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Ned Ferm, The Jazzy Country Boy

Esta Frosch
Credit Esta Frosch

Ned Ferm was only 4 years old when he decided to pursue a career in music. He grew up on a farm on Mount Desert Island near the coast of Maine and says he is a country boy at heart. But his knack for playing almost any instrument would eventually lead him to perform in New York City alongside renowned jazz icons like Roswell Rudd. Later, Ferm would study jazz at William Paterson University and the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Denmark, where he earned the equivalent to a doctoral degree in saxophone performance.

Frank Stasio talks to Ned Ferm about his journey from farm boy to jazz icon.

Today, Ferm resides in Copenhagen. He has been featured on more than 30 international recordings and teaches music for all skill levels. He released his first album as bandleader, “Spent All The Money” (Stunt Records), in 2014. Now Ferm is on tour with an old friend in North Carolina to perform new original music. Host Frank Stasio talks to Ferm about his journey from farm boy to jazz icon. Ferm performs on the saxophone live in the studio with James Gilmore on guitar. The two will perform tonight at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro at 8 p.m. alongside Casey Toll on bass and Yan Westerlund on drums. Ferm and Gilmore will perform as a duo on Sunday, March 18 at Neptune’s Parlour in Raleigh

Copyright 2018 North Carolina Public Radio

Robert is a journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker in the Triangle. He grew up in White Lake, a rural resort community in southeastern NC. The tales he heard about White Lake as a child would become the topic of his UNC-TV historical documentary, White Lake: Remembering the Nation's Safest Beach. In May 2017, he received a bachelor's degree in interactive multimedia from the Media and Journalism School at UNC-Chapel Hill with a minor in religious studies.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.