jazz musician; trumpet player

Personal Information

Born on August 21, 1928, in Council Bluffs, IA; died on October 4, 1999, in New York, NY; married; one son.

Career

Worked with Wardell Gray, 1951-22; toured Europe with Lionel Hampton, 1953; joined Gigi Gryce, 1954-56, Horace Silver's Quintet, 1956-58, and the Gerry Mulligan Quintet, 1958-59; co-led group with Benny Golson, 1959-62, and with Jim Hall, 1962-64; toured Europe, 1965; relocated to Europe, 1968, and performed with the Austrian Radio Orchestra; recorded a series of albums for CTI and Inner City, 1970s; reformed Jazztet with Golson, 1982; began playing a flumpet, a combination of flugelhorn and trumpet, 1991.

Life's Work

Trumpeter Art Farmer performed with many of jazz's finest musicians for five decades. "Farmer was one of the most swinging and sensitive improvisers," wrote Eugene Holley in Down Beat, "a player who extracted the essence of a composition's melodic and harmonic content through his ebullient and efficient improvisations." Farmer began his career on the West Coast, playing with a number of bands in the late 1940s, led his own bands in the 1950s, and moved to Europe at the end of the 1960s. He also gained recognition for his willingness to stretch the boundaries of his musicianship, first by playing the flugelhorn and later by using an instrument called a flumpet. Bob Young commented in the Boston Herald, "As warm a person as he was a trumpeter and flugelhornist, Farmer was an unassuming master at putting a club or concert hall full of listeners at ease."

Farmer was born in 1928 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He began playing the trumpet at the age of 14 and continued his lessons under Samuel Browne when he moved to Los Angeles with his brother in 1945. Farmer also found work on Central Avenue, the jazz center of Los Angeles, where he played with Horace Henderson and Johnny Otis. "It was difficult to get a job playing Bebop," he told Steve Voce in the Independent, "but we always had a lot of sessions going on." Farmer moved to New York City in 1947 where he freelanced for a year and studied under Maurice Grupp.

When Farmer returned to Los Angeles, he worked and toured with Benny Carter, Gerald Wilson, and Dexter Gordon. He attended his first recording sessions in 1948 with blues shouter Joe Turner and pianist Jay McShann. In 1951-52 he played with Wardell Gray. "Wardell was really a great guy," Farmer told Lazaro Vega in All About Jazz. "He was the first person that I would see every day that really knew what was going on as far as the music was concerned." In 1953 Farmer toured with Lionel Hampton's big band. On a trip to Europe, Farmer and his band mates were under strict orders not to perform with bands other than Hampton's. Farmer, however, along with Clifford Brown and Quincy Jones, made a habit of crawling out of their hotel windows to attend late night sessions in France and Scandinavia. "The Lionel Hampton band was a great experience," Farmer told Voce, "like going to school in a way, because you learned from the environment."

In the 1950s Farmer recorded a series of albums as a leader, including Early Art in 1954 and Modern Art in 1958. He worked successively with Gigi Gryce, Horace Silver, and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet in the 1950s. Farmer also appeared in the 1958 photograph titled "A Great Day in Harlem," a picture that included 57 jazz musicians. "There was never a group like that with so many great musicians in one spot," Farmer recalled to David Simpson in the Virginian Pilot. "There were many of the greatest jazz musicians around including many who were my idols--Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Count Basie, Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins."

In 1959 Farmer formed a sextet with Benny Golson, which they called the Jazztet. The Independent noted that "the Jazztet played typically tasteful music, but despite some good recordings and much praise from the critics it had to break up from lack of work after three years." During this time Farmer began playing the mellower flugelhorn along with the trumpet. When he formed a quartet with guitarist Jim Hall in 1962, however, he relied exclusively on the flugelhorn. "It seemed to me that the sound ... would go better with Jim's sound," he told Vega of All About Jazz, "so I decided to stick with the flugelhorn."

In 1965 Farmer traveled to Europe as a solo act and remained for six months. He told Voce, "When I left I was just planning on staying for a month, but then the chance came to go to Stockholm and I just stretched out." In 1968 Farmer, like many other jazz artists of the time, relocated to Europe. Farmer explained to Vega, "One of the things that I like about living and working in Europe that's not the case over here...is that there's more activity in smaller cities." Farmer made his home base in Vienna and joined the Austrian Radio Orchestra. He also met his wife in Vienna. "The band didn't last," he told the Virginian Pilot, "but by the time it ended, I had a family."

During the 1970s Farmer toured Asia and recorded a series of albums for Inner City and CTI. To Duke with Love was recorded a year after Duke Ellington's death, and featured classic pieces like "Lush Life" and "In a Sentimental Mood." "This tasteful set ... features Art Farmer at his best," wrote Scott Yanow in All Music Guide. In 1982 Farmer and Golson toured and recorded with the re-formed Jazztet. Although Farmer continued to live in Vienna, he maintained a contract requiring him to play at the Sweet Basil in New York three times a year, and these shows served as the base for his United States tours.

