Joe Fiedler takes the slide to unexpected places
If you haven’t imagined the many ways a trombone can contribute to a piece of music, Joe Fiedler will let it slide. The former Beacon resident has spent decades expanding and experimenting on the instrument, in jazz, rhythm and blues, classical, Latin and avant garde, in solo, quartets and quintets — and on Sesame Street (more on that later).
In 2022, Fiedler released The Howland Sessions, his first solo album, which he recorded at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon. It marked the 50th anniversary of innovative German trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff’s first solo performance at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in which he used multiphonics, or several notes produced at the same time.
This past November, Fiedler released Will Be Fire, which marked the debut of his New Quartet, with electric guitar, tuba and drums — put those sounds together! — featuring Jeff Davis, Pete McCann and Marcus Rojas. The goal, he says, was to capture the spirit of the late 1970s and early ’80s Columbia Records releases of alto saxophonist and composer Arthur Blythe.
Over time, Fiedler, who now lives in Peekskill, has become one of the “first-call” trombonists, featured on more than 100 recordings. He grew up in Pittsburgh, where two older cousins who played trumpet inspired him to pick it up. Alas, it was not meant to be.
“They spent weeks of trying out trumpet mouthpieces on me,” he recalls, before giving up. “I became an unintentional trombonist. I had a method book and taught myself. I played in the school band and orchestra, but there was no jazz band.”
Fielder was planning on studying music in college but also had athletic opportunities at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He didn’t play music for three years until he transferred to the University of Pittsburgh, where he ran into a friend who knew of a jazz band looking for a trombone player.
He earned his degree in math but decided to pursue music. Then 21, he realized he was behind his peers and waited until he was 28 to move to New York City. “I knew if I went too soon I’d be underprepared,” he says. “At that time in New York it was freelance work, and there were just two or three trombone players able to make a living. And they were in their 40s, with retirement far away.”
Once he made the move, he says his eyes and ears were opened to the array of innovative styles. “I was listening to classic trombonists, but I was also hearing jazz at the after-hours places downtown,” in particular, by Ray Anderson.
Fiedler was able to slot himself into many bands, from small groups that recalled the 1940s and typically included drums and upright bass, to bigger bands reminiscent of the 1970s and ’80s at venues where “25 bucks got you a plate of spaghetti,” he says.
“I wanted to make my living as a professional trombonist, which meant I’d play parades, brass quintets, low-level classical orchestras and salsa bands,” he says. “I also wanted to be a jazz soloist, but you can’t make a living that way. I could have made a living doing the wedding band circuit but that boiled my blood.
“Luckily, I’m a good sight-reader, which is a huge advantage. The Latin bands became popular later, but there were no trombones until Eddie Palmieri brought them in; I wound up playing with him for 17 years and also worked with Celia Cruz. By then three guys alternated in one slot, because we were all so busy.”
That connection with Latin bands brought Fiedler his steadiest gig, unexpectedly. “I got a call out of nowhere to play with what became [Lin-Manuel Miranda’s] In the Heights. Bill Sherman, the orchestrator of the show, hired me to write the horn arrangements and play in the studio.”
That led to another job, on a revival of the PBS children’s show Electric Company, which led to his current position 14 seasons ago as music director of Sesame Street. (He has released two albums of jazz — Fuzzy and Blue and Open Sesame — with tracks such as “Put Down the Duckie,” “Elmo’s Song” and “Somebody Come Out and Play.”)
That stability allows Fiedler to choose his projects, including his own label, which he founded in 2013. He plays about 50 nights a year and has recorded 13 albums.
“Back in the day you were finished playing when you were in your 60s,” he says. “The trombone is a demanding instrument physically, but nowadays many trombonists are playing into their 70s. I cycle, do yoga. I practice two hours a day, 365 days a year. It’s a regimen; if you don’t have one, you risk injury.”
To stream or download Fiedler’s albums, see joefiedler.com. On March 3, Joe Fiedler’s Open Sesame will perform at The Falcon in Marlboro.
