Trumpeter John Raymond brings modern fire to classic approach

If you're a jazz trumpeter who loves melody and rhythm, you could do no better than to embrace the great Art Farmer, who played with a quiet and soulful intensity.

Farmer's early 1960s quartet inspired generations of performers, among them trumpeter John Raymond, a Minnesota native who on Saturday brings his Roots Trio to St. Paul's Studio Z.

Raymond, 28, has come a long way musically since he left Golden Valley. His confident and relaxed style creates honest, personal music that reflects his origins.

It's a sound that echoes Farmer, who 50 years earlier picked up the flugelhorn to make warm and melodic recordings that distinguished him in an era when horn players employed sharp tones.

Raymond recently bought a flugelhorn and was hooked — so much so that he decided to form the new trio. Joining him on stage at Studio Z will be Denver drummer Colin Stranahan and Israeli Guitarist Gilad Hekselman, who played on the trumpeter's debut album "Strength and Song," a couple of years ago.

Like Farmer, whose quartet included the exquisite guitarist Jim Hall, Raymond's intrigued by the exchanges between guitar and flugelhorn.

"They had an album that they made together called 'Interaction,' which is a really kind of soft and serene album," Raymond said of Farmer and Hall. "There's just like beautiful interplay and interaction that's happening in the band and specifically with Art and Jim."

"There's something about the sound of the guitar and the flugel and just the idea of playing in kind of a stripped down trio setting like that without a bass that really evoked kind of ... a folky feeling for me," Raymond said. "It reminded me of home for some reason."

Home for Raymond includes the Twin Cities and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He also earned a master's degree in New York under the guidance of trumpeter Jon Faddis.

The Roots Trio seeks to capture a Midwest vibe through improvised versions of jazz standards, folk songs, hymns and indie rock tunes.

The repertoire includes the Billy Strayhorn composition "Take the Coltrane," the spiritual "Amazing Grace," Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" and "Atoms for Peace," by Thom Yorke, the lead singer of Radiohead. Raymond's compositions include "Thaddeus," a nod to trumpeter Thad Jones.

Like Farmer's quartet, the Roots Trio fuses lyricism and swing. Raymond said he owes much to the steady and varied style of Stranahan and the harmonic inventiveness of Hekselman, who also provides stirring bass notes.

"We're all of coming out of being jazz musicians. That's where I all think we all meet in the middle," Raymond said. "That's why I think that this group, where it really thrives is in the interplay and interaction and just in the swinging nature of the music. Even if it's not quote unquote swinging per se, I still feel like we're coming at it from a swing perspective."

If you go

Who: John Raymond's Roots Trio
Where: Studio Z, 275 East 4th St., St. Paul
When: Saturday, 7 p.m.
Admission: $15

Check the Studio Z website for more information.