Folktales & Fusions presents an aesthetic and body of work as multifaceted as the guitarist himself. Folktales & Fusions is genre straddling original music that varies in shape, texture and form. 

Folktales & Fusions runs the gamut from barnstorming romps and Frissel-tinged Americana, to expressive classically derived fusions that meld baroque, country, jazz and rock forming the basis for ear-bending aural adventure.

GENRE STRADDLING ORIGNAL MUSIC

Simple folk song structures with melodies, harmony and improvisations coming from jazz. These pieces vary in shape and texture from the toe tapping NoHo Rag, to a collection of expressive fusions that vary compositionally blending baroque, Django-esk, country, roots and rock with jazz sensibility.

Many of the fusion pieces have evolved enrolling the sensibilities and capabilities of long-time collaborators Bob Ponte, piano, Maggie Rizzi Bass and Frank Basile and Greg Conroy on Drums. 

A fateful recording project one day brought a new collaborator into the fold with World renowned Saxophonist Chris Cheek.  Who brought his emotive interpretations to many of the fomenting pieces, aiding in Steve bringing the sound aesthetic in his head out in aural form for all to experience. 

Bassist Josh Metz aided in rounding out a few of the rhythmic figures as well as the reinvention of Life’s Dance, a composition from Steve’s first album In Time.  Joined by the gifted Claire Arenius on drums, Metz and Thomas all felt affinity for the music from the first downbeat.

As the Haze Country Trio, the three form the foundation of Folktales and Fusions ensembles based in the Pioneer Valley of Western Mass.
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MUSIC THAT TAKES YOU  HOME

Meeting in the middle musically provides the vantage point from where to bend ears and bring folks in. Folktales and Fusions are a way in. Many of these compositions are simple folk song structures yet the melodies, harmony and improvisations come from jazz.

In creating art that bends ears with that comes it’s sometimes hard to define and simply categorize many of these compositions. In that, this music is what it is, how it reaches you the way it does, in the moment.