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8-panel Digipak Album
“If you were to buy only one record this year to fulfill your need for in-the-pocket, swinging jazz with a nod toward tradition, drummer Joe Farnsworth’s TIME TO SWING is the one. While much modern jazz seems designed for academic fulfillment or intellectual provocation, TIME TO SWING is a punch to the gut, to the feel-good sector of your musical cerebellum, to your heart. ”
— Ken Micallef, JazzTimes
“TIME TO SWING is a joyous album, rife with superlative tone and spirit from all four players. For the humble, ever-growing in confidence Farnsworth, this debut for Smoke Session Records is truly special.”
— Jim Hynes, Glide Magazine
“Here, he leads a trio for half the time with classy pianist Kenny Barron and always reliable bassist Peter Washington, and then brings in ex-boss Wynton Marsalis to blow his horn for the first handful of tracks. The result is an audio workshop on how to play the drums for the ages.”
— George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
***
The drummer of choice for some the biggest names in jazz for more than a quarter century, Joe Farnsworth delivers a career-defining masterpiece of his own with TIME TO SWING featuring pianist and NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron; consummate bassist Peter Washington; and virtuoso trumpeter and cultural icon Wynton Marsalis.
Farnsworth’s acute musical vision was formed over years of peerless performances and recordings with artists like George Coleman, Benny Golson, Pharoah Sanders, Curtis Fuller, Horace Silver, Diana Krall, and, of course, Wynton Marsalis. Wynton is the featured special guest on the first four tracks of TIME TO SWING and the pairing of his trumpet and Farnsworth’s cymbal beat is simply great jazz music. The first half concludes with a tour-de-force drum solo that is dedicated to the late, great Jimmy Cobb, before a second half that is as scintillating a piano trio performance as you’ll hear anywhere.
Farnsworth is something of a piano trio specialist with extensive work in the classic trios of Cedar Walton, Hank Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Harold Mabern, among others. Here, Barron, Washington, and Farnsworth deliver unforgettable renditions of Monk, Ellington, and more in a trio set that is a new classic in itself.
released September 16, 2020
Wynton Marsalis – trumpet
Kenny Barron – piano
Peter Washington – bass
Joe Farnsworth – drums
Recorded Live on December 17, 2019
at Sear Sound Studio A, New York
Produced by Paul Stache & Damon Smith
Recording, Mixing & Mastering Engineer: Chris Allen
Studio Assistant: Justin Berger
Liner Notes by Billy Hart
Photography by Jimmy & Dena Katz
Design by Damon Smith & Paul Stache
Kenny Barron appears courtesy of Impulse!
