Howard Fishman

Howard Fishman is a singer, guitarist, bandleader and composer from New York, NY. His music is inspired by a deep passion for New Orleans jazz, pop, gospel and country music, but is filtered through a contemporary aesthetic. Fishman began his musical career on the streets of New Orleans and in the subways of New York before making his debut at The Algonquin Oak Room in 1999.

Biography

Singer, guitarist, composer and bandleader Howard Fishman's music has made him a favorite of audiences and critics alike. Ever-evolving and increasingly difficult to pin down, Fishman filters a deep passion for New Orleans jazz, gritty pop, fervent gospel and open-hearted country music through a completely original aesthetic to create a sound entirely his own.^[1]

Fishman began his musical career on the streets of New Orleans and in the subways of New York before making his debut at The Algonquin Oak Room at the famed Algonquin Hotel in 1999. He has since headlined in major venues both in the States and abroad, including The Steppenwolf Theatre, The Blue Note, NJPAC, The Pasadena Playhouse, Joe's Pub, The Bottom Line, and Le Petit Journal in Paris. He made his Lincoln Center debut in February, 2007, when he was presented as part of this season's American Songbook series. Fishman has also been a frequent NPR guest, making feature-length appearances on "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, "World Cafe" with David Dye, "The Leonard Lopate Show" and "Soundcheck" with John Schaefer, among others.

Although primarily known as a songwriter, Fishman began his career immersed in early jazz, folk, blues, and country music, creating a bedrock of knowledge of American roots forms that, when applied to his pop, classical and experimental leanings, helped forge his distinctive style.^[2]

Howard Fishman currently resides in Brooklyn, NY and Chester, CT.

Projects

The Howard Fishman Quartet

Fishman’s first project was The Howard Fishman Quartet, a band that burst on the NYC scene in 1999, when the group went overnight from performing on Brooklyn subway platforms to delighting packed crowds at an unprecedented nine-month residency at the Algonquin Oak Room. The original group featured Russell Farhang on violin, Peter Ecklund on cornet and Jason Sypher on bass. Fishman led the band on guitar, vocals and (occasionally) banjo through a unique exploration of the roots of American popular music—everything from early jazz to pop, blues, parlor songs and rural numbers. A few months after the release of their first CD, The Howard Fishman Quartet, Jason Sypher was replaced by Jon Flaugher on bass. A second CD, The Howard Fishman Quartet, Vol. 2, featuring additional material from the sessions that produced the first CD, was released in 2005.

The quartet toured Paris in May 2000, and returned to become a fixture on the New York music scene,^[3] garnering favorable reviews from the likes of The New York Times, The New Yorker, Le Monde, The International Herald Tribune, and The Village Voice. The band was awarded the BackStage Award for “Outstanding Musical Group.”

Second Quartet

Trumpeter Erik Jekabson joined the Howard Fishman Quartet in the summer of 2000 (replacing cornetist Peter Ecklund). With two of the four original members now gone, and Fishman writing more original material, the new HFQ began to pursue a markedly different musical path. Trading their suits and ties in for t-shirts and jeans, the band took up regular residencies at downtown hotspots like Joe's Pub at the Public Theater and hipster venues in Brooklyn like Pete's Candy Store and Galapagos, where they helped pioneer the burgeoning Williamsburg music scene. The shows became more experimental and wild, and Fishman's original material took center stage.

The second Howard Fishman Quartet album I Like You A Lot became a cult hit, and was included on some critics' top 10 lists of 2001, including Rolling Stone's Andrew Dansby, and landing Fishman his first national exposure as a featured guest on NPR's "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross.

The "Basement Tapes" Project

Fishman's Basement Tapes Project had its debut at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater in New York City in 2006. Over the course of three evenings, Fishman and members of his band presented most of the over 70 songs, both officially released and bootlegged, that have come to be known as Bob Dylan and The Band’s Basement Tapes.^[4] The first night, "The Old, Weird America," inspired by Greil Marcus's book of the same name, featured the traditional songs and covers recorded during the original sessions.

