Joey Baron

Joey Baron
Joey Baron performing in Munch, Oslo 2023 Photo: Tore Sætre
Joey Baron performing in Munch, Oslo 2023
Photo: Tore Sætre
Background information
Birth nameBernard Joseph Baron
Born (1955-06-26) June 26, 1955
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
GenresJazz, avant-garde jazz
OccupationMusician
InstrumentDrums
Years active1975–present
LabelsJMT, Intuition, ECM, Tzadik, Elektra Nonesuch, CAM Jazz, DIW

Bernard Joseph Baron (born June 26, 1955 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American drummer best-known for working in avant-garde jazz with Bill Frisell and John Zorn.

Music career

Baron, who is of Jewish heritage, was born on June 26, 1955, in Richmond, Virginia. When he was nine, he taught himself how to play the drums. As a teenager, he played in rock bands and dixieland jazz groups and was given his first gig opportunity at the age of 13 when pianist BJ Doyle's regular drummer took ill and she knew he was a keeper after just minutes. After high school, he spent a year at the Berklee College of Music. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s and embarked on a professional career, playing with Carmen McRae and Al Jarreau. He worked as a freelance drummer and session musician with Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, and Hampton Hawes.[1]

In 1982 he moved to New York City and joined guitarist Bill Frisell, with whom he would play often throughout his career. He also played in groups with Red Rodney, Fred Hersch, Enrico Pieranunzi, and Marc Johnson. Starting in the late 1980s, he became a bigger part of the avant-garde jazz scene when he played regularly at the Knitting Factory, recorded with singer Laurie Anderson, and began a long association with John Zorn. For several years he participated in Zorn's projects Naked City and Masada.[1]

Baron contributed to David Bowie's Outside (1995). Bowie would later praise Baron, stating: "Metronomes shake in fear, he's so steady."[2]

Discography

Filmography

Joey Baron in Aarhus, Denmark (2014)
  • Step Across the Border (RecRec, 1990) with Fred Frith
  • Masada Live at Tonic 1999 (Tzadik, 2004) with Masada
  • A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn (Tzadik, 2004) with Masada
  • Bill Frisell: A Portrait (Emma Franz Films, 2017)

References

  1. ^ a b Kennedy, Gary (2002). Kernfeld, Barry (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. p. 145. ISBN 1-56159-284-6.
  2. ^ "David Bowie: A Different View". Modern Drummer. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
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