John Fishell

JOHN FISHELL UNCONVENTIONAL, UNEXPECTED AND A LITTLE UNRAVELED You will find unconventional life experiences, obvious and subtle influences, and an ever-present switching of “hats” – all deftly combined and willfully contrasted within a deceptively simple rock architecture. His formal classical training occasionally pokes through, as does his professional experience with jazz and world music.  John will carry the heavy rock to you ... and all you need to do is dig on it. John started with piano lessons early in life only to (regretfully) quit and start cello while teaching himself to play guitar.  A 4-track cassette machine started him with recording. While studying music in college, NEA Jazz Master David Liebman recruited John to record a big band album, and this relationship led to John engineering various albums with other future NEA Jazz Masters including Jon Hendricks, Jimmy Cobb, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, and Billy Hart.  The 2002 Dave Liebman Big Band album Beyond the Line was Grammy-nominated in the “Best Instrumental Arrangement” category.      As an unlikely full-time college professor, John has taught within premier music recording programs at MTSU, UC-Denver, and Ball State U, and founded a successful program at Purdue U.  Throughout this time, John wrote, recorded, and performed his own music.  In 2021 John retired from teaching in order to devote everything to his own music, and here we are.