantic City 2010 with Giovanni Hidalgo and Atlanta 1996 with Karl Perrazo. Dezron Douglas’ bottom end locked in with them served up the funkiest “Moma Dance” to date that clocked in over 20 minutes. “Undermind” also included heavy drum grooves with Jon and Cyro exploring all of the skins in front of them. “Ocelot,” “Set Your Soul Free” and a chilling set closing “Dark and Down” helped wrap up a complete jam heavy 6-song set.

The second set opened the Art Deco venue with Tony Markellis’ infamous bass line to “Sand” This ensemble really had all three mezzanines grooving immediately. Paczkowski’s rig sounded as if it was coming from Radio City’s organ in the main theatre, the largest instrument ever built by the Wurlitzer company. “Everything’s Right” served up the longest layer of improvisation clocking in at over 35 minutes of sound stretching out to the grand foyer. Ups, downs, ins and outs… it was hair raising. Trey returned to his Upper West Side abode for “Lonely Trip” and never “Never Left Home,” recorded solo during his NYC quarantine. Dezron Douglas’ bass line sounds like jelly jam to Trey’s lyrics on this. “Oh, I’ll never be halted, I always shall roam. Oh, scaling the cliffs and enjoying the view” The band then closed the show with a dark and extended “Carini.”

The encore was full of special dedications and moments to TAB members current and past. Trey let the crowd know that members Russ Lawton, Jennifer Hartswick, Natalie Cressman, Coachema Gastelum and James Casey were all in good health and on the mend despite their absence. A soul Sunday nod to Markellis was sent out to the theater as well. Trey appropriately performed “Strange Design” and “Backwards Down the Number Line” on the acoustic guitar to reference all these friends as part of the tour’s ever changing ride.

He then invited special guest James Casey to the stage in hand with alto soprano sax for backing vocals on the last three songs. “Evolve” “Rise/Come Together” and “Life Beyond a Dream” Casey’s sax blew like Branford under the great proscenium arch that sits above the stage. All three songs’ message is saturated in positivity and optimism towards whatever life can throw at you. Love is the message here. “We’re all looking for a little more love to shine a light and lift us up,” “Don’t give up hope. Keep on dreaming.”

Setlist via Phish.net

Trey Anastasio Band – Radio City Music Hall, New York City – Sunday, October 3, 2021

Set 1: Back on the Train > The Moma Dance, Undermind > Ocelot, Set Your Soul Free, Dark and Down

Set 2: Sand, Everything’s Right, Lonely Trip, I Never Left Home > Carini

Encore: Strange Design ^[1], Backwards Down the Number Line^[1], Evolve ^[2], Rise/Come Together ^[3], A Life Beyond The Dream^[3]
[1] Trey solo acoustic.
[2] With James Casey on saxophone.
[3] With James Casey on additional vocals and saxophone.

October 5, 2021