[Review] Joe Farrell Quartet (1970)

The triple-threat (tenor/soprano/flute) with Miles’ quartet brews his own mix of modal and free jazz.

Kronomyth 1.0: Farrell brewing company.

Joe Farrell’s first recording as a leader features the Bitches Brew crew; not too shabby as debuts go. It’s pretty wild stuff, splitting its time between free jazz (Circle in the Square, Motion) and songs with at least some melodic underpinning (Song of the Wind, Molten Glass). Farrell’s fluttering style is the main attraction here as he switches between tenor sax, soprano sax and flute. (He’s also credited with oboe, although I couldn’t tell you where.) Chick Corea is the second most prominent player on this session, showing surprising restraint much of the time (e.g., his solo on “Molten Glass” is pretty straight for him). John McLaughlin only appears on two tracks, both of which find him experimenting with sound. On Follow Your Heart, McLaughlin sticks mostly to gauzy chords. For the closing “Motion” (the only song here to feature a full quintet), he doesn’t even play the guitar so much as pick and scratch at it. Besides his distinctive fluttering style, Farrell (like Miles Davis) makes use of echo on several tracks, notably on the two short pieces, Collage for Polly and Alter Ego. That said, Joe Farrell Quartet isn’t as electrified (or electrifying) as Bitches Brew. Still, it’s a strong debut featuring what was arguably the best jazz band on the planet at the time; I’d even give this the nod over some of Chick’s early works. By striking a balance between songs with an underlying theme or chords (which I “think” would be called modal jazz) and free jazz, Joe Farrell Quartet is adventurous without being completely off-putting like The Song of Singing. Personally, I’d pick up Return to Forever first, then look for this album before you go further in the field of Farrell.

Original elpee version

A1. Follow Your Heart (John McLaughlin) (6:50)
A2. Collage for Polly (Joe Farrell) (2:30)
A3. Circle in the Square (Joe Farrell) (7:05)
B1. Molten Glass (Joe Farrell) (5:00)
B2. Alter Ego (Joe Farrell) (1:20)
B3. Song of the Wind (Chick Corea) (5:50)
B4. Motion (Chick Corea) (5:10)

Original 8-track version
A1. Song of the Wind
A2. Collage for Polly
B1. Circle in the Square
B2. Alter Ego
C1. Follow Your Heart
C2. Molten Glas (Part I)
D1. Molten Glass (Part II)
D2. Motion

The Players

Joe Farrell (soprano and tenor sax, flute, oboe), Chick Corea (piano), Dave Holland (bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums), John McLaughlin (guitar). Produced by Creed Taylor; engineered by Rudy Van Gelder.

The Pictures

Cover photograph by Pete Turner. Liner photographs by Robert Brosan. Album design by Sam Antupit.

The Plastic

Released on elpee, cassette and 8-track in 1970 in the US (CTI, CTI/CTC/CT8 6003) and Japan (CTI, SR 3307) with gatefold cover.

1. Re-issued on compact disc in the US (Columbia, ZK 40694).
2. Re-issued on remastered blu-spec compact disc on September 7, 2016 in Japan (King, KICJ 2529).
3. Re-packaged with Outback and Moon Germs on remastered 3-for-1 2CD in 2018 in the UK (Beat Goes On).