Joey Baron
Drummer Joey Baron was born into a Jewish working class family in Richmond, Virginia in 1955. He his largely self-taught by means of watching others play and listening to recordings, radio and television. His early influences ran the gamut from Ed Sullivan show guests, to "The Wild Wild West" television show theme to records by Art Blakey, Ray Charles, Booker T. and the M.G.'s, James Brown, the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. Besides being a member of the Bill Frisell Band for ten years until 1995, he has performed and recorded with an impressive list of musicians - including Carmen McRae, Dizzy Gillespie, Tony Bennett, Hampton Hawes, Chet Baker, Laurie Anderson, Art Pepper, Stan Getz, Jay McShann, David Bowie, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Big Joe Turner, Philip Glass, John Abercrombie, Mel Lewis, Pat Martino, Harry Sweets Edison, David Sanborn, Al Jarreau, Jim Hall, Randy Brecker, Marian McPartland, John Scofield, and the Lounge Lizards. He also co-lead the group "Miniature" (with Tim Berne and Hank Roberts) and was a member of "Naked City" (with John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith and Wayne Horvitz). He currently works in John Zorn's group, "Masada" with Dave Douglas (trumpet) and Greg Cohen (bass), and leads his own trio "Barondown", which features Ellery Eskelin (saxophone) and Steve Swell (trombone). "Barondown" has recorded three albums - Crackshot (Avant), Raised Pleasure Dot (New World) and Tongue in Groove (JMT).
Joey's current release as a leader is Down Home, part of the Songline/Tone Field series on Intuition. The project features all southern R&B flavored original tunes by Joey Baron played by an all star band of Ron Carter, Arthur Blythe and Bill Frisell. "The most intriguing ensemble of the season," (New Yorker) "is not only all star, but fascinatingly so."(Village Voice.)
Joey Baron also performs duo with Bill Frisell and in a solo setting. A recorded solo piece can be heard in the track entitled "Alfie" on Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach (Knitting Factory Works).
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