In 1991 Farmer began playing an instrument called the flumpet, designed by David Monette. As he described it to Simpson, "The timbre is darker than the trumpet and a little bit lighter than a fluegelhorn." In 1999 Farmer began to suffer from memory loss and was diagnosed with Korsakoff disease. However, the diagnosis proved incorrect, and he planned to continue performing. In June of 1999 he played with his quartet at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles. Don Heckman wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "It was a convincing demonstration of the splendid ability of jazz, and of a talented jazz artist, to produce music unaffected by the tides of fashion or the demands of commerce." Before Farmer could completely recover his health, however, he died of a heart attack on October 4, 1999. Fellow musician Benny Golson told Down Beat that "his absence from the jazz scene leaves a void that will not be filled in my lifetime."

Works

Selected Discography

  • Art Farmer Quintet, Original Jazz Classics, 1955.
  • Meet the Jazztet, MCA/Chess, 1960.
  • Here and Now, Mercury, 1962.
  • Live at the Half Note, Atlantic, 1963.
  • The Time and the Place, Columbia, 1967.
  • To Duke with Love, Inner City, 1975.
  • Something You Got, King, 1977.
  • Work of Art, Concord, 1981.
  • Warm Valley, Concord, 1982.
  • Real Time, Contemporary, 1986.
  • Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn, Contemporary, 1987.
  • Blame It on My Youth, Contemporary, 1988.
  • Central Avenue Reunion, Contemporary, 1989.

Further Reading

Books

  • All Music Guide to Jazz, edited by Michael Erlewine, Miller Freeman, 1998.
Periodicals
  • Boston Herald, October 8, 1999, p. 26.
  • Down Beat, January 2000, p. 18.
  • Independent (London, England), October 8, 1999, p. 6.
  • Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1996, p. 6.
  • Virginian Pilot, April 28, 1998, p. E1.
On-line
  • All About Jazz, http://www.allaboutjazz.com.
  • All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com.
  • Biography Resource Center, http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC.

— Ronnie D. Lankford Jr

Art Farmer

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  • Genres: Jazz

Biography

Largely overlooked during his formative years, Art Farmer's consistently inventive playing was more greatly appreciated as he continued to develop. Along with Clark Terry, Farmer helped to popularize the flügelhorn among brass players. His lyricism gave his bop-oriented style its own personality. Farmer studied piano, violin, and tuba before settling on trumpet. He worked in Los Angeles from 1945 on, performing regularly on Central Avenue and spending time in the bands of Johnny Otis, Jay McShann, Roy Porter, Benny Carter, and Gerald Wilson among others; some of the groups also included his twin brother, bassist Addison Farmer (1928-1963). After playing with Wardell Gray (1951-1952) and touring Europe with Lionel Hampton's big band (1953), Farmer moved to New York and worked with Gigi Gryce (1954-1956), Horace Silver's Quintet (1956-1958), and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet (1958-1959). Farmer, who made many recordings in the latter half of the '50s (including with Quincy Jones and George Russell and on some jam-session dates for Prestige) co-led the Jazztet with Benny Golson (1959-1962) and then had a group with Jim Hall (1962-1964). He moved to Vienna in 1968 where he joined the Austrian Radio Orchestra, worked with the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band and toured with his own units. Starting in the '80s, Farmer visited the U.S. more often and remained greatly in demand up until his death on October 4, 1999. Farmer recorded many sessions as a leader throughout the years for Prestige, Contemporary, United Artists, Argo, Mercury, Atlantic, Columbia, CTI, Soul Note, Optimism, Concord, Enja, and Sweet Basil. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi
Top
Art Farmer

Art Farmer
Background information
Birth name Arthur Stewart Farmer
Also known as Art
Born August 21, 1928
Origin Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States
Died October 4, 1999(1999-10-04) (aged 71)
Genres Jazz
Occupations Trumpeter
Instruments Trumpet, flugelhorn and flumpet
Associated acts Benny Golson

Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa – October 4, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer (d. 1963), was a bassist.

Contents

Biography

The son of a steelworker, Art Farmer worked as a musician from the mid-1940s onwards. Based in Los Angeles, he played in the bands of Benny Carter and Jay McShann among others.