Night two, "Erase That, Garth" featured the still-unreleased originals from those sessions, including Dylan cult favorites like "I'm Not There (1956)," "All You Have to Do Is Dream" and "Sign On The Cross." The final concert, "This Wheel Shall Explode!" included all the material from the official Columbia Records release "The Basement Tapes."

A CD/DVD featuring highlights from these shows, Howard Fishman Performs Bob Dylan & The Band’s ‘Basement Tapes’ Live At Joe’s Pub was released in 2007. The project was subsequently presented as part of Lincoln Center's “American Songbook” series, at The Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, and at Duke University. Greil Marcus has written of Fishman's interpretations: "Remarkable...I'm stunned."

The Biting Fish Brass Band

Fishman's Biting Fish Brass Band, formed in 2008, features Fishman fronting a New Orleans-style brass band and performing an eclectic, funky repertoire that careens from street-beat style traditional gospel to surprising covers to Fishman's originals.

A former New Orleans resident, Fishman brings his deep affection for Louisiana music to bear, with references to classic R&B stylists Smiley Lewis and Professor Longhair, jazz legends Danny Barker and Jelly Roll Morton, and explores some of the region's rural Cajun repertoire. The band features: Andrae Murchison and Roland Barber on trombones, Etienne Charles on trumpet, Jose Davila on sousaphone and Jordan Perlson and Mark McLean on drums.

We Are Destroyed

"We are destroyed” is an original theater work created by Howard Fishman that incorporates original music, songs, text, and dialogue to explore an archetypal chapter in the American Story, the Donner Party tragedy. It has been described by Fishman as "a tone poem, a jazz opera, a musical inquiry." ^[5]

Excerpts from "we are destroyed" were first performed as part of the New Works Now! Festival at The Public Theater. Expanded versions and excerpts have subsequently been presented at Joe’s Pub in New York City, The Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, The Pasadena Playhouse in California, as part of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab West and, most recently, at The Abrons Arts Center in NYC in its first semi-staged production, directed by Ed Schmidt. A number of songs from the score of "we are destroyed" have been recorded by Fishman on his various albums, including "In Another Life," "Do What I Want," and "A New Life" on Do What I Want. The complete score has not yet been recorded, and the project awaits its first fully staged production.

Current Projects

In January 2009, Fishman entered the recording studio to record three CDs of all-new material—each with a different theme and group of musicians. All three CDs were released in 2010.

The first CD, Better Get Right features the Biting Fish Brass Band on a set of material that pays homage to Fishman's musical roots in New Orleans. No Further Instructions is a concept album about traveling through Romania and Eastern Europe and features Fishman backed by a string quartet. The World Will Be Different is Fishman’s most personal album to date, concerned mainly with a turbulent, passionate love affair. A fourth new CD, Moon Country, features Fishman's original quartet performing the music of Hoagy Carmichael, has been recorded and awaits release.

Discography

• The Howard Fishman Quartet (1999)
• I Like You A Lot (2001)
• Do What I Want (2002)
• Look At All This! (2005)
• The Howard Fishman Quartet Vol. II (1999/2005)
• Performs Bob Dylan & The Band's 'Basement Tapes' Live At Joe's Pub (2007)
• Better Get Right (2010)
• No Further Instructions (2010)
• The World Will Be Different (2010)
• Moon Country (2010)

Websites

http://www.howardfishman.com http://www.myspace.com/howardfishman http://www.reverbnation.com/howardfishman http://www.facebook.com/pages/Howard-Fishman/14331012558 http://www.youtube.com/user/monkeyfarmrecords

1. ↑ http://kadmusarts.com/blog/?p=652
2. ↑ http://www.yonasmedia.com/ympress/howardfishman/
3. ↑ http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-241344.html
4. ↑ http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/2007/01/30/segments/72790
5. ↑ http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2009/04/we-are-destroyed-on-the-lower-east-side.html