Joel Frahm is an heir to icons like John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, and Chris Potter, a muscular modern-day tenor who draws on multiple aspects of the American tradition—jazz, funk, rock, and blues—with what jazz writer Nate Chinen calls “harmonic and rhythmic surefootedness.” His hard-swinging “chordless” trio (with Dan Loomis on bass and Ernesto Cervini on drums) roams territory staked out by Sonny Rollins at the Vanguard back in 1957 and advanced since then by only a select few. With grace and daring, fluency and emotion, this working unit, now nearly a decade old, is earning a place among that elite.
Frahm grew up in Wisconsin, but as a teenager he moved with his family to Connecticut, where he befriended high-school classmate (and future piano legend) Brad Mehldau. Studies at Rutgers and the Manhattan School of Music led to a stint in vocalist Betty Carter’s formative Jazz Ahead workshop, then career jumpstarts playing behind Maynard Ferguson, Larry Goldings, and Jane Monheit. (His many other supporting roles over the years include bands helmed by such past masters as Dewey Redman, Lee Konitz, Pat Martino, and Andrew Hill, as well as contemporaries—and RJA guests—like bassists Ben Allison and Omer Avital and drummers Dafnis Prieto and Matt Wilson.) Highlights of his comparatively slim—but highly regarded—discography as a leader or co-leader include an album of duets with old friend and frequent collaborator Mehldau (Don’t Explain, 2004) and a quartet date with veterans Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid, and Victor Lewis (We Used to Dance, 2007).
As for Frahm’s trio with Canadian bandleader/educators Loomis (Wee Trio) and Cervini (Turboprop): their 2021 debut, The Bright Side—the title track is an oblique salute to Lou Reed—was warmly received, with four-star accolades in DownBeat and a featured review on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Their follow-up, Lumination (2024), is the occasion for this current tour, whose itinerary comprised a recent ten-day romp across Ireland and Europe, their second such trip in as many years. Frahm refers to his bandmates, who share compositional duties, as “Allowers. They allow enough space in the music for surprise and natural development to occur. They bring a buoyancy and joyful spirit to my compositions as well as their own. They groove hard and listen.” This well-traveled trio, he says, is a “band of true friends and accomplished improvisers.”
“Heading a group without chordal instruments can be risky,” notes Philip Booth of Jazz Times magazine. “Will the horn player … provide the melodic leadership and improvisational verve necessary to keep the proceedings engaging? Will the bassist effectively fill in or imply the chord progressions? Will the drummer zone into all parties concerned, and provide grooves and textures that make the whole affair complete?” For Frahm, Loomis, and Cervini, he affirms, “[t]he answer to those questions is a resounding ‘yes’”!
Sponsors
We couldn’t present such world-class artists at such affordable prices without the steadfast support of dozens of RJA members & sponsors, not to mention the community spirit of Arcata’s dynamic arts agency, Playhouse Arts. Special thanks to Bug Press, the most steadfast of jazz allies, for its abiding generosity.
Additional support for this show comes from Cafe Brio, Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate, John Helie & Monica Simms, Bob & Amy Doran’s Black Cat Alley Hideaway, and the North Coast Co-Op.