Jon Fishman Reunites With Drum Teacher For Session & Stellar Phish Videos

At the age of 50 Phish drummer Jon Fishman isn’t lacking for energy. The drummer used a rare day off from Phish tour on Monday in Pennsylvania to reunite with his childhood drum teacher for a two-hour recording session just before the quartet laid down two instant classic performances in Philadelphia.

Back when Syracuse native Jon Fishman was 13-years-old, his mother Mimi Fishman set him up with Syracuse drumming legend Dave Hanlon for a lesson. Fishman wanted to learn about jazz and the three lessons Hanlon gave the young drummer were vital in his progression as a musician. “I really am grateful to Dave for what he gave me when I was a kid,” Fishman told Syracuse.com. “People have asked me for drum lessons before and I feel like I must have just completely [messed] them up. I find myself at the end of the lesson apologizing going, ‘Did that…did you get…?’ I realize it’s an entirely different skill set.” Hanlon also taught Fishman how to read music.

Fishman repaid the favor by taking part in a recording session on Monday at Forge Recording in Oreland, Pennsylvania. The two drummers were joined by a guitarist (Gil Parris), a keyboardist (Matt King) and a bass player (Kip Sophos). Tom Emmi produced the session which was filmed for a future video series or television show. Fish flew in directly from Alpine late Sunday night in order to perform at the session. “Normally I’d be in bed reading a book right now,” Jon said about his typical off day routine.

As for now there’s no air date or release date for the music Fishman, Hanlon et. al recorded. We’ll be sure to let you know when more information surfaces.

Watch video from Fish’s session with Hanlon:

In other Phish news, two incredible fan-shot videos have just surfaced. Watch the phenomenal “Cities” the quartet laid down as part of last night’s scorcher at The Mann thanks to LazyLightning55:

Madpicken has shared stellar footage of the entire first set from Sunday’s barn-burner at Alpine (Ed. Note: originally video of the second set was made available but has since been removed due to audio issues):

Set 1: The Very Long Fuse, Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird, Brian and Robert, Saw It Again, Esther, Weigh, The Sloth, Sanity > Split Open and Melt

[Fishman news and video via Syracuse.com]