James Farm on JazzSet

Thursday April 12, 2012

From NPR

James Farm on JazzSet
By: Becca Pulliam

When Joshua Redman plays Boston, it’s a homecoming. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University and quickly won the 1991 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition. Warner Brothers signed him to make a string of successful albums.

From 2004 to ’07, he was first among equals in the eight-piece SF JAZZ Collective, with Matt Penman on bass and Eric Harland on drums. Penman, from New Zealand, had studied at Berklee College of Music, the site of this show. From Houston, Texas, Harland studied at Manhattan School of Music.

In 2008, a new player, pianist Aaron Parks from Seattle (who also studied at MSM), released Invisible Cinema with Penman and Harland. Redman told DownBeat that he listened to Invisible Cinema all the time and loved the songs, the interaction and the groove. He invited the trio to join him at the 2009 Montreal International Jazz Festival, and from that they became James Farm.

Everyone asks, “Why ‘James Farm’?” and the players steadfastly maintain that there is no story. It’s just a name. (You can even find it on the occasional milk carton.)

To read more and listen to the program click here