Top: The "Spacefunk" CD (1999) - featuring Grammy Nominee Patrice Rushen a.o. - is available again! Get yours today simply by clicking on the "Add to cart" button or call 1-800-BUY-MY-CD. It is currently on sale at a new low price for a limited time. To listen to tracks please click on the left. Check out Dan's other CD's, the soulful "Evolution" CD (2001, featuring James Brown's longtime musical director Charles "Sweets" Sherrell) and the groovy "Devotion" CD (2004, also includes Charles "Sweets" Sherrell) by clicking on the left where it says "Try this".
This is the first CD in "The Tao Of Funk" Trilogy.
If you are buying CD's, listening to radio, watching TV, going to the movies or partying to live music, chances are you've been exposed to the soulful work of Dan Farrow. His many talents - primarily as a keyboardist, vocalist, composer and producer - are captivating music professionals and audiences around the world. This explains why his career has been as extensive as it has and why the demand for his presence is so high from local bands as well as from world renowned recording artists and producers. Dan is also a gifted multi-instrumentalist.
His third CD on Soulstar Records is called "Devotion" and contains 13 tracks of feel-good music. Written, arranged, performed and produced by Dan it also includes Charles "Sweets" Sherrell, longtime musical director for the legendary James Brown and most recently on tour with Maceo Parker. Even more refined then his previous albums "Evolution" (2001) and "Spacefunk" (1998), this CD is an exciting blend of what Dan calls Cool-Funk or Soul-Jazz. He sounds like George Duke bumps into Earth, Wind & Fire on Planet Funk in 1975.
But to really experience his music you will have to see Dan Farrow live in performance. This is where he puts on a show that electrifies his audiences. To top it all off, he dazzles them with extraordinairy keyboard wizardry, old school funk chops and unique, immediately identifiable phrasing, sound and style. Dan still uses Hammond, Rhodes, Moog and other vintage keyboards whenever possible. But in an interview for N.Y.'s Proview magazine, he states "I love the versatility of synthesizers, particularly Korg," which he endorses. He almost always programs his own sounds and enhances them by using vintage to space-technology signal processing equipment, creating a unique voice of his own.
Based in Los Angeles, California, Dan is originally from Zurich, Switzerland, where he was playing Hammond B3 organ since the age of 3. He first arrived on the world stage in the mid-eighties, playing the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival. That's where he also got to play with David Sanborn, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Dennis Chambers and many other top session cats. This exposure soon led to recognition among the international music community.
Coming to the US in the early nineties, word of Dan's funky high-energy keyboard work spread quickly. His career really took off when he got called to record with Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Greg Phillinganes, Brenda Russell, Phil Perry, Mavis Staples, Steve Gadd, Jeff Porcaro, Abe Laboriel, Junie Pointer, Chuckii Booker and others, doing Ray Charles's Grammy Award-winning CD "My World" on Warner Brothers Records. Ray's album went triple-platinum, selling more then 3 million copies. Since then things went through the roof and to this day Dan has been recording and touring with many Grammy Award-winning and Platinum-selling recording artists around the world. He played sold out concerts in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Stockholm and Zurich as well as many other places in America, Europe and Asia.
Dan was also on the road with Rose Royce, Aretha Franklin label mate Barbara Lewis, Motown act Sly, Slick & Wicked, R&B sensation Domino as part of his first live band, Mallia Franklin(from George Clinton & The Brides Of Funkenstein) & The Funk Disciples and others. He shared the stage with Ray Parker Jr., Michael Henderson, Eric Burdon (The Animals, War), Lakeside, Zapp, Evelyn Champagne King, Adina Howard, the Mary Jane Girls and many others. Dan got to work with everybody from James Brown's band, Deniece "Niecy" Williams, Mavis Staples, Patrice Rushen to Quincy Jones's Brothers Johnson. He was also the musical director for the "James Brown's Funky Divas Tour" featuring Lyn Collins, "Mama Feelgood". Dan played keys in several Gospel plays as well, performing with the legendary platinum-selling Clara Ward Singers.
Dan has been blessed to be recording or performing with members of Parliament/Funkadelic, The J.B.'s, Earth, Wind & Fire, Prince, Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock, LTD, Sade, the Pointer Sisters, the Staple Singers, the Gap Band, Kool & the Gang, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, T-Connection and many more. He has worked with many different producers such as Multi-Platinum winning Richard Perry (Pointer Sisters, Chaka Khan et al.), Bob Margouleff (Stevie Wonder, Isley Brothers et al.), Wah Wah Watson (Herbie Hancock et al.), Jeffrey Bowen (The Temptations a. o.) and Brian Holland (Parliament/Funkadelic, Mavis Staples), to name a few.
Ever since the early nineties Dan's talents are also in demand by the television and movie industry. That's when he was asked to compose and produce music for ABC's "Wheel of Fortune", America's number one game show. His work can be heard in movies like "Another Stakeout" (Touchstone Pictures), starring Richard Dreyfuss and Rosie O'Donnell. More recently he did the music to "Our Neighbors," a movie by director/producer Kathina Szeto.
It is no wonder that the corporate world has noticed this talented artist, so Dan is fortunate to be able to endorse a number of musical instrument manufacturers from Europe, Japan and the U.S. He uses a long list of products from the last 35 years, both live and in the studio. Companies that he endorses and that support him include ACE Products Group (keyboard cases, USA) - where he is one of the main endorsees with artists like Taj Mahal, Ultimate Support Systems (keyboard stands, USA), Korg (keyboards, Japan), Clavia (keyboards, Sweden), Limex Systems (Midi systems, Austria), IK Multimedia (music software, Italy), Moog (synthesizers, USA) and Aquila Systems (Midi systems, USA).
The most important thing about Dan is that he is a spiritual man. He is definitely in touch with the great chi. This might be one of the reasons for his trademark clavinet work (think Stevie Wonder's Superstition) which led to him being nicknamed "Mister Clavinet." He credits early exposure to the great american R&B, funk, jazz and soul artists as his main musical influences. This happened before he even understood the language that they were singing in. He never thought that he would actually get to work with many of these great artists.
Dan is currently in the studio working on a number of projects. A promo version of "Devotion" had been generating much interest, so much so that he is planning to do more live dates - especially in 2007 - in the U.S., as well as in Europe and Asia. Dan's promotional efforts took him as far as the Philippines where he got invited by KISS-FM radio for a Jazz-Special that introduced him to millions of new people. He is recording his 4th CD to be released in 2007 and will be touring to support it. If he is not doing sessions or writing new material, Dan is performing with many of L.A.'s top musicians. "I really appreciate all the good things that are coming my way and it is wonderful to work with so many great artists," he says. It seems like he is doing something right - and there will be a lot more to come... So stay tuned!
Copyright 2004 by Dan Farrow
Some comments:
"Foot-tapping entertainment!" L.A. Jazz Scene
"Good stuff!!" Jimmy Castor Bunch (RCA recording artist)
"Very funky" India Times, New Dehli, India
BOOKING worldwide: Please contact Sharon Jackson at Other World Productions: soulandjazz3000@yahoo.com
SOULSTAR RECORDS 4427 Candlewood St. #215
Los Angeles CA 90712-1736
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