Howard Fishman

Joe's Pub favorite Howard Fishman has retained a steady buzz among music fans and cognoscenti alike for the better part of a decade. Hailed by tastemaker publications worldwide, including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Fishman's live show is cathartic, uplifting and full of joie de vivre, combining the exuberance and spontaneity of jazz with a storyteller's sense of drama, emotional depth and play.

Fishman began his career on the streets on New Orleans and in the subways of New York, but has since found a cult following worldwide for both his independent releases (6 CDs to date on his own Monkey Farm label) and his explosive and intimate performances. He recently made his Lincoln Center debut as part of the American Songbook series with his Basement Tapes Project, which originated here at Joe's Pub and has since gone on to be presented at The Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, World Cafe Live in Philadelphia and at Duke University in North Carolina.

Fishman has been a frequent guest on NPR, with feature-length profiles appearing on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, World Cafe with David Dye, Soundcheck with John Schaefer and The Leonard Lopate Show.

Ever-evolving and increasingly difficult to pin down, Fishman has moved through early jazz, blues, country, folk, free jazz, classical, rock, funk, ska and most recently New Orleans brass band and gospel music. Downbeat has called his music "something entirely new." The All-Music Guide has called him "an important force in creative music," and The New York Times has written that his work "transcends time and idiom."