The astonishing US sax player Joel Frahm returns to Leeds with his saxophone-led trio

Joel Frahm is known to all jazz-lovers as a modern icon of the tenor saxophone. An unsurpassed emotional projection and technical ability always characterise his playing which draws on the breadth of the American musical tradition including jazz, funk, rock and blues. His work as a leader and his collaboration with the leading players of his generation including Brad Mehldau, Matt Wilson, Jane Monheit and Ari Hoenig have established him as among the most important and exciting players of our time.

The New York Times says, “Joel has established an identity … as a saxophonist with a deft and assertive command” and the Ottawa Citizen sums it up well, “Joel Frahm is widely known in the jazz world for his effusive creativity, rollicking positive spirit, technical fluency and versatility.” Brad Mehldau, Joel’s childhood friend and long-time collaborator, digs a little deeper, “When I think of Joel, I think of his sound on the tenor, big and generous, very warm and comfortable. One thing I always hear in Joel’s playing is an unapologetic emotional outpouring.”

Currently living in music city Nashville, Joel Frahm has honed his craft in the jazz clubs of New York for more than thirty years. He has collaborated with, among others, Betty Carter, Kenny Barron en Freddy Cole. He made the duo album Don’t Explain with Brad Mehldau. On our stage he has previously appeared in the bands of Omer Avital.

His current trio with bassist Dan Loomis and drummer Ernesto Cervini an international affair, consisting one of Canada’s most prolific bandleaders, Ernesto Cervini (Myriad3, Turboprop) on drums and composer/bandleader/bassist Dan Loomis (of The Wee Trio, TS Monk, Vadim Neselovskyi). This band has been playing together for almost a decade in Ernesto’s Turboprop and his Quartet, the ECQ. They are touring in support of their first trio record together.