Joseph Allen "Joe" Farnsworth (b. February 21, 1968, Holyoke, Massachusetts

Holyoke, Massachusetts

Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range of mountains. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 39,880...

) is an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 drummer.

Farnsworth was one of five sons born to trumpeter and bandleader Roger Farnsworth; one of Joe Farnsworth's brothers played saxophone in Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

's band. He attended High School in Jakarta International School in Jakarta, Indonesia. He studied at William Paterson College, studying under Harold Mabern

Harold Mabern

Harold Mabern is a hard bop and soul jazz pianist.Early in his career, Mabern played in Chicago with Walter Perkins' MJT + 3 in the late 1950s before moving to New York in 1959. Mabern has worked with Jimmy Forrest, Lionel Hampton, the Jazztet , Donald Byrd, Miles Davis , J. J...

 and Arthur Taylor

Art Taylor

Arthur S. Taylor, Jr. was an American jazz drummer of the hard bop school.After playing in the bands of Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Buddy DeFranco, Bud Powell, and George Wallington from 1948 to 1957, he formed his own group, the Wailers...

 and receiving his BMus in 1990. Following this he played with Junior Cook

Junior Cook

Herman "Junior" Cook was a hard bop tenor saxophone player.-Biography:Cook was born in Pensacola, Florida. After playing with Dizzy Gillespie in 1958, Cook gained some fame for his longtime membership in the Horace Silver Quintet ; when he and Blue Mitchell left that band, Cook played in...

 (1991), Jon Hendricks

Jon Hendricks

Jon Hendricks is an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is considered one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists...

 (1991), Jon Faddis

Jon Faddis

Jon Faddis is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator renowned for both his highly virtuosic command of the instrument and for his expertise in the field of music education...

 (1992), George Coleman

George Coleman

George Edward Coleman is an American hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer, known chiefly for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s.-Biography:...

, Cecil Payne

Cecil Payne

Cecil Payne was a jazz baritone saxophonist born in Brooklyn, NY. Payne also played the alto saxophone and flute...

 (1993 and subsequently), Annie Ross

Annie Ross

Annie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...

, and Benny Green

Benny Green (pianist)

Benny Green is a hard bop jazz pianist who was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He has been compared to Bud Powell in style and counts him as an influence. As a boy he grew up in Berkeley, California and studied classical piano from the age of seven...

 (1995). He has played in the group One for All

One for All (band)

One for All is a New York City-based hard bop sextet, featuring Eric Alexander , Jim Rotondi , Steve Davis , David Hazeltine , John Webber and Joe Farnsworth . The style of the group has been likened to 1960s-era Blue Note jazz and has been described as being reminiscent of Art Blakey's Jazz...

 since 1995 with David Hazeltine

David Hazeltine

David Hazeltine is an American jazz pianist.Today a major pianist in the New York and Japan scenes, David Hazeltine has been playing gigs since he was thirteen. He did not seriously consider going into music until right before college. Once he entered into the jazz world he was encouraged by Chet...

 and Jim Rotondi

Jim Rotondi

James Robert Rotondi is an American jazz trumpeter, educator and conductor.Born in Butte, Montana and the youngest of 5 siblings, Rotondi lives in Graz, Austria and performs there and internationally with several groups, as well as being a Professor at the University for Music and Dramatic Arts...

, and worked with Benny Golson

Benny Golson

Benny Golson is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger.-Biography:While in high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Golson played with several other promising young musicians, including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, and...

, Steve Davis

Steve Davis

Steve Davis, OBE is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire...

, and Eric Alexander in the second half of the 1990s. During that period he also played with Alex Graham (1995), Michael Weiss (1996, 1998), the Three Baritone Saxophone Band (1997), and Diana Krall

Diana Krall

Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million worldwide; altogether, she has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist during the 1990s and 2000s...

 (1999). He is now a member of Pharoah Sanders

Pharoah Sanders

Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...

 band, touring around the world with the legendary tenor saxophonist.

Discography as leader

• Beautiful Friendship (Criss Cross Jazz
  Criss Cross Jazz
  Criss Cross Jazz is a Dutch jazz record label, specializing in American jazz.Criss Cross was founded in 1980 by Gerry Teekens, a drummer and German professor. The label, which releases about 20 albums per year, is noted for its simple, block-color cover art...
  
  , 1999)
• It's Prime Time (441 Records, 2004)