Articles

The Ten Most Essential Art Farmer Albums

by Peter J. Hoetjes
April 6, 2020

Bassist Keter Betts, who played with Art Farmer briefly during the 1970s, described him best: “He was a gentleman's trumpet player, not a rebel trumpet player." At 25 years of age, Farmer was given the opportunity to travel Europe with Lionel Hampton's jazz band. He had spent the past few years wandering Los Angeles as a struggling musician with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, and the chance for adventure was a welcome one. Upon his return to the ...

Remembering Art Farmer

by Lazaro Vega
April 19, 2017

This interview was first published at All About Jazz in November 1999 and is part of our ongoing effort to archive pre-database material. This interview was originally broadcast at the time on Blue Lake Public Radio; portions of this interview appeared in an advance article published by the Grand Rapids Press. Lazaro Vega: How long is this tour in the U.S.? Art Farmer: My tour is going until the 31st of October, and then ...

Art Farmer: Brass Shout / The Aztec Suite

by Chris M. Slawecki
March 16, 2009

Brass Shout / The Aztec Suite combines two Art Farmer releases: Brass Shout, arranged by his longtime associate, Benny Golson, and The Aztec Suite, including its famous panoramic title track, arranged by Chico O'Farrill. Combining these two titles, both from 1959, creates an expansive survey of jazz, Latin jazz, and pop played as jazz.

Swaddled and swaying within their brass construction, Golson's Latin jazz rearrangements of “Autumn Leaves" and “April in Paris" welcome you to this rhythmic dance. ...

Art Farmer: Brass Shout/The Aztec Suite & The Time and The Place

by George Kanzler
August 14, 2008

Art Farmer Brass Shout/The Aztec Suite Blue Note 2008 Art Farmer The Time And The Place Mosaic 2008

The '50s and '60s were exceedingly bountiful in turning out accomplished trumpet players with personally memorable voices spanning the stylistic spectrum from Clifford Brown to Chet Baker. There were so many that tags ...

Something Old That's New: More Mosaic Singles

by C. Andrew Hovan
October 12, 2007

In just the past few years, Mosaic Records, king of the large boxed set reissue phenomenon, has diversified its efforts into several series that offer more opportunities to bring to light music that has been held in the vaults too long or has been done some sort of disservice in previous incarnations. The Select series serves as a smaller set of three discs perfect for projects with a smaller point of focus. The Contemporary series as its name implies touches ...

Art Farmer: Yesterday's Thoughts

by John Kelman
April 17, 2005

Possibly better-appreciated in the latter period of his life and after his death, Art Farmer, along with Clark Terry, was instrumental in bringing the flugelhorn, a mellow cousin of the trumpet, to the fore. Appearing on literally hundreds of recordings and releasing over seventy albums under his own name, he may have been the perfect definition of the journeyman musician--well-known in music circles, but a name that tended to elude the larger record-buying public for many years. Still, with a ...

The Art Farmer Quartet: ARTistry

by C. Michael Bailey
September 1, 2001

If the listener is hunting for a clinic on the flugelhorn, look no further.

Art Farmer, along with Clark Terry, might be the greatest exponent of the flugelhorn of the past two decades. Though a founder and leader (with Benny Golson) of the widely influential Jazztet, Farmer often found himself in the critical background. Fortunately, this is no more. Here, in Concord Records latest twofer is a couple of well-received early 1980s recordings Farmer made in a quartet setting, both ...