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Allen Farnham

Allen Farnham has been active in the New York City jazz scene as a pianist, composer/arranger, producer and teacher since the early 1980's. He has performed and/or recorded with Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Eddie Henderson, Frank Wess, Tom Harrell, Arthur Blythe, Special EFX, the John Fedchock NY Big Band, and Charlie Byrd. He has also accompanied a wide range of vocalists, including Mel Torme, Ernestine Anderson, Mark Murphy, Liza Minnelli, Susannah McCorkle, Roseanna Vitro, and Helen Merrill.

Mr. Farnham is active in the recording industry, having recorded extensively as both a leader and side musician, and has worked as a staff producer and arranger for the west coast based jazz label, Concord Records. He has also served as that company's director of national radio promotion. As a producer, he has produced over 50 albums for such artists as Charlie Byrd, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Lew Tabackin, Chris Potter, Buddy DeFranco and Jack McDuff. Mr. Farnham's arranging credits include recordings by Eden Atwood, Susannah McCorkle, Veronica Martell, Jesse Davis, and Monty Alexander, as well as his own albums. A 1997 release by Concord Records, "Allen Farnham Meets The RIAS Big Band," features his original compositions and arrangements for the renowned RIAS Big Band of Berlin, Germany.

A graduate of the Oberlin Music Conservatory, Mr. Farnham has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment For The Arts and the Meet The Composer Foundation. He also holds a Master of Music Degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging from William Paterson University and has been commissioned to write works for the CUG Orchestra (Nagoya, Japan), NPO Glovill (Tokyo), the RIAS Big Band, and the Englewinds Chamber Ensemble. He is presently an adjunct faculty member of the jazz department at New Jersey City University, Jersey City, New Jersey.

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Album Review

Jae Sinnett's Zero to 60 Quartet: Commitment

Read "Commitment" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Commitment, drummer Jae Sinnett's nineteenth album as leader, is a generally admirable session wherein his Zero to 60 Quartet is in fact a Quintet on most numbers thanks to the inclusion of renowned trumpeter Randy Brecker who shares the front line with veteran saxophonist Steve Wilson. The quintet comes out smokin' on Sinnett's “Takin' It There" and pianist Allen Farnham's “Wait for Me," after which Sinnett chooses to slow the tempo and lower the heat, not raising ...

2
Album Review

Eric Goletz: A New Light

Read "A New Light" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Eric Goletz is a virtuoso trombonist who also writes and arranges. On first hearing, his core band may put some in mind of Chase, Bill Chase's high-flying group that featured both vocals and technically demanding trumpet. Goletz has something similar going on. The music opens with “Prelude: Before the Light" and “A New Light," with a stinging solo by guitarist Henry Heinitsch. Goletz, it may be observed, is the logical outcome of jazz-rock and funk meets brass ...

28
Album Review

Eric Goletz: A New Light

Read "A New Light" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Trombonist Eric Goletz, an in-demand studio musician and sideman in New York City for three decades, released his first album as leader of his own ensemble in March 2021, and quickly followed with the second, A New Light, wherein his core octet is bolstered by three trumpets, half a dozen horns and a five-member string section. Among his more well-known teammates are trumpeter Randy Brecker, pianist Jim Ridl, keyboardist Allen Farnham and drummer Steve Johns. Goletz' musical ...

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Album Review

John Fedchock NY Sextet: Into The Shadows

Read "Into The Shadows" reviewed by Jack Bowers


If a sextet--or a group of any size--is to be measured by the sum of its parts, trombonist John Fedchock's NY Sextet succeeds with flying colors, as it embodies half a dozen of the finest jazz musicians the New York City area has to offer. As we know, however, an inclusive appraisal rests on far more than that, else the musicians could simply set their instruments onstage and await the applause. Yes, musical talent surely provides an ...

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Album Review

John Fedchock NY Sextet: Into The Shadows

Read "Into The Shadows" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Trombonist John Fedchock's fluid slide work, celebrated composing chops and arranger's ingenuity have been put to good use in settings both large and very small in recent years, with a big band set and two live quartet records dropping between 2015 and the present. But rather than choose one of those ensemble formats over the other this time around, he looks to a middle ground with his NY Sextet. Painting with a three-horn frontline and rhythm section, ...

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Album Review

Allen Farnham and the Rias Big Band: Allen Farnham Meets the Rias Big Band

Read "Allen Farnham Meets the Rias Big Band" reviewed by Robert Spencer


RIAS: Radio In America Sector. This German band was formed right after World War II and is now, according to pianist / arranger Allen Farnham, “one of the top contemporary studio / broadcast big bands in Europe."

No doubt that is true. These fellows are mostly relegated to the background for solos, as this disc is full of guest stars: Hendrik Meurkens on harmonica, Chris Potter on tenor, Chris Berger on bass, and Tim Horner on drums. However, trombonist / ...

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Album Review

Allen Farnham: Meets The RIAS Big Band

Read "Meets The RIAS Big Band" reviewed by Jim Santella


Pianist Allen Farnham leads a quintet of Chris Potter on tenor saxophone, Hendrik Meurkens on harmonica, Chris Berger on acoustic bass and Tim Horner on drums for “Samba de Sorvete" and “Lost in Zurich." The other tracks employ the quintet members as soloists with the RIAS Big Band from Berlin; the acronym stands for Radio In America Sector. This band was organized shortly after World War II and is now led by trombonist Jiggs Whigham. Farnham's talent as an arranger ...

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Performance / Tour

Lauren Hooker with Allen Farnham Friday, March 23rd at Lounge Zen

Lauren Hooker with Allen Farnham Friday, March 23rd at Lounge Zen

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services


Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Commitment

Self Produced
2023

buy

Love In The City

Nana Notes Records
2022

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A New Light

Consolidated Artists Productions
2021

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Into The Shadows

Summit Records
2020

buy

Meets The RIAS Big...

Concord Music Group
1998

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Afro Blue / Afro-Centric

From: Love In The City
By Allen Farnham

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