James Farm—the collaborative band featuring saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland—launch a tour of the Bay Area, Berkeley-born Redman's home turf, with a performance at the Napa Valley Opera House tonight, followed by two sets at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz tomorrow night, and a full weekend of shows at Yoshi's Oakland through Sunday. From there, the group heads across the Pacific to Japan for a four-night run at the Blue Note in Tokyo. James Farm reunites later this summer for a concert at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, where Redman is the festival's Artist-in-Residence. For additional details, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.

James Farm released its self-titled debut album on Nonesuch Records in April 2011. The album uses traditional acoustic jazz quartet instrumentation for its song-based approach to jazz and incorporates the members’ myriad influences: rock, soul, folk, classical, electronica. The New York Times calls it "a model of dazzling proficiency."

In advance of this week's Bay Area concerts, the band is the subject of feature articles in the San Jose Mercury News, which calls Penman and Harland "one of the era's definitive rhythm sections," and in the San Francisco Chronicle, which spoke with Redman, Harland, and Penman about the group's origins and how its collaborative nature works.

"We complement each other very well and have a type of intuitiveness with the way we play with each other," Harland tells the Chronicle. "That's something that takes years to develop, so it's amazing that we kind of have that already, even though we don't tour that often."

Read the complete article at sfgate.com.

To pick up a copy of James Farm, head to the Nonesuch Store, where CD orders include an instant download of the album at checkout.