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Joel Frahm

For more than 30 years, Joel Frahm  lived in New York City, working in jazz clubs, collaborating with other musicians, and honing his craft. He now lives in Nashville, where he continues to play the music he loves. His bold, inventive tenor sound has won fans in the U.S. and across the world. He has worked alongside Betty Carter, Kenny Barron, Freddy Cole, Dianne Schuur, Kurt Elling, Jane Monheit, Bill Charlap, Brad Mehldau, Matt Wilson, Cyrille Aimee, and many other top artists. He has played as a leader or sideman on more than 100 recordings and has appeared at jazz festivals in the United States, Europe, Israel, Canada and South America. In addition to his work as a performer, he has taught jazz classes in clinics at the University of North Carolina, the University of Connecticut, New York University, Wichita State University, the University of North Texas, Baylor University, Colorado State University, Furman University, the University of Toronto, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, the University of Manitoba and others. He also has worked at the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation program; the Sant Andreu Youth Jazz Orchestra in Barcelona, Spain; the Dave Brubeck Institute in Stockton, California; the Center for Jazz Studies at the Israel Conservatory in Tel Aviv; the Czech Jazz Workshop in Prague; and the Siena Jazz Workshop in Italy. Joel grew up in Racine, Wisconsin and moved to West Hartford, Connecticut as a high school freshman, where he became part of the acclaimed Hall High School jazz band. It was there he developed a passion for jazz, exploring the music of jazz greats such as Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, Horace Silver and Wayne Shorter. In 1992, he received a bachelor's degree from the Manhattan School of Music.  


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Album Review

Sofia Goodman: Secrets of the Shore

Read "Secrets of the Shore" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Secrets of the Shore, Nashville-based drummer Sophia Goodman's second album, is thematic, and its essential element is water. Goodman wrote or co-wrote the ten numbers, each of which is designed to induce in the listener's mind some aspect of water, from placid to turbulent, gentle to intense. As is true of all thematic enterprises, it rests with the listener to hear and appreciate what the composer has in mind. Goodman fares well in that respect, as her ...

6
Album Review

Diane Marino: I Hear Music

Read "I Hear Music" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


"I Hear Music," from Nashville-based vocalist, pianist and arranger Diane Marino, is a twelve-track retrospective of selections--famous and not so--drawn from the Songbook, as well as being associated with such great artists as Dakota Staton, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, and others. The opener, the rarely heard “I Hear Music," is Marino's fine upbeat take on an old Burton Lane & Frank Loesser tune from a forgetable pre-WWII film, “Dancing on a Dime" (Paramount Pictures, 1940). It is ...

7
Live Review

Joel Frahm at Jazz At The Joint

Read "Joel Frahm at Jazz At The Joint" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Joel Frahm Jazz At The Joint North Little Rock, AR July 11, 2022 Synergy. The word was first used in 1600, derived from the Greek συνεργός ("synergos"), which means “to work together" or “to cooperate," with the corollary that the results of this “cooperation" afford an output greater than the sum of its individual parts. When jazz musicians of a certain shared caliber come together, synergy is a given, achieved and evidenced in their performance. ...

4
Album Review

Joel Frahm: The Bright Side

Read "The Bright Side" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


Saxophonist Joel Frahm is an accomplished virtuoso with an easily recognizable style. He deftly balances an accessible, mellifluous sound with an explorative spirit. His tenth release as a leader, the captivating The Bright Side, is a collection of ten brilliant originals interpreted in a spare trio setting. The laid back atmosphere and the band's seamless camaraderie make for an engaging listening experience and the warmth, whimsy and intelligent motifs create the album's cohesiveness. “Thinking of Benny" opens with ...

15
Album Review

Joel Frahm: The Bright Side

Read "The Bright Side" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Chordless trio recordings featuring saxophone, bass and drums, no piano or guitar in the building, always draw comparisons to 1957 when a pair of the groundbreakers of the genre were recorded by saxophonist Sonny Rollins with A Night At The Village Vanguard (Blue Note Records, 1958) and Way Out West (Contemporary, 1957). Saxophonist Joel Frahm obviously looked back to that time, having transcribed and memorized Rollins' solo on “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise" (from the Village Vanguard album) as ...

