Joe Farnsworth is a Massachusetts native who cut his teeth drumming with Junior Cook, Eric Alexander and others. He’s recently been touring with another Bay Stater, saxophonist Sarah Hanahan, and they’ve worked together on the new album “The Big Room.” Va Lynda Robinson and Al Davis spoke with both of them about their collaboration, and embodying the spirit of generations before.
Va Lynda Robinson: Joe Farnsworth, hello! Born in South Hadley, you grew up in a musical family. Your father was a music educator and a trumpet player and you have four older brothers, two of whom became professional musicians. Did I get it right?
Joe Farnsworth: Absolutely 100% correct.
Va Lynda Robinson: I have to ask you about your suits! You’re always dressed to the nines!
Joe Farnsworth: Well, my first really big-time job was with Benny Golson, and he was dressed like that. And then we did a tour with Art Farmer and Curtis Fuller, and they were dressed like that! And I wanted to be just like them. I have a pocket square that came from Art Farmer. [On that tour] he’d go into the hotel, check in, and him and Curtis would go to the bar to have a little prosecco. Then one time he said, “Come sit with us” but he but he pulled out his pocket square and he said, “But don’t embarrass me,” and put it in my jacket. And ever since then, I wear it in honor of Art Farmer.
Va Lynda Robinson: I want to know about “The Big Room,” your latest recording.
Joe Farnsworth: Well, it started back in the '80s when my brother John used to drive us down to the 880 Club in Hartford. It was a great club. Every Sunday night, they had a trio. Bassist Nat Reeves, who’s still there in Hartford, Mike Duquette, the drummer, and Don DePalma. And they’d bring in superstars like Clifford Jordan, George Coleman, and Sly Hampton. It was a thrill to be able to drive down to see them every week. In Connecticut, in Hartford especially, you were in the influence of the superpowers of the great Jackie McLean, who moved up there and was the one that started talking about “the big room” back in the '80s. To him it was a place where you do all this work and all this study and learn all your scales... then you let all the rules go and just play what the higher power has passed through you to the audience.
Al Davis: Tell us a little bit about Sarah Hanahan, because we just received her CD earlier this year, and she features heavily on “The Big Room.” She is a wonderful saxophonist!
Joe Farnsworth: Well, during COVID, a lot of things changed and three of my biggest mentors had passed away: Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, and Harold Mabern. But God doesn’t like vacuums. We were doing a live stream, and there was this young lady [who signed up to play with us] and she was holding her horn. I always liked to watch how great people held their horns, like Jackie McLean, Frank Bird, Curtis Fuller... they all had style. And she was over there holding it like she was boxing! And she hit a note and I just... I felt Pharaoh Sanders. I felt Clifford Jordan. I felt Freddie Hubbard. I felt all those greats inside her. And since then we’ve been traveling the world together. It’s been great.
Al Davis: She’s from the New England area, too. She’s a master!
Joe Farnsworth: Yeah, she’s from Marlborough, so we’re just two kids from Mass!
Later on that day, we were able to speak briefly to Sarah Hanahan, Farnsworth’s collaborator and mentee. She reflected on what it was like to play with a bandleader who’s from a different generation.
Sarah Hanahan: I love playing with Joe. He’s so rooted in the tradition of this music, in drummers like Kenny Clark, Max Roach, Billy Higgins, Elvin Jones, all the greats. When I play with him, it’s like... it’s like playing with all of those guys, except with something uniquely him, too. It’s a real powerful feeling when you’re playing this music with somebody who really knows it inside and out.
Joe Farnsworth’s new album, featuring Sarah Hanahan is “The Big Room,” and just released on July 25th.
