Joe Farnsworth Quartet

Joe Farnsworth is already regarded as one of the top jazz drummers in the world, but as far as he is concerned, he is just getting started. He is dedicated to the great tradition of jazz drumming as conceived by men like Max Roach, Roy Haynes, Elvin Jones, Billy Higgins and Arthur Taylor and it keeps him in the practice room trying to continue and extend it. Joe was born on February 21, 1968 in South Hadley, Massachusetts into an unusually musical family. His father was a renowned music teacher who immersed his five sons, and it became clear early on that, Joe as the youngest would choose a career in music and would ultimately be a great success. His eldest brother, John, a renowned trombone and saxophone player, exposed him at the age of 12, to the music of Count Basie, John Coltrain, Charlie Parker and the drumming of Tony Williams which led Joe to seek lessons with Alan Dawson out of Boston. Ultimately enrolling in William Patterson College in New Jersey, he met and befriended Harold Mabern who introduced him to tenor saxophonist George Coleman. Both Harold and George became major influences on Farnsworth's playing. During this time, Joe also sought out and studied with Art Taylor and became friends with saxophonist Eric Alexander. After moving to New York City with brother James, a saxophonist for Ray Charles (1992-1999) when he unexpectedly passed away, Joe became the leader on Friday and Saturday nights as the infamous jazz club Augie's (now Smoke) where he would meet and play with Junior Cook, Cecil Payne, John Ore, Big John Patton, Harold Mabern, Eddie Henderson and John Jenkins. Joe's undeniable talent and hard work ethic started to pay off. He began working with Jon Hendriks in 1992 and then with Diana Krall off and on until he became a full member for a year and half from 1999-2000. Joe Farnsworth is now known as one of the most recorded drummers on the scene, with over 70 cd's behind him, for musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Cedar Walton, Pharoah Sanders, Eric Alexander and Benny Golson. His first recording as a leader, "Beautiful Friendship" (Crisscross Records) featured pianist Cedar Walton and trumpeteer Eddie Henderson while his second, "It's Prime Time" (88 Records) included special guest artists Ron Carter, Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson and Harold Mabern, Jr. At 38, Joe has already performed on most of the greatest American and international stages. He appears regularly at New York City clubs like The Village Vanguard (Wynton Marsalis, Cedar Walton), Blue Note (Johnny Griffin, Horace Silver), Birdland (Lou Donaldson), Iridium (George Coleman, Pharoah Sanders) and Jazz at Lincoln Center (Wynton Marsalis). In any given year he is likely to be found backing major artists at the leading jazz clubs and festivals all over the world. Farnsworth, also a regular on the Jazz Festival scene, has played with Benny Green, Diana Krall (Montreal Jazz Festival), Curtis Fuller and Barry Harris (Northsea Jazz Festival), Pori Jazz Festival, Red Sea Festival and Umbria just to name a few. As a straight-ahead jazz musician, Joe has been compared to his idol "...not unlike Max Roach in his ability to combine furious playing with structural cogency, Farnsworth audaciously travels around the set, establishing unifying ideas without interrupting the barrage of strokes..."* Orthman goes on to describe Joe's career including "...venerable leaders ranging from George Coleman to Benny Golson to Cedar Walton, who frequently call on him to light a fire under their bands. The ability to set all kinds of material in motion, minus fuss and clutter, has also placed him in a coterie of younger, tradition-minded musicians like Eric Alexander (a college classmate during the late 80's), Steve Davis, David Hazeltine and Jim Rotundi, a group of young players that are regulars at Smoke a jazz club in NYC. In 2006, Japanese label, Commodore Records, will release Farnsworth's third cd, "Drumspeak". which is sure to change the flavor of drums in jazz today. "Drumspeak" is touted as a festival of musical language incorporating traditional jazz with percussions, drums and various instruments from Japan, Latin-America, Africa and the U.S. Commodore Records will release "Drumspeak" later this year. Weblinks: joefarnsworthjazz.com/ Alto & Soprano saxophonist Jaleel Shaw is presently a member of the Roy Haynes Quartet, Mingus Big Band, and has performed with Christian Mcbride, Jason Moran, Stefon Harris, Roy Hargrove, Dave Holland, Jimmy Cobb, and more. Shaw grew up in Philadelphia, PA, where he was constantly surrounded by music. He picked up the alto saxophone when he was nine and joined a youth jazz band directed by jazz educator Lovette Hines about a year later. In addition to performing with Hines’ band for nearly six years, Shaw also immersed himself in Philly’s local jazz scene, studying and performing with some of the