Joe Fonda And Base Of Operation at Bop Shop Records

I hired this group of musicians to do a weeklong tour in the USA in 2022. I had written and organized the music months prior to the tour and sent it to everyone so they could check it out and look it over before the first rehearsal. So, when we got together for the first rehearsal everyone had had a chance to work on the music.

I had thought that it would be Tenor Saxophone and Bassoon as the front line, but at the first rehearsal, Jeff Lederer who I had hired to play Saxophone said, Joe do really want saxophone and he went on to explain how when he was practicing the music he was not hearing it played on saxophone but on clarinet and Flute and on one piece piccolo. I was not so sure, but Jeff was persistent. He said that to him the written material sounded like Stravinsky or something more classical....

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I hired this group of musicians to do a weeklong tour in the USA in 2022. I had written and organized the music months prior to the tour and sent it to everyone so they could check it out and look it over before the first rehearsal. So, when we got together for the first rehearsal everyone had had a chance to work on the music.

I had thought that it would be Tenor Saxophone and Bassoon as the front line, but at the first rehearsal, Jeff Lederer who I had hired to play Saxophone said, Joe do really want saxophone and he went on to explain how when he was practicing the music he was not hearing it played on saxophone but on clarinet and Flute and on one piece piccolo. I was not so sure, but Jeff was persistent. He said that to him the written material sounded like Stravinsky or something more classical.

So, we tried it and we all really liked the sound of the Bassoon with Jeff's clarinets and flutes. The sound became less jazz and more like a chamber Ensemble.

Jeff was right, it sounded great.

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