Kellams: This is Ozarks at Large. The jazz scene in northwest Arkansas is not only growing, it’s widening. The band Groove Culture is performing its mix of modern jazz, funk and R&B at venues around the region. Taking cues from the band Snarky Puppy and guitarist Cory Wong, Groove Culture brings 11 musicians together for a high-energy performance. Leader of the band, Austin Farnam, recently visited Robert Ginsburg, host of KUAF’s Shades of Jazz, to talk about the band, its influences and its upcoming concert at the Victory Theater in downtown Rogers. Farnam is a saxophonist. He’s a drummer, a producer and head of the music department at The New School in Fayetteville. He says the 11-piece band Groove Culture includes many of the best musicians he knows in Arkansas.
Farnam: Playing the music mostly of Snarky Puppy and Cory Wong, but we’re always adding more material and trying to figure out ways to adapt the band to different-sized groups, just to kind of have some variety to the show and bring in some vocalists. And it’s an ever-evolving band, but at its core, it’s quite large. It’s 11 pieces. So there’s a lot of moving parts there.
We showcase a lot of sort of modern jazz and funk, soul kind of genres. And it’s just sort of a dream-come-true band for me. And I’m really excited to keep this train rolling, and so excited to have the other 10 members in the group just as excited as I am.
Ginsburg: Why don’t you tell me about your inspiration for putting this band together, Groove Culture, and also some of your musical background that led you to this place in music that you’re at today?
Farnam: This group was kind of inspired just from my life in music. So for the last, coming up on two decades, actually, I’ve been a saxophonist, jazz saxophonist, and playing in all kinds of groups. But I as a child remember a lot of the sounds of, like, Otis Redding and Al Green and James Brown, and there’s this deep, like, funk and soul influence that has a big part of my musical taste.
And so I remember I was probably maybe 18 or 19 years old, and I heard Snarky Puppy, which is one of my favorite bands. And I was just sort of blown away, the melding of all of these different musical influences coming together. It’s a huge band. Such a variety of textures and sounds that that group is capable of, and they’re all just monstrous musicians. So it was a huge inspiration for me. I always wanted to be a part of a group like that.
And so the Groove Culture band is my way of getting my foot in the door into that realm and sharing that joy of music and my taste for music with some other fantastic musicians in the room. So it’s going to be a really fun experience here coming up with this show in November. I’m looking forward to it.
Ginsburg: Austin, among your many talents, you are also a sound engineer and video producer. I know you’re going to be coming up with some recorded content of this new band, Groove Culture, later this month, but can you share some music that is indicative of what Groove Culture will be performing?
Farnam: So a couple of examples I’ll throw out. One is from the Cory Wong band. This is from their album “Paisley Park Sessions,” and it’s a tune called “Assassin.” It’s super fast. It’s very high energy. It’s a lot of fun to play. It’s probably the favorite song amongst the band, and we have a great time playing on this one.
And the improvisation element of this song is absolutely insane. And all of the unison melody lines that are coming together at such a wild speed, it’s just, it’s a very tight band, and it’s a lot of fun to play.
Ginsburg: That track was indeed a burner. Austin, did you bring any other examples of bands that have inspired the Groove Culture group?
Farnam: If we have time, I have one more example I wanted to share. It’s with a little bit of a backstory. So in addition to being a musician, I teach music full time at The New School in Fayetteville. And back in COVID times, when we weren’t performing quite as often, I decided to record an album with my students, and we brought in special guests. And one of those special guests was actually my dad, who’s an amazing vocalist and a huge inspiration to my love for music, and it was really cool to have him be a part of that project. So I wanted to bring him into the Groove Culture band.
This is actually a snippet of that song that we came up with. So I took a funk tune by the Meters called “Cissy Strut,” and I mashed it with a Beatles song, the Beatles’ famous song “Can’t Buy Me Love,” and I had him come in and sing on it. So this recording you’re about to hear is with some of my students from that time at The New School, but we’re actually going to be performing this with the Groove Culture band in November, and I’m really excited to showcase it.
It’s our first theater show, and it’s going to be really cool to have my dad on stage with me. Without a doubt the biggest inspiration in my life. So I’m really excited to share the stage with him and have him play on this song again.
So disclaimer: This is me with some of my high school band, but I am biased, but I think they sound pretty good. And my dad is, of course, incredible. He reminds me so much of the music I grew up listening to. You know, he’s got a heavy influence of Otis Redding, and I feel like you can really hear it in his voice. But a fantastic singer. And yeah, check this song out.
Kellams: Austin Farnam, his father and his high school students from a few years ago. Austin Farnam is part of the 11-piece band Groove Culture, and the band will perform Wednesday night, Nov. 11, at the Victory Theater in downtown Rogers. Music begins at 7 that night. The concert is part of a series curated by the Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society. More details can be found at digjazz.com. Austin Farnam spoke with Robert Ginsburg on a recent Shades of Jazz program, and you can hear Robert and Shades of Jazz on KUAF each Friday night, beginning at 10, and then on KUAF 3 every Saturday from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. This is Ozarks at Large.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