talented musicians that city has historically produced. Upon graduating from high school, Jaleel received a full tuition scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. He attended Berklee for four years and earned a dual degree in Music Education and Performance in 2000. While attending Berklee, he received the Billboard Endowed Scholarship for Outstanding Academic and Musical achievement (1998), two Woodwind Dept. Chair Awards, The Outstanding Student Teacher Award, and The Boston Jazz Society Award (1999). After graduating from Berklee, Jaleel received a scholarship to attend the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he received his Masters in Jazz Performance in May of 2002. Jaleel’s debut CD, “Perspective” was released in June 2005 and received rave reviews from Jazzwise Magazine, The New York Times, and was named one of the top 5 debut CD’s of 2005 by All About Jazz Magazine, and Jazzwise Magazine. He was also awarded an Ascap Young Jazz Composer Award for his composition “The Heavyweight Champion”, featured on the CD. That same year, Jaleel joined the Roy Haynes Quartet and in 2006, Jaleel was featured on Roy Haynes’ Grammy Nominated “Whereas” recording. In 2008, Jaleel started his own record label - Changu Records, on which he released his second CD “Optimism”. That same year, Jaleel won another ASCAP Young Composer Award for the composition “The Flipside”, which is heard on “Optimism”. He was also nominated for Up and Coming by the Jazz Journalist Association later that year. Jaleel has recently been mentioned in Jazztimes Magazine’s 2011 Readers Poll for Alto Saxophonist of the Year along with Phil Woods, Lee Konitz, Bunky Green, and Kenny Garrett. He has also recorded a new quartet CD that will be released in 2012 Weblinks: www.jaleelshaw.com www.facebook.com/pages/Jaleel-Shaw/7053226601 This artist does not have a bio yet. Perhaps the most recorded bassist of his generation, Peter Washington has also played an integral part in two of the most important and highly praised jazz trios of the last 20 years, in addition to a who's who roster of jazz artists.Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1964, Washington attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in English Literature and played in both the UC Symphony and the San Francisco Youth Symphony. In 1986, while performing in San Francisco with alto saxophonist John Handy, he was asked by Art Blakey to move to New York and join the seminal Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.Washington remained with the Jazz Messengers from 1986 to 1989, and during this time was able to establish himself as a ubiquitous, first- call freelance bassist; a position he has occupied to this day.In the early 1990's Washington joined the Tommy Flanagan Trio , called by many the greatest trio in jazz, and remained until Flanagan's death, in 2002. For the past ten years he has been a member of the very highly acclaimed Bill Charlap Trio.In addition to these long- term commitments Washington has worked and recorded with an extremely large number of top- tier artists, of all generations. A partial list of those he has recorded and performed live with would include Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson. Freddie Hubbard, Donald Byrd, Benny Carter, Hank Jones, Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Burrell, Phil Woods, Cedar Walton, Joe Henderson, Ray Bryant, Frank Wess, Clark Terry, Lionel Hampton, Charles McPherson, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, the Newport All Stars, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Gerald Wilson,Lou Donaldson, Barry Harris, Lew Tabakin, Sweets Edison, Johnny Griffin, Jackie McLean, Sir Simon Rattle and the Birmingham Symphony, Richard Wyands, Teddy Edwards, Johnny Coles, Frank Morgan, and more f the youngergenerations, Washington has recorded and performed with Mulgrew Miller, Tom Harrell, the Brecker Brothers, Don Grolnick, David Sanchez, Eric Alexander, Benny Green, Javon Jackson, Brian Lynch, David Hazeltine, One For All, Steve Nelson, James Carter, Renee Rosnes, Steve Turre, Regina Carter, Kenny Washington, Grant Stewart, Robin Eubanks, Joe Magnarelli, Geoff Keezer, Billy Drummond, Jeremy Pelt, Ryan Kisor, Walt Weisokopf, and many, many others.Peter Washington has also enjoyed associtions with vocalists as diverse as Andy Bey, Freddie Cole, Karrin Allyson, Chris Conner, Mark Murphy, Georgie Fame, Ernie Andrews, Paula West, Eric Comstock, Anne Hampton Calloway, Marlena Shaw, and Ernestine Anderson.A complete discography would list, as of this writing, over 350 recordings, and is expanded on a weekly and monthly basis.In the scope and breadth of his career thus far, his adaptability, and in his emphasis on creative, supportive, swiging time- playing as well as inventive and intelligent soloing, Washington has been compared to the likes of George Duvivier, Milt Hinton, and Ron Carter.