During
its brief but heady existence, the original Howard Fishman Quartet went
overnight from performing on subway platforms to delighting packed audiences
in some of New York City's toniest rooms (The Algonquin Oak Room, Sardi's)
with its unique style as it explored the roots of American popular music.
Before the group's swan song- a three week stint in Paris in May of 2000-
the original HFQ garnered raves from the likes of The New York Times,
The New Yorker, Le Monde, The International Herald
Tribune, and The Village Voice, & was honored with Backstage
Magazine's award for Outstanding Musical Group.
Almost exactly one year after its Algonquin debut in 1999, this first
version of the HFQ disbanded; two of its original members departed &
Fishman's sound & style evolved, focusing almost exclusively on new
music (Fishman continues to lead an entirely different band under his
own name, not to be confused with this one!).
With the recent release of The Howard Fishman Quartet Vol. 2,
a set of previously unreleased material from the band's first incarnation,
the original HFQ has reunited for the first time in five years, playing
a set of sold-out shows downtown at Joe's Pub & here at Mo Pitkin's.
The overwhelming response to the original group's reemergence has led
to a return to semi-active duty for this seminal band whose music, Stephen
Holden wrote in the NY Times, 'transcends time & idiom.'
The Original HFQ features Fishman on acoustic guitar & vocal, the
virtuosic Russell Farhang on violin, legendary cornetist Peter Ecklund,
& the indefatigable Andrew Hall on upright bass.