Joe Farrell

Joe Farrell (Joseph ( Giuseppi ) Carl Firrantello; born December 16, 1937 in Chicago Heights / Illinois; † January 10, 1986 in Los Angeles, California ) was an American jazz musician ( tenor and soprano saxophone, flute).

Biography

Farrell began at the age of eleven, a clarinet training, at sixteen, he moved to tenor saxophone. After studying at the University of Illinois in 1959, he went to New York City. There he was a member until 1961, the Maynard Ferguson Big Band and worked in 1962 with Slide Hampton. He played a recording with Charles Mingus, Dizzy Reece and Jaki Byard and belonged 1966-1969 the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra and 1967-1970 the combo of Elvin Jones. As a sideman, he also worked with George Russell, Horace Silver, Woody Herman, Louis Hayes, Ray Barretto, Billy Cobham ( "Spectrum", 1973), Chick Corea, and " Return to Forever ", Pat Martino (1968), Antônio Carlos Jobim ( 1970), and Santana ( "Welcome", 1973), Hubert Laws, Ron Carter.

Known to a wider audience Farrell was a member of the original cast of Chick Corea's fusion band " Return to Forever ". He also played the beginning of the 1970s, a series of albums for the label CTI one. These recordings, most notably "Moon Germs " from 1972, documenting energy and sensitivity in his playing on soprano and tenor saxophone and flute, and are counted by some of the classics of the era. However, these recordings have received little attention, despite the high caliber sidemen like Stanley Clarke on acoustic bass, Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette, Joe Beck, John McLaughlin and others. " The often undervalued, especially in straight-ahead jazz fusion in the context of less convincing Joe Farrell bribed by his power on the tenor, his swing feeling on the Soprano and his lyrical strength on the flute. "

His career has been increasingly affected by drug use. Farrell died in 1986 in Los Angeles on MDS.

Discography (title under his own name )

• Joe Farrell Quartet (1970) CTI 6003

• Outback (1971) CTI 6014

• Moon Germs (1972) CTI 6023

• Penny Arcade (1974) CTI 6034

• Upon This Rock (1974) CTI 6042

• Canned Funk (1975) CTI 6058

• Benson & Farrell (1976) CTI 6069

• Night Dancing ( 1978) Warner Bros. Records

• Joe Farrell, Ronnie Foster, John McLaughlin, Stanley Clarke and Others, Fuse One (1980) CTI 9003, CD: Epic / Legacy 2003

• Sonic Text ( 1980) Contemporary, Original Jazz Classics, Fantasy 1993

• Joe Farrell with Art Pepper, West Coast Real Time Records, 1992, CD 1998

Lexical entries

• Carlo Bohländer (ed.): Reclams jazz leader. Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-010464-5; Dto. Edition in 2 volumes ( persons and objects part ) 1977 ( Reclam ) / 1980 ( Ed. Peters, Leipzig)
• Ian Carr, Brian Priestley, Digby Fairweather (eds.): Rough Guide to Jazz. ISBN 1-85828-137-7.
• Martin Kunzler: Jazz Encyclopedia Volume 1: A-L. Reinbek 2002, ISBN 3-499-16512-0.