Joe Fiedler

A trombonist of bold curiosity and technical daring, Joe Fiedler has built a reputation for post-bop and contemporary creative jazz that balances tradition with experimentation. Shaped by the approaches of Ray Anderson, Albert Mangelsdorff, and Carla Bley, as well as the Knitting Factory-era groups the Jazz Passengers and the Lounge Lizards, he frequently moves between acoustic hard bop and avant-garde territory, incorporating multiphonics, extensive mute techniques, and free improvisation. In addition to ongoing work alongside Andrew Hill, Satoko Fujii, Maria Schneider, and Chico O’Farrill, Fiedler has issued his own recordings, among them the 2007 trio date The Crab and the 2017 quintet set Like, Strange. He also directs the low-brass quartet Big Sackbut, whose members include trombonists Josh Roseman and Ryan Keberle plus tuba player Marcus Rojas. Drawing on his long tenure as music director for the children’s program Sesame Street, he released the related projects Open Sesame in 2019 and Fuzzy and Blue in 2021. With 2022’s The Howland Sessions, Fiedler presented a solo homage to Mangelsdorff’s landmark 1972 unaccompanied performance at Munich’s Jazz Now! Festival.

Born in Pittsburgh in 1965, Fiedler began on trumpet in fourth grade yet soon switched to trombone after an overbite made the larger mouthpiece necessary. Following high school he attended Allegheny College and the University of Pittsburgh, then relocated to New York City, where he studied privately with Ray Anderson, Randy Purcell, and later Conrad Herwig—mentors he credits with refining his instrumental command. Once settled in New York he started leading his own ensembles while establishing himself as a sought-after sideman. Over time he has performed with Maria Schneider, Chico O’Farrill, the Mingus Big Band, Andrew Hill, Dafnis Prieto, Kenny Wheeler, Satoko Fujii, Miguel Zenón, and many others; outside jazz he has also worked extensively on the Latin music scene with Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colón, and Ralph Irizarry. As a leader he made his recording debut with 1998’s 110 Bridge St., featuring reedist Ben Koen and drummer Ed Ware.

After subsequent engagements with Andrew Hill, Bobby Sanabria, and Olga Tañón, Fiedler returned to his own catalog with 2005’s Plays the Music of Albert Mangelsdorff, a trio tribute to the German trombonist realized alongside bassist John Hebert and drummer Mark Ferber. The Crab, another trio album with Hebert and Michael Sarin, followed in 2007. Additional recording sessions ensued with Sanabria, Jason Lindner, and the Ed Palermo Big Band.

In 2011 Fiedler reunited with Hebert and Sarin for Sacred Chrome Orb. The following year he introduced Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut, the debut recording of his low-brass ensemble with Roseman, Keberle, and Rojas. He next collaborated with saxophonist Jon Irabagon and guitarist Todd Neufeld on 2017’s In Formation Network and, that same year, issued the quintet album Like, Strange with bassist Rob Jost, drummer Sarin, saxophonist Jeff Lederer, and guitarist Pete McCann. In 2019 he revisited his Sesame Street work on Open Sesame, interpreting compositions associated with the program in the company of Lederer, drummer Allison Miller, and bassist Chris Lightcap. The concert recording Live in Graz appeared in 2020, documenting a 2017 European performance by the Sackbut quartet that mixed originals with works by Charles Mingus and Roswell Rudd. A second collection of Sesame Street material, Fuzzy and Blue, arrived in 2021. One year later Fiedler issued the solo trombone album The Howland Sessions, his personal tribute to Mangelsdorff’s historic 1972 Jazz Now! Festival appearance in Munich.