Named in Downbeat Readers Poll
Joel won a spot among readers' favorite jazz musicians in Downbeat Magazine's 89th Annual Readers Poll, earning votes in the tenor saxophone category. The full list can be found in Downbeat's December 2024 issue.
New release!
"Lumination" is the latest release from the Joel Frahm Trio -- a follow-up to the trio's debut album, "The Bright Side." It is available from Anzic Records. Here are some early reviews:
"The Bright Side"
"The Bright Side," the debut CD from the Joel Frahm Trio, is available now from Anzic Records, featuring Joel on tenor and soprano saxophones along with Ernesto Cervini on drums and Dan Loomis on bass. Here are some reviews:
Ottawa Jazz Festival online performance
Joel appeared in a virtual online performance by the Prime Rib Big Band sponsored by the Ottawa Jazz Festival. You can listen to the performance along with an interview with Joel here.
"The point of this music is to play joyfully..."
Joel talks about his early influences in jazz and offers advice to young players in this podcast from New York City's Smalls Jazz Club.
A Life in Jazz
Joel talks about the music that inspires him in a wide-ranging interview written by Peter Robb of artsfile, a Canadian media company covering the arts in Ottawa, Ontario.
"Ear-catching inventiveness" in Ottawa
Joel appeared with the Brad Mehldau Quintet at the 2019 Ottawa Jazz Festival. Here is a review.
Recording news
Joel is one of several guest artists on Brad Mehldau's "Finding Gabriel," which won a 2020 Grammy award as "Best Jazz Instrumental Album." Joel also appeared on the Dafnis Prieto Big Band album, "Back to the Sunset," winner of a 2019 Grammy and was a featured soloist on the 2019 Grammy-nominated album, "My Mood is You," by vocalist Freddy Cole.
Joel is a member of Toronto native Ernesto Cervini's Turboprop band, whose recording "Abundance" won a 2020 Juno award, Canada's equivalent of a Grammy.
Interviews
- Joel talks about his music in this interview on Best.Saxophone.Website.Ever.
- Here is another interview with Joel posted on SaxShed.com.
- And another from Chronogram Magazine.
From 'Jazz Times' magazine
New England Public Radio host Tom Reney writes about Joel in this Jazz Times column, "Storytelling Tenor."