|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
69.180.152.83
Now that we've apparently exhausted the Hank Mobley discussion, I'd like to put in a word for this top rung trumpet player. In a way he somewhat resembles Mobley in that he was never an innovator, but instead produced a body of work that is simply the model of taste and quiet excellence.
Often (mis)categorized as a Miles Davis clone in his early days, Farmer developed a distinctive and easily recognizable sound that was never flashy or sensational. He pretty much stayed within the middle register of the trumpet and frequently played a fluegelhorn, which by its very nature has a more burnished sound than the trumpet.
Farmer lived in Europe for many years, although he made annual tours in the USA and fortunately was recorded quite prolifically.
Among my favorites:
Big Blues with Jim Hall
Any of his quartet recordings with Jim Hall, especially Live At the Half Note
Any of his recordings with Benny Golson and the Jazztet
Any of his recordings on the Contemporary label, including Blame It On My Youth; Something To Live For; and Ph.D
Live At the Stanford Jazz Workshop (with Harold Land)
Silk Road
As a sideman:
What Is There To Say? Gerry Mulligan
And 2 great ones with Horace Silver: Further Explorations and The Stylings of...
Follow Ups:
is another gem
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain
Tough to pick a fave, but this is a VERY nice album.
Indeed...I neglected to mention this one earlier.
I think they called their group the Jazztet, and they made some mighty
fine recordings together.
Farmer was assuredly NOT an MD clone, thankfully.
Yes, I had mentioned Golson and The Jazztet in my post. Unfortunately, in spite of the excellence of the group, which originally included McCoy Tyner and Curtis Fuller along with Art's brother Addison on bass and Lex Humphries on drums, and featured Golson compositions like Killer Joe, Blues March and especially I Remember Clifford that are now jazz standards, The Jazztet never really caught on the way it should have. Although not as hard driving, it was at least the equal of of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the Horace Silver Quintet. Perhaps it was just too smooth and polished to survive long term in the era of hard bop.
A couple of months ago I got to hold one of the flugelhorns Art Farmer used to own. Dmitry Mathany now owns and plays it. Got to see him at a very small venue. I love Art's playing on "The Summer Knows". T456
"The Borg is the ultimate user. They're unlike any threat your Federation has ever faced."
- Q, 2365
Just beautiful
That's great! Matheny's "Red Reflections" is one of my favorite quiet and relaxed recordings.
This is the recording that Art's flugelhorn I had the honor of holding in my very own frustrated trumpeter hands that this horn was played on. The drummer, Akira Tana is often to be seen playing at my most frequent jazz haunt, Bird and Beckett in SF. Pretty cool ha? Don't ask me but I found out who now owns Cannanball's axe. T456
"The Borg is the ultimate user. They're unlike any threat your Federation has ever faced."
- Q, 2365
nt
The only solo album I have on him now is Yama with Joe Henderson on CTI. I picked it up for Steve Gadd. Heavy fusion flavour popular at that time. (Sort of Brecker Brothers-esque )
Bass - Eddie Gomez
Drums - Steve Gadd
Electric Bass - Will Lee
Saxophone [Tenor] - Joe Henderson
Synthesizer [Programming] - Suzanne Ciani
Keyboards - Don Grolnick, Fred Hersch, Warren Bernhardt
At some point I had a few Argo release but I couldn't really get on wiht those. I think I enjoy him more as a side man.
The stylings of Silver indeed is a great one. I didn't know Farmer was in it. He also appears in Mobley's 'Quintet', and Sonny Clark's 'Cool Struttin'.
.
Nice pics and quite a line-up of A listed players.
I don't think the Argos are truly representative of his best work nor did I find the sound quality to be all that good, although that may be because I didn't have the best masterings.
I urge you to try out other recordings. Almost all of my recommendations are available for sampling on iTunes.
I agree that he did excellent work as a sideman, but you're missing out on a lot of interesting stuff if you don't explore his sessions as a leader.
Festive Minor from What Is There to Say is personal Fav, and
The Soundtrack to I Want to Live.
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: