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Jon Fishman
(September 2005 Issue)
Pork Evolution "If someone had told
me all the things that would
happen in my life in 2001, I wouldn't have
believed them," says Jon Fishman, the famed Phish sticksman. After
the
band's 1999 New Year's concert, where tens of thousands of fans spent
the weekend listening to the band play
for hours at a time, then their
summer and fall 2000 tours, Jon and his partners in improv decided to
take a break. They had
been touring and recording for seventeen years
and "found it difficult to top themselves," according to the drummer.
The hiatus
has opened up time for him to play with two bands that pull
his playing in two directions.
The Jazz Mandolin Project gave
Jon
the opportunity to build his jazz chops. "This band magnifies the open
improvisation of Phish," the drummer says. "I had
to use most
everything in my bag of tricks. Soloing and filling space is more
important with these guys than with
Phish."
Jon is also the "defacto leader" of Pork Tornado, a funk and R&B
band that recently released its first CD
(Ryko). According to Jon, "In
contrast to JMP, with Pork Tornado, creating space is the priority.
Besides, I feel that playing a
straight backbeat groove is just as
valid as any other style. It's harder than it looks."
Two of the biggest changes of
2001 were the passing of Jon's mother and
his starting a family of his own. "To not take this time to enjoy my
family and
build a stable home life would be foolish," he says. The
drummer says he wants his family and home to be more than just a
pit
stop between tours. "I'm using the studio I built in my house as a
scratch pad for my writing. Maybe I'll do a
solo album some day. If I
do that, I want to play everything, making it a true solo recording."
It
looks like it
may take a while before we see a solo effort from Jon.
His schedule is heating up, as tour dates for the re-formed Phish
have
recently begun.
Doug Pomeroy
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