Joel Frahm (born 1970) is an American jazz saxophonist.

Early life

Frahm was born in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1970."Joel Frahm"
AllMusic. Retrieved December 8, 2016. He attended the Stephen Bull Fine Arts School, where he began playing the tenor saxophone. At the age of 15 he and his family moved to West Hartford, Connecticut, where he attended

William H. Hall High School William H. Hall High School, also known as Hall High, is a four-year public high school located in West Hartford, in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Opened in 1924, it was named after William Henry Hall, who was a teacher, principal, and superinte ...

. He met pianist

Brad Mehldau Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, and toured and recorded while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's Quar ...

at school, and the two had weekly gigs locally. "After leaving high school in 1988, Frahm attended Rutgers University for a year before transferring to The Manhattan School of Music, and following graduation with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jazz Performance he entered Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead workshop." Frahm lists saxophonists

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...

and Chris Potter as influences.Milkowski, Bill (December 2000
"Joel Frahm"
''JazzTimes''.

Later life and career

His debut recording as a leader was ''Sorry, No Decaf'', for

Palmetto Records Palmetto Records is an independent American jazz record company and label in New York City founded in 1990 by guitarist Matt Balitsaris. Issues began with those by Balitsaris, then Greg Hatza in 1993. Since then, its catalog has included albums ...

, in 1998. A 2001 recording, '' Don't Explain'', was a series of duets with Mehldau.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

*''Sorry, No Decaf'' (Palmetto, 1998) *''The Navigator'' (Palmetto, 2000) *'' Don't Explain'' (Palmetto, 2001) *''We Used to Dance'' ( Anzic, 2005) *With

Bruce Katz Bruce Katz (born August 19, 1952) is an American musician, playing piano, organ and bass guitar. From 1996 to 2010, he was on the faculty at the Berklee College of Music in Boston as an associate professor. He founded his own musical group, the ...

, ''Project A.'' (Anzic, 2009) *''Caminhos Cruzados'' (

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

, 2010) *''Live at Smalls'' (Smallslive, 2011) *With

Pavel Wlosok Pavel ( Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and Macedonian: Павел, Czech, Slovene, Romanian: Pavel, Polish: Paweł, Ukrainian: Павло, Pavlo) is a male given name. It is a Slavic cognate of the name Paul (derived from the Greek Pavlos). P ...

Trio, ''Czechmate'' (New Port Line, 2013) *With Johannes Mössinger, ''New by Two'' (Unit, 2017)

As sideman

With

Omer Avital Omer Avital (born May 13, 1971, Givatayim, Israel) is an Israeli-American jazz bassist, composer and bandleader. Early life Avital was born in the town of Givatayim to Moroccan and Yemeni parents. At age 11, he began his formal training, s ...

* ''New Song'' (2014) With

*''

Finding Gabriel ''Finding Gabriel'' is an album by Brad Mehldau. It was recorded over an 18-month period in 2017–18 and was released by Nonesuch Records in 2019. It won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. Background Mehldau wrote that "''F ...

'' (

Nonesuch __NOTOC__ Nonesuch may refer to: Plants * ''Lychnis chalcedonica'', a wildflower * ''Medicago lupulina'', a wildflower Places and structures *Nonesuch, Kentucky *Nonesuch Island, Bermuda *Nonesuch Mine, Michigan *Nonesuch Palace, mis-spelling of ...

, 2019) * ''

Jacob's Ladder Jacob's Ladder ( he, סֻלָּם יַעֲקֹב ) is a ladder leading to heaven that was featured in a dream the biblical Patriarch Jacob had during his flight from his brother Esau in the Book of Genesis (chapter 28). The significance of th ...

'' (Nonesuch, 2020–2021)

References

Notes

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frahm, Joel Living people American jazz soprano saxophonists American jazz tenor saxophonists American male saxophonists Crossover jazz saxophonists Jazz fusion saxophonists Palmetto Records artists 1970 births 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Hall High School (Connecticut) alumni