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when James Farm did the mix. “It’s the window
in the truck,” says Harland. “When it’s
down, it’s clear and the sound has a sense of
clarity. When the window is up, it’s muted.”
Before recording the album, the quartet hit
the road for gigs in Canada, throughout Europe
and in clubs in Philadelphia and Seattle. “It
was played and to some degree tested,” says
Penman, but the actual recording was much
more instinctual, as the foursome aimed to capture
the potency of their concerts. In the studio
and on the stage, these players’ personal chemistry
has resulted in infectious music.
Redman scoffs at the suggestion that the
formation of James Farm could mark a milestone
moment in the contemporary jazz landscape.
He says, “I get uncomfortable when
people talk like this: bringing jazz to a new generation
or carrying jazz into the future or making
it more modern, or getting outside of jazz
by bringing in outside influences. There’s nothing
wrong with that, but personally, I can’t be
an effective musician if I’m thinking about that.
I’m just thinking about the agenda for the band,
the significance of the band, our relevance. I’m
not thinking about marketing. Simply put, this
is a band I want to be a part of with the musicians
I want to play with. They inspire me.
There’s something fresh and unique in playing
with this band, and that’s it and that’s enough. If
other things happen as a byproduct, fine, but it’s
not our motivation or our agenda.”
So, how strong is the James Farm commitment,
especially given the side projects
and session work each member is actively
involved with “Everyone has a real commitment,”
Redman states. “We’re building it into
our schedules.” While he concurs that James
Farm may never be a band that tours together
the majority of the year, it will stick together as
unit, instead of being merely a one-shot deal.
Even given all the artistic vigor of James
Farm, the question begs to be asked: Where in
the world did the name come from The word
James came from the first letter of each band
member’s first name: Joshua, Aaron, Matt and
Eric, with the letter S tacked on the end. But
what about Farm Is that really a farmhouse on
the album cover Actually, it’s Parks’ iPhone
shot of a house in upstate New York belonging
to singer Rebecca Martin and bassist Larry
Grenadier. The mysterious image—which also
contains autumn leaves both floating and submerged—is
a reflection in a pond, so the farmhouse
appears to be inverted.
Don’t read too much symbolism into that,
they all agree. Still, Redman says, “When we
all saw the photo, we thought, ‘That looks the
way that our music sounds.’ It’s evocative.”
“When I first saw the photo, [the bits of
leaves] looked like stars in the sky, and I saw
the hue of the clouds,” says Harland. “I wasn’t
paying much attention to the upside-down
quality. It just seemed like a simple house in the
floating solar system. It’s like us. We’re such
grounded individuals, but we’re dreaming at
the same time. We have large minds, big hearts,
big fantasies, but we remain pretty simple.”
As the interview winds down, the musicians
grow restless and evasive regarding the
band name and any farming metaphors.
Penman says, “Really, it’s just a word we
liked that we stuck on the end of another word
that we liked. It sounds good.”
Harland goes further: “To me it’s the earth,
the field. There’s growth. It’s natural.”
Parks jokes, “It’s just that the F is the sixth
letter of the alphabet. But it does sound friendly.”
Redman impatiently ends the discussion.
“If you ask what the band name means, you’re
going to get a different answer from each of
us,” he says, as if annoyed by the question.
“Farm is part of our name. It’s the name we
chose for the band because we liked it, even if
we don’t all agree with what farm means.”
And maybe that’s what makes this group so
unusually empowered. It’s not the Redman
Quartet, the Parks Quartet, the Harland Quartet
or the Penman Quartet. It’s a farm where the
soil is enriched and nourishing. The seeds have
been tenderly covered with earth. Only time
will tell what future fruit it will bear. DB
SEPTEMBER 2011 DOWNBEAT 35