He joined Lionel Hampton's orchestra around 1953, sharing the trumpet chairs within the organization with Clifford Brown and Quincy Jones. Having relocated to New York, he subsequently worked with Gigi Gryce, Horace Silver and Gerry Mulligan among others. From the middle of the 1950s, Farmer featured in recordings by leading arrangers of the day, including George Russell, Jones and Oliver Nelson. Significantly, he formed "The Jazztet" with the composer and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, both men having independently come to the conclusion that the other should be a member of their group. "The Jazztet" lasted until 1962, and assisting in the early careers of pianist McCoy Tyner and trombonist Grachan Moncur III, with the group recording several albums for Argo and Mercury Records. In the early 1960s Farmer established a trio with guitarist Jim Hall and bassist Steve Swallow. Later, with drummer Pete La Roca and pianist Steve Kuhn, Farmer and Swallow recorded the album Sing Me Softly of the Blues (1965) for the Atlantic label.

Farmer then moved to Europe, ultimately settling in Vienna, where he performed with The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band. Farmer also recorded extensively as a leader throughout his later career. With Golson he revived 'The Jazztet' in the 1980s for a number of engagements, with the original trombonist Curtis Fuller returning to the group.

Discography

As leader

  • Art Farmer Septet (Prestige Records, 1953)
  • When Farmer Met Gryce (Fantasy Records, 1955)
  • Two Trumpets (Prestige 1956)
  • Farmers Market (Prestige, 1956)
  • Modern Art (CM Blue Note, 1958)
  • Portrait of Art Farmer (Fantasy Records, 1958)
  • Brass Shout (Blue Note, 1959)
  • Meet the Jazztet (1960)
  • Perception (with Benny Golson, 1961)
  • Another Git Together Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet (Mercury Records, 1962)
  • Listen To Art Farmer & The Orchestra (Verve Records, 1962)
  • Interaction (with Jim Hall) (Atlantic Records, 1963)
  • To Sweden with Love (Atlantic Records, 1964)
  • Sing Me Softly of the Blues (Atlantic Records, 1965)
  • A Sleeping Bee (Sonet Records 1974) (Swedish release with Janne Schaffer, Sabu Martinez, Red Mitchell)
  • On the Road (Concord Records, 1976)
  • Yesterday's Thoughts (East Wind Records, 1976)
  • Crawl Space (CTI, 1977)
  • Something You Got (CTI, 1977) with Yusef Lateef and David Matthews' Big Band
  • Art Farmer Live in Tokyo (CTI, 1977)
  • Big Blues (CTI, 1978) with Jim Hall
  • Yama (CTI, 1979) with Joe Henderson
  • A Work of Art (Concord Records, 1982)
  • Manhattan Art Farmer Quintet (Soul Note, 1982)
  • Mirage Art Farmer Quintet (Soul Note, 1982)
  • Warm Valley (Concord Records, 1983)
  • Ambrosia (Denon Records, 1983)
  • Maiden Voyage (Denon, 1983)
  • Real Time (Fantasy Records, 1986)
  • Back to the City (Fantasy Records, 1986)
  • Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (Fantasy Records, 1987)
  • Blame It On My Youth (Fantasy Records, 1988)
  • Foolish Memories (L&R Records)
  • Ph.D. (Fantasy Records, 1989)
  • Soul Eyes (Enja Records, 1991)
  • The Company I Keep (Arabesque Records, 1994)
  • The Meaning of Art (Arabesque Records, 1995)
  • Out of the Past (GRP Records, 1996)
  • Silk Road (Arabesque Records, 1996)
  • The Quartets (Hindsight Records, 1997)
  • Live at The Stanford Jazz Workshop (Monarch Records, 1997)
  • Art Farmer and the Jazz Giants (Fantasy Records, 1998)
  • Artistry (Concord Records, 2001) Reissue of A Work of Art and Warm Valley
  • At Birdhouse (Verve, 2002)
  • What Happens? (CAM, 2005)
  • To Duke With Love (East Wind Records)
  • The Summer Knows (East Wind Records)
  • At Boomers (Test of Time Records, 2008)

As sideman

With Sonny Clark

With Curtis Fuller

With Bennie Green

With Dizzy Gillespie

With Milt Jackson

With Clifford Jordan

With Yusef Lateef

With Gil Mellé

With Chico O'Farrill

With Heikki Sarmanto

  • Many Moons - July ´69 (Louhi Productions 2009) Live recording July 1969 in Jyväskylä, Finland

With Mal Waldron

Filmography

  • 2003: Jazz Casual - Gerry Mulligan & Art Farmer
  • 2003: Ron Carter & Art Farmer: Live at Sweet Basil with Cedar Walton and Billy Higgins[1]
  • 2005: Jazz Masters Series - Art Farmer
  • 2007: Benny Golson: The Whisper Not Tour[2]

References

External links


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Copyrights:

Mentioned in

September Ballads (1987 Album by Mark Murphy)
Real Time (1992 Album by The Jazztet)
Earthy (1957 Album by Prestige All Stars)
Gentle Eyes (1972 Album by Art Farmer)