By Claire Daly | Photography by Kelly Davidson An avant-garde chordless trio with a steady gig for 40 years? Nearly unimaginable, “I think what has made the band survive so long is that we aren’t doing tunes and we aren’t responsible for writing tunes to keep the band fresh,” said saxophonist George Garzone. “The ‘fresh’ is just the improvisation, and that’s what keeps it alive. We go there and play whatever we want. That’s what developed the sound. You never know what’s going to happen.” Garzone has taught at New England Conservatory, New York University, Manhattan School of <strong>Music</strong>, The New School and is now exclusively at Berklee College of <strong>Music</strong>. Drummer Bob Gullotti and bassist John Lockwood (who joined The Fringe in 1984) are on the Berklee faculty. The Fringe’s original bassist, Rich Appleman, will retire this year as the head of Berklee’s bass department. The trio has worked all over the world in various settings, but Monday nights are an event that is never predictable. Like any long-term relationship, the dynamics shift and grow, but their dedication to the music overrides any problems that arise. Describing the music of The Fringe is challenging. Yes, it’s avant-garde, but it’s also remarkably accessible. At times, the music will soar. All three players will stop and restart together on a dime, astounding listeners. The music breathes, races, pushes, pulls, screams, seduces, taunts and heals—all on its own terms. Seasoned musicians and guys in business suits can be heard screaming to the primal call of The Fringe. Any style of music can weave its way into the set and take over. Acclaimed musicians such as pianist Kenny Werner, saxophonist Dave Liebman or reedist Frank Tiberi might sit in or just hang in the audience to listen. 34 DoWNBEAt JUNE 2012 yet this Boston-based trio has maintained a remarkable dedication to the music for four decades—with only a single personnel change. Each member is a vir- tuoso musician and formidable educator, and the three of them come together weekly to embark on a sonic adventure. Fans of The Fringe are plentiful, from teenage students to the biggest names in jazz. In a conference call with DownBeat on March 30, bassist/singer Esperanza Spalding (who graduated from and taught at Berklee) talked about the trio: “The Fringe really are an institution of the avant-garde. They represent the epitome of cultivating something because you believe in it. They all have to be there for the music, and I know they don’t get what they deserve. I love The Fringe. They’re just so important in that they’ve existed for 40 years. When music students are in Boston, they know they can hear the real avant-garde.” The trio is driven by pure musicality. There has been no business plan. They are on a life mission to serve the music, and what happens around that seems almost incidental to them. If there is a festival audience, or a small room with a few listeners, they go to the same edge of the music. Always searching. Their work has been documented on nine albums, including 2005’s The Fringe Live At The Zeitgeist, with guest saxophonist Joe Lovano. Examining my life as I packed up to move from Boston back to New York in 1985, I wrote that one of my main reasons for being in Boston was to experience the music of The Fringe. They had, at that time, been playing together at Michael’s Pub every Monday for about a decade. As a young saxophonist, I had heard the band for many of those years. In fact, I took the bartending job after having been there every week for a year. When Michael’s closed, they moved to The Willow in Somerville, where they played for 17 years, followed by a stint at the Lizard Lounge. They currently play Mondays at the Lily Pad in Cambridge, sharing the night with saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi’s quintet. At times, The Fringe has even shared the bandstand with Bergonzi’s band, creating a massive collective dubbed “Gargonz,” which includes two bassists, two drummers and two tenor players. The last time this occurred, the group played two different tunes at the same time. “The Fringe has created history,” Bergonzi said. “Everybody who’s been in this city—every student, every musician—has heard The Fringe, and when they have, they’ve had their minds blown. Every time I hear them, I have a belly laugh and I very rarely get that. It’s outrageous— the audacity—I can’t believe it. I get so inspired when I hear these guys. They’re my heroes.” Garzone, Gullotti and Lockwood sat down for an interview at Garzone’s house on Super Bowl Sunday. DownBeat: What do you remember about the beginning of the fringe? gullotti: Junior year at Berklee, I met George on an r&b gig. We played together in that band for about a year. I had a nice little apartment with a deaf landlord, so we could play at my apartment and I’d have sessions all the time. That’s how The Fringe started. A lot of times there’d be piano players and guitar players, and vibraphonist Tom van der Geld would come quite often. A few times we couldn’t get a chordal instrument, so we would just play trio. It just started to get a sound of its own, so I stopped inviting others and we developed this trio. We ended up playing on WBUR radio. Saturday night late, like midnight to 4 a.m. on Rob Battles’ show.
the fringe at the Lily Pad in Cambridge, Mass., March 26 george garzone John Lockwood Bob gullotti JUNE 2012 DoWNBEAt 35
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