5
Album Review

Susan Tobocman: Touch & Go

Read "Touch & Go" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


A glance at the song list presented here--some rather unique choices, for sure--could lead one to assume that this album warrants a listen. What really slams things home, however, are Susan Tobocman's exceptionally slick arrangements of said selections, her excellent vocal skills, and some fine solo playing. With Touch & Go Tobocman—a Detroit native and now a New Yorker--offers five originals which are enveloped by a number of Top 40 re-imagined hits and a trio of standards ...

5
Album Review

Susan Tobocman: Touch & Go

Read "Touch & Go" reviewed by Troy Dostert


A triple-threat musician with significant talent as a vocalist, composer and arranger, Susan Tobocman's path to jazz was an unconventional one. Her early interest in poetry led to a scholarship that took her from her hometown, Detroit, to New York, for study at Columbia University. That in turn led to an interest in musical theater, followed by a stint managing the Jimi Hendrix-founded Electric Lady Studios, and then some touring work with the Tom Tom Club. Only afterward, during her ...

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4

Recording

Ben Markley Quartet Featuring Joel Frahm - Hot New Release September 16th - Slow Play!

Ben Markley Quartet Featuring Joel Frahm - Hot New Release September 16th - Slow Play!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

Ben Markley Quartet featuring Joel Frahm Slow Play: Release Date September 16th Label: OA2 Records Slow Play is a compilation of music I wrote with the band of Joel Frahm, Jim White, and Marty Kenney in mind. I've had a chance to work with Jim and Marty over the last 10 years in various settings and it's always been a blast. I met Joel a little over two years ago and asked him to do a ...

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Performance / Tour

Three Views of a Trio Featuring The Wee Trio, the Joel Frahm Trio & the Danny Fox Trio @ Le Poisson Rouge

Three Views of a Trio Featuring The Wee Trio, the Joel Frahm Trio & the Danny Fox Trio @ Le Poisson Rouge

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

Le Poisson Rouge, February 28, 2012 THREE VIEWS OF A TRIO: CD Release Celebration for The Wee Trio's Ashes To Ashes—A David Bowie INTRAspective Also featuring the trios of Joel Frahm and Danny Fox Tues, Feb. 28, 10 PM, tkts are $15, 158 Bleecker St., NYC The Press Rave About The Wee Trio's Ashes to Ashes: “The music makes a wonderful jumping-off point for these inventive musicians . . . a take-no- ...

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Performance / Tour

Three Views of a Trio Featuring The Wee Trio, the Joel Frahm Trio & the Danny Fox Trio @ Le Poisson Rouge!

Three Views of a Trio Featuring The Wee Trio, the Joel Frahm Trio & the Danny Fox Trio @ Le Poisson Rouge!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

Le Poisson Rouge—February 28, 2012 CD Release Celebration for The Wee Trio Ashes To Ashes—A David Bowie INTRAspective Also featuring the trios of Joel Frahm and Danny Fox. Tues, February 28, 10 PM, $15 Le Poisson Rouge 158 Bleecker St. New York, NY 212 505 FISH The Ashes to Ashes Tour: Stephenville, TX, Jan 18: Tarelton State University Denton, TX, Jan 19: University of North Texas ...

99

Recording

"Three Musicians" is New CD from Pianist/Arranger Joan Stiles, Featuring Joel Frahm & Matt Wilson

"Three Musicians" is New CD from Pianist/Arranger Joan Stiles, Featuring Joel Frahm & Matt Wilson

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Pianist Joan Stiles's first two CDs—Love Call (Zoho, 2004) and Hurly-Burly (Oo-Bla-Dee, 2007)—showcased Stiles the resourceful and inventive arranger for octet and sextet. Her new album, Three Musicians, on which Stiles arranges for an unusual trio with saxophonist Joel Frahm and drummer Matt Wilson, reveals the pianist as a fearless improviser who combines harmonic gifts and rhythmic acuity with a pleasingly sharp sense of humor. The album is due for Oct. 25 release on her Oo-Bla-Dee label. Three Musicians is ...

