After more than three decades as a regular on the New York City club circuit and three years in the Nashville music scene, award-winning saxophonist Joel Frahm has joined the music faculty at Texas State University. He has appeared alongside noted jazz artists such as Brad Mehldau, Bill Charlap and Matt Wilson and has recorded with Dianne Schuur, Freddy Cole, Jane Monheit and others. He has performed at night clubs, music clinics, and jazz festivals around the world. Fans know him for his big tenor sound - fluid, inventive and full of passion.
Joel won a spot among readers' favorite jazz musicians in Downbeat Magazine's 88th Annual Readers Poll, earning votes in both the tenor and soprano saxophone categories. The full list can be found in Downbeat's December 2023 issue.
"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 early reviews:
Check out Joel's recent performance
with the Brandon Moore Big Band at the Nashville Jazz Workshop
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.
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.
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.
Joel appeared with the Brad Mehldau Quintet at the 2019 Ottawa Jazz Festival. Here is a review.
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.
New England Public Radio host Tom Reney writes about Joel in this Jazz Times column, "Storytelling Tenor."
Here's another video from Joel. If you're interested in lessons, Joel is available on Zoom for one-hour sessions. Contact Joel for rates and scheduling .