Search - The Fringe :: The Fringe Live at Zeitgeist

Electric Performance by Local Boston Jazz Legends

Patrick Ludwig | Boston, MA | 04/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Over the last three decades, The Fringe have been one of the great local attractions for jazz fans in the Boston area, playing a swinging and passionate style of jazz at once challenging and engaging. Formed back in 1971 by tenor-saxophonist George Garzone, bassist Richard Appleman, and drummer Bob Gullotti as an outlet for their free jazz improvisations, The Fringe have entertained and enlightened jazz audiences ever since, playing a regular weekly gig at popular area jazz clubs like Michael's Pub, The Willow, and most recently The Zeitgeist Gallery. Bassist Appleman left the band in 1985 to become Chairman of the Bass Department at Berklee College and was replaced by veteran bassist John Lockwood.



The current Fringe line-up has developed an amazing rapport playing together as a band over the years, and the The Fringe Live at Zeitgeist amply demonstrates the power and nuance of this long and happy relationship. Recorded over two nights back in May of 2004 by legendary recording engineer Dr Toby Mountain, they are also joined on the recording by tenor great Joe Lovano, a long time friend and Fringe musical collaborator. Each night's recording at the intimate Zeitgeist Gallery in Cambridge was played before a packed and enthusiastic audience, and you can palpably feel their excitement and anticipation. And as the dynamic of the performance unfolds, and draws you in, I predict you will feel it too.



Opening with the dark and searching From Here to There, the band explores a wide range of emotions from melancholy to joy. Garzone's lyrical tenor follows the hidden contours of sadness, anger, hope, and pain with an intensity matched at every turn by Lockwood and Gullotti's intuitive rhythm section. The performance continues to build with a fine bass performance by Lockwood on Theme For Jake that sets the tone for the jumpy angularity of Maybe So and then resolves into the beautiful and solemn Tonight's Prayer. Garzone has a rich and unique tenor voice as expressive as it is supple and on Tonight's Prayer, he conjures a complex set of ideas on top of Gullotti's delicate brushwork. The band turns another corner as Joe Lovano joins the group dialogue and they all set energetically down another track with the adventurous All Aboard which burns with post-bop fury creating many opportunities for high intensity interplay before a late in journey drum solo and the imagined train whistle sounds their arrival. Followed by the swinging Latin-flavored Try This with Lovano and Garzone playing a sweet call-and-response, the band finishes with a triumphant and fitting local favorite: A Fringe Tribute to the New England Patriots. Channeling an untapped reservoir of energy, the band brings it all home with a vengeance, somehow managing to capture the crazy optimism and humor of Boston sports fans and the on and off greatness of its sports teams in musical form.



The recording quality of Live At Zeitgeist is superb and the live musical performance is as good as it gets. If you enjoy high-energy improvisational music, you owe it to yourself to give this recording a listen. You'll be glad you did."