Joe Farrell

Joe Farrell was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist and elite-caliber bandleader and sideman. Though he played virtually all reeds and winds, his primary tools were saxophones, flute, and oboe. Beginning his recording career in 1960, he became best-known as a founding member of Chick Corea's original Return to Forever in 1970, and for leader dates including 1970's Joe Farrell Quartet, 1973's Moon Germs, and 1975's Canned Funk. Subsequent releases spanned the Latin jazz outing La Cathedral y El Toro, 1978's exercise in disco and smooth jazz Night Dancing, and a return to straight-ahead jazz with 1979's Skate Board Park. His final album was 1985's Three-Way Mirror, co-led with Airto Moreira and Flora Purim. Farrell died in 1986 at age 48. His work has been studied by succeeding generations of jazz musicians, and his '70s recordings have been reissued numerous times and abundantly sampled by DJs and hip-hop and electronic producers.