108

Recording

Anzic Records to Release "Project A" from Saxophonist Joel Frahm + Hammond B3 Player/Pianist Bruce Katz

Anzic Records to Release "Project A" from Saxophonist Joel Frahm + Hammond B3 Player/Pianist Bruce Katz

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

“Katz is a killer on the B3” --Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes “Joel Frahm, one of the young band leaders often heard in New York’s small jazz clubs, sounds supremely comfortable playing the tenor saxophone.” --Ben Ratliff, The New York Times Available August 25, 2009 on Anzic Records Joel Frahm + Bruce Katz – Project A – Live at The Jazz Standard in NYC – Sept 1, 2 + 3 In the lexicon of soul.. A is for Aretha. On August 25 ...

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Recording

Ondrej Pivec's New Hammond Organ Album from New York with Jake Langley and Joel Frahm

Ondrej Pivec's New Hammond Organ Album from New York with Jake Langley and Joel Frahm

Source: All About Jazz

Young jazz Hammond organist Ondej Pivec (b. 1984) is releasing his new album Overseason. Pivec is leader of the Prague-based Organic Quartet, an ensemble which has already recorded two albums during its brief existence (Don't Get Ideas, winner of the Czech Academy of Popular Music's 2006 Best Jazz Album award, and Never Enough). The album was recorded in New York, where Pivec and his colleague from Organic Quartet, drummer Tom Hobzek were visiting in the summer of 2007 on a ...

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Performance / Tour

Joan Stiles/Joel Frahm Duo Concert at the New School Jazz Performance Space

Joan Stiles/Joel Frahm Duo Concert at the New School Jazz Performance Space

Source: Two for the Show Media


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Radio

The Jazz Session #27: Joel Frahm

The Jazz Session #27: Joel Frahm

Source: All About Jazz

On the new episode of The Jazz Session, Jason Crane interviews saxophonist Joel Frahm. Frahm is one of the busiest saxophonists on the scene today. You'll find him on recordings with pianist Brad Mehldau, vocalist Jane Monheit, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, drummers Matt Wilson and Pete Zimmer, and the Waverly 7. His fourth record as a leader, We Used To Dance (Anzic Records, 2007), brings together a classic rhythm section that played with Stan Getz on some of his final recordings: ...

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Recording

Tenor Saxophonist Joel Frahm Releases "We Used to Dance" with Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid, Victor Lewis on Anzic Records

Tenor Saxophonist Joel Frahm Releases "We Used to Dance" with Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid, Victor Lewis on Anzic Records

Source: DL Media

Frahm to Celebrate the CD Release with the Trio on May 2-6 at Sweet Rhythm

“Joel Frahm, one of the young band leaders often heard in New York's small jazz clubs, sounds supremely comfortable playing the tenor saxophone." - Ben Ratliff, New York Times

If you've spent time in the New York jazz scene during the last two decades, you have undoubtedly heard superlative statements like the one about the exceptional saxophonist Joel Frahm. His past recordings have been universally ...

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Photos

Concerts

Apr 10 Wed
Apr 10 Wed

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

A Canadian Songbook

TBR Records
2025

buy

Secrets of the Shore

Joyous Records
2023

buy

Jacob’s Ladder

Nonesuch Records
2022

buy

I Hear Music

M&M Records
2022

buy

The Bright Side

Anzic Records
2021

buy

The Scrapper

Cellar Records
2020

buy

Skeletons

From: A Canadian Songbook
By Joel Frahm

Omer's World

From: The Bright Side
By Joel Frahm

My Shining Hour

From: Abundance
By Joel Frahm

Granada Bus

From: Rev
By Joel Frahm

The Windup

From: Turboprop
By Joel Frahm

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