A collection of originals and standards recorded with members of Howard's various ensembles, including his brass band The Biting Fish, his acoustic Quartet, and a live outtake from his critically-acclaimed Basement Tapes Project.
Reuniting Howard with violinist Russell Farnhang and cornetist Peter Ecklund (both from the very first incarnation of HFQ) and joined by longtime bassist Andrew Hall, "Moon Country" features the quartet essaying songs by the late, great Hoagy Carmichael. Like HFQ Vols. I and II, these recordings were made live in the studio over just a couple of afternoons, with no overdubs. Featuring special guest Henry Bogdan on Hawaiian Steel Guitar on "Ole Butterilk Sky."
BETTER GET RIGHT is Howard Fishman's love letter to New Orleans, featuring his "Biting Fish Brass Band" working out on a dizzying array of new originals ("Since You've Been Gone, "Tee Na Na"), soulful traditionals ("Down By The Riverside," "When I Die"), and at least one funky cover from left field ("Mexican Radio").
NO FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS is a song cycle about the songwriter's travels through rural Romania with a childhood friend, and what Howard in his liner notes calls "the strange and beautiful adventures we had there." The album features Howard's vocals and guitar enveloped by lush arrangements for strings, accordion, piano, banjo and horns (with a bit of nasty electric guitar and bass thrown in for good measure).
THE WORLD WILL BE DIFFERENT is an intensely personal suite of songs about love won and lost, featuring a stripped-down combo of guitar, bass, drums and piano accompanied by a string quartet.
“Remarkable…I’m stunned, especially by ‘I’m Not There.’ Seems to me completely right, never forced, lucid, luminous, but the performance, as with Dylan’s, is where the truth of the song reveals itself. It just broke me in half. Second only to ‘I’m Not There’ [is] the gorgeous ‘Crash on the Levee.’”
-Greil Marcus
"Beautiful...full of life and reverently irreverent." - Joe Henry
“Ain’t nothing orthodox about the spin he puts on blues, funk and boogie…The singer-guitarist is just this side of buzzville, and it’s his swagger and joie de vivre that’ll boost his ever widening circle of zealots. See the new LOOK AT ALL THIS! for proof.”
-Jim Macnie, THE VILLAGE VOICE
"The best jazz I've heard since the '20's!" - AL HIRSCHFELD
A collection of previously unreleased material featuring classic standards like “STARS FELL ON ALABAMA” and “ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET” alongside rarities like Jelly Roll Morton’s “SWEET SUBSTITUTE” and “GOOD OLD NEW YORK,” the Jimmie Rodgers numbers “THE HILLS OF TENNESSEE” and “CAROLINA SUNSHINE GIRL,” and outings of songs by Fritz Kriesler and Stephen Foster. A grab bag of early 20th century (mostly) American music, the CD also includes alternate takes of “WHEN I GROW TOO OLD TO DREAM,” “BEST DAYS,” and “GOOD TIMES” from the first CD.
"A break from their previous efforts; it appears the devil got his paws in on this one. The music seems moodier, edgier, and - dare I say - groovier." -freewilliamsburg.com
" A vital statement, issuing from a very different precinct of Howard Fishman's mind. It's a rare artist that can do something drastically different and still sound entirely like himself." - THE ALL MUSIC GUIDE
From 2001, featuring the second iteration of the Howard Fishman Quartet: Russell Farhang (violin), Erik Jekabson (trumpet), Jon Flaugher (bass) and Howard's vocals, acoustic guitar, banjo and piano.
"Howard Fishman's sophomore release contains all the wit and eclectic charm of his debut. This combination of instruments is remarkably flexible. It can just as easily conjure jazz, folk, country, tango, or even mariachi music, all of which, in one way or another, inform Fishman's wonderfully quirky vision. The Howard Fishman Quartet [is] an important force in the world of creative music. " - THE ALL MUSIC GUIDE
"An affecting, haunting collection of cunning originals." - THE NEW YORKER