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Joe Farrell


oneofanotherkind

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The Return to Forever stuff is in print, you can skip past the vocals. Isn't he also on Corea's Friends? He's on a lot of Elvin, is the Mosaic set still in print? My favorite with Elvin is Genesis, no idea if that's still around. I have all the CTI stuff from long ago, he was the consummate sideman. Maybe even a better flutist than tenor player, and he was a great tenor player.

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I saw Joe Farrell with Mingus Dynasty in 1979, in a group with Randy Brecker, Jimmy Knepper, John Handy, Don Pullen, Charlie Haden and Dannie Richmond. His tenor sax solos were excellent throughout the evening, very energetic and compelling.

Perhaps you were at the same Carnegie Hall concert that I attended that year. That was truly a fantastic concert, everyone was on fire.

On another note, I highly recommend Farrell's work on an early Chick session, TONES FOR JONES BONES (Vortex LP). The version of "Litha" on that session is smoking!

I do have the VIM 'N VIGOR session, good but I don't think it's essential.

I did not see that Mingus Dynasty group at Carnegie Hall in 1979. I saw them at the Ann Arbor Jazz Festival in September, 1979. Larry Coryell opened for Mingus Dynasty that evening, and then sat in with Mingus Dynasty on the encore, which was "Take the A Train". Coryell played a good solo on that song.

Sue Mingus, Jimmy Knepper and Dannie Richmond gave a talk in a University classroom during the festival, which was interesting. Sue expressed anger at a letter which Jack Walrath had written to Down Beat stating that he did not get credit for doing the arrangements on a Charles Mingus album. Dannie Richmond spoke fervently about the need to play simply, not to try to show off your technique as you play. It struck me and others who I talked to afterwards, that he was probably talking about Billy Cobham, who was prominent at the time.

The rest of the 1979 Ann Arbor Jazz Festival:

Friday night: Dexter Gordon (with Kirk Lightsey, Rufus Reid, Eddie Gladden)

Sun Ra and his Arkestra

Saturday night: Coryell and Mingus Dynasty

Sunday afternoon: Joseph Jarman and Don Moye, duet (2 sets)

Sunday night: McCoy Tyner with a group that included George Adams, Joe Ford and John Blake

Oscar Peterson (postponed, did not show--came later in the year to make it up)

This was all put on by a student volunteer organization, Eclipse Jazz. I was there at the right time, to see the Eclipse efforts when they were at their peak.

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I saw the same band at Saratoga.

I remember they played "Too High".

Recorded on Penny Arcade.

When I was in college we had Joe as a guest artist once. (Miles251, you remember that?)

I don't remember all the tunes he played, but I do remember a chart on his tune "Molten Glass" from Song of the Wind (nice tune). I remember Joe was very cool and approachable.

Too bad he wasn't around longer, he really was a great player IMO. I like all the sessions mentioned already. And another vote for Friends. The smurf cover was a turnoff for many, but there is some great music there. Brother Joe played some baaad flute.

paul secor: was the live Byard session you were referring to the "Last from Lennie's" session? That is a nice one.

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this thread led me to a google search on joe, and i came up with this interesting story:

Kanye West, record labels sued over jazz samples

Thu May 22, 2008 9:58pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rappers Kanye West, Method Man, Redman, Common and their record companies were sued on Thursday by late U.S. jazz musician Joe Farrell's daughter, who accused them of using her father's music without approval.

The lawsuit, filed by Kathleen Firrantello in the U.S. District Court in New York, names the rappers along with various labels owned by Universal Music Group./

None of the record companies or representatives for the rappers were immediately available for comment.

The lawsuit said all the rappers used portions of Farrell's 1974 musical composition "Upon This Rock" in three separate songs -- West in "Gone," Common in "Chi-City" and Method Man and Redman in their song "Run 4 Cover."

Firrantello is seeking punitive damages of at least $1 million and asked that no further copies of the songs be made, sold or performed, according to the lawsuit.

Reuters/Nielsen

anyone know anything more about this lawsuit?

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Moon Germs got a re-release in 02 but I guess its already discontinued but I am sure you could track one down easily. Vim and Vigor is on Emusic.

I love his first album the Joe Farrell Quartet plus his work with Andrew Hill on Dance With Death and Passing Ships. I need to pick up the stuff he did with Elvin Jones one of these days.

