Dale Fielder Quartet performance at Dale Fielder's Covid Concert #4, February 5, 2022, at Alvas Showroom, San Pedro, CA

The planetary pause best known as the Covid-19 Pandemic hit the jazz community especially hard. Many venues that were just barely keeping it together prior to the pandemic, now found themselves in the unfortunate position of having to close. One just has to drive through any business district in the country to witness the number of businesses that have had to close due to Covid. It came at an unfortunate time for the Dale Fielder Quartet who celebrated their 25th year together in January of 2020 at The Mixx in Pasadena, CA. As a means of providing stability and continuity for his band, Fielder through the auspices of his Clarion Jazz label sponsored a series of four Covid Era Concerts throughout 2020 into 2022. The first 3 concerts were available through live-stream only. Each concert averaged over five thousand viewers throughout the U.S. and around the world. In fact, the overwhelming bulk of viewers were outside of the U.S.

This recording was from the 4th Covid Era Concert. It was a departure from the previous three concerts in that this was the first and only concert with a live audience, as the pandemic began to ease in 2022. It also marked a return to performing for Dale Fielder personally as his first performance since suffering a debilitating heart attack in October of 2021. He talks about this extensively on his Frugal Apathy blog site: frugalapathy.com/2022/05/27/dreamsville-and-xing-ped.

So as Fielder says in his blog, it is not a perfect recording in the sense that the pandemic took away performance opportunities for the band and they each complained about being rusty. This was compounded for Fielder personally as he complained of issues with his stamina and lung capacity; things that are crucial for a baritone saxophonist. But the band felt that this did not diminish their exuberance and passion in playing together again which shows through in these tracks and why Fielder is releasing it worts and all. Fielder commented, "We hadn't put out anything since "Concensus" in 2019. So I felt I owed it to my fans and listeners as well as keeping them engaged, which is crucial, especially for any jazz artist."

-Reid Schultz for Clarion Jazz


PRECIPICE
recorded February 5, 2022
released June 26, 2022

DALE FIELDER QUARTET
Dale Fielder - baritone, alto, and soprano sax
Jane Getz - piano
Bill Markus - acoustic and electric bass
Thomas White - drums

Patricia Fielder - photography
Dale Fielder - audio recording
David Cousins - videographer
Matt Lincir - Alvas Showroom

license
Clarion Jazz/SESAC
all rights reserved