Art Farmer’s career was a long and distinguished one, but his most celebrated recordings were cut during the post-bop heyday of the ‘50s and early ‘60s. While he’s arguably best known for being the co-leader of the Jazztet with Benny Golson, his first batch of discs for Prestige offer much joy for the hearing. This is especially the case with his second quintet outing, the masterful ’55 LP The Art Farmer Quintet featuring Gigi Gryce.
I guess my favorite stuff from trumpeter/flugelhornist Art Farmer is his quartet outings from the first half of the ‘60s, specifically a group that featured the unfaltering guitarist Jim Hall and the tandem of Steve Swallow on bass and either Pete La Roca or Walter Perkins on drums, but nearly any entry in the guy’s early work will provide a fine study in post-bop theorizing. Particularly enjoyable are his Prestige dates with the undersung alto-man and songwriter Gigi Gryce.
The second of those records, once labeled as Evening in Casablanca but originally and currently sporting the far more informative though less picturesque title The Art Farmer Quintet featuring Gigi Gryce, is by far the greater, and it endures as a vivid portrait of mid-‘50s mainstream jazz sensibilities. While Farmer hit the studio a lot during this period including as a sideman for some classic Blue Note dates, he now seems to be fairly underrated, his name lacking the posthumous recognition given to his contemporaries Donald Byrd, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, and Freddie Hubbard.
I really have no idea why this is. Perhaps it’s the lack of leadership sessions for Blue Note. More likely it’s because Farmer is a more cool-toned guy (he started out on the West Coast), lacking the muscular and funky hard-bop fringes that helped pave the way for soul jazz. Instead, he was far more interested in teaming up with talented composer-arrangers and examining the continuing possibilities of elevated song-form.
Farmer had an extended and very fruitful relationship with the tenor-man and prolific writer Benny Golson in their still highly regarded Jazztet, but in the case of this album the partnership is with Gryce. Five of the tunes here are from the pen of the saxophonist, all of them excellent platforms for the sophisticated (but non-sophisto) modes of Modern Jazz expression. And naturally it’s the strength of the whole band that really elevates the LP to the heights of mastery.
To begin, pianist Duke Jordan was a member of the classic Charlie Parker Quintet, the one that produced those landmark sessions for the Dial label back in ’47. Miles Davis was in that group, and it becomes quickly obvious Jordan knew his way around a five-piece band featuring a brilliant trumpeter. His playing here is simply top flight, with solos crisply executed, and additionally the leadoff track “Forecast” is his composition. It’s the LP’s singular exception to Gryce’s songwriting dominance.
On top of hearing Jordan get off on his own tune, it’s a blast to find a non-drumming original bebopper landing smack dab in the thick of 1950s post-bop affairs, a phenomenon I wish would’ve occurred with more frequency. The session also includes Art’s identical sibling Addison in the bassist spot, and he works well in combination with Jordan and the exquisite drummer Philly Joe Jones to fill out the spectacular rhythm section; to these ears the three do a nearly flawless job backing up and prodding the two horns.
Gryce is now most highly regarded for his compositional acumen, with his talent adding to the wealth of source material that inside players have been employing for roughly half a century. One of those standards is here in early form, the brisk and stately “Nica’s Tempo,” which some consider to be his masterpiece. And it’s really a shame Gryce’s career ended so abruptly (he retired from music in the early-‘60s), for it seems obvious he would’ve contributed many more excellent tunes to the canon.
He was also a very fine pure instrumentalist. From the vibrant expression of the theme on “Forecast” to the end of closer “Shabozz,” Gryce’s limber alto works superbly with Farmer’s reliably smart yet spirited playing, and it becomes quickly discernible the pair were at the forefront of the period’s advanced horn studies. Plus, at just short of five minutes, the very succinctness of Jordan’s composition (shades of bebop past) results in the ideas expressed through the solos unwinding in a compact, decidedly fast clip.
First Farmer and then Gryce are vigorous in their turns, but the real treat is the conciseness of Jordan’s outstanding spot. And while “Forecast” is an expertly rendered hunk of bop, the appearance of “Evening in Casablanca” elevates the proceedings to a higher level. Ballads (in particular their intrinsically slow tempos) were/are the undoing of many a post-bop aggregation, but that’s happily not the case in this instance, partially due to the song’s significantly greater than average dimension. The unstrained unusualness of its brief opening fanfare is indicative of the entire tune’s depth.
Also helping is a rhythmic core that’s resistant to the dangers of the ballad. As is his norm, Jones wields the brushes without overkill, and Addison’s playing is assertive but not obtrusive. The horns are appropriately up to the task (as is Jordan), and the song serves as a terrific gateway into the LP’s centerpiece “Nica’s Tempo.”
Taken at a swift pace, it also allows for some ample stretching out on a very distinctive melody, and it closes side one with aplomb. “Satellite” begins the flip with another example of Gryce’s composing at its most erudite, the opening stanzas loaded with a cosmopolitan (and somewhat West Coast) swagger, though importantly, the band retains a focused verve throughout. Of major interest is Jordan’s playing underneath the solos.
From there the disc takes a turn toward the Latin with “Sans Souci,” its initial buoyancy giving way to a sturdy mid-tempo offering a strong solo from Art along with a surplus of meaty string pulling from Addison. And if “Shabozz” closes the album with its most typical post-bop entry, there is still much to appreciate; the establishing bluesy swing is terrific, and I especially like how it sounds as if Farmer is walking into the room blowing his trumpet at the beginning of his solo. It does bear noting that Rudy Van Gelder was the engineer for the session.
If there is a fault here, it might be that the disc registers as a tad brief, but that’s easily corrected by teaming it up with its predecessor When Farmer Met Gryce or any of the trumpeter’s typically worthwhile leadership dates from the period. And hey, if one only has approximately 40 minutes of listening time betwixt two other activities, The Art Farmer Quintet featuring Gigi Gryce’s 34:30 works rather perfectly. So what exactly am I complaining about?
If dependably thoughtful and evolving in his artistry, Art Farmer was also relatively restrained, so it’s doubtful if history’s going to shift and give him a considerable boost in stature. But he’s far from a forgotten guy; the music is consistently available and it rewards the effort of obtaining, so there is ample reason for those with a post-bop inclination to get to know him well. The Art Farmer Quintet featuring Gigi Gryce is a fantastic place to start.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