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I think that Farrell himself had a glass eye, that's why it turned up a few times on the CTI covers.

Or so I've been told.

Thanks for the explanation. I've been scratching my head over that one for years. :g

And not to forget all the great Joe Farrell solos on those early Thad & Mel Solid State albums..

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Another Farrell I ESPECIALLY recommend is Darn That Dream (Drive) with Art Pepper at his prime (IMO) and George Cables.

Samples here: http://www.amazon.com/Darn-That-Dream-Joe-...l/dp/B000005OBS

Woh!! Never knew about this one! Thanks.

Me neither!!! Looks very interesting, Pepper didn't record with other sax players very often but when he did it's usually very good, regardless of who is leader.

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paul secor: was the live Byard session you were referring to the "Last from Lennie's" session? That is a nice one.

Last from Lennie's was the second CD issued from that date. Jaki Byard Quartet: Live was the first.

I was just listening to one of his CTIs (Moon Germs) for the first time. Wow is that one good. Can't believe I overlooked that one! Whoever suggested it, thanks!

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Thanks to BeBop's recommend , just listened to this one of Joe's :

51EGPW3ES4L._SS500_.jpg

and it swings hard. On Mode For Joe ( nice tune choice Joe ! ) both Farrell and Pepper shine , but what I really like about this date is that Joe really shines on each and every cut. What a talent he was. And on Blue & Boogie Joe shows us that he can play insanely fast & still have great ideas -- as fast as any tenor master did , even Griff !

Apparently this is a compilation of "the most rewarding selections" of two LPs "Darn That Dream" and "Someday" that came out of the two sessions ( no rehearsals ). Considering that Pepper only appears on 3 tracks and that this date was only 2 1/2 months before his death , and also that this would turn out to be Joe's penultimate date before his own death less than 4 years later , I wonder if there's any hope of the other tracks being released. Wow. Joe must have been really sick to only record twice in his last 4 years.

Edited by oneofanotherkind
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  • 3 weeks later...

In my search for mo' Joe , I picked up this one :

1023568.jpg

which is a 1976 date where Buddy plays a bunch of covers of some of the top popular tunes of the time.

This is a sneaky collection of music. At first you think "Wow. How fast did they crank this thing out ?" but if you let it play through again, it definitely gets more interesting, mainly because of the superb calibre of musicians and their improvisations.

A 23-year-old Jon Faddis is featured on many of the tunes , and his early heavily-Dizzy-derived style really works here ( too bad about the early fade-outs ).

The highlight for me is a truly pumping version of the Isley's "Fight The Power" that contains a b-b-b-baad trumpet solo by Lew Soloff featuring heavy use of echo effects. The more I listen to this , the more I want to write Lew a note complimenting him on it (except his website has no contact email) , for it surely was a pioneering use of trumpet electronica. It's really one of the best slices of rock/funk trumpet you'll ever hear.

Joe sounds fantastic throughout ... oh, and there's no extended drum solo ( hard to believe I know ) ...

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Thanks for this thread. It's great to see all the interest in Joe's music.

WATTSJAZZ currently has 19 different Joe Farrell LP's available.

Including the most of his CTI catalog and many original pressings discussed in this thread....all vinyl

All with pictures, descriptions....this link takes you directly to the offerings.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/wattsjazz__W0Q...p;submit=Search

60+ original souljazz LP's added weekly

Edited by Jazz Vinyl
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One of my favorite recordings of his is:

Skate Board Park (1979) Xanadu 174

(with Chick Corea, Bob Magnusson, Larance Marable)

Too bad the CD is damn near impossible to find (unless you want to spend $70 on it).

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One of my favorite recordings of his is:

Skate Board Park (1979) Xanadu 174

(with Chick Corea, Bob Magnusson, Larance Marable)

Too bad the CD is damn near impossible to find (unless you want to spend $70 on it).

This used to be on eMusic, but seems to be gone now.

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Quick recommendation here for Farrell with Elvin Jones on 'Outback', also on CTI. That one (predictably) smokes too.

'Outback' is my favorite, along with Andrew Hill's 'Passing Ships'. Also love the cover of Stevie W's 'Too High' on 'Penny Arcade' - funky as hell with some tremendous playing from Herbie as well.

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