Acoustic Sounds and Contemporary Records present this new reissue of iconic jazz trumpet player Art Farmer’s 1958 Contemporary Records debut, Portrait of Art Farmer.

Featuring Hank Jones (piano), Addison Farmer (bass) and Roy Haynes (drums) with this edition pressed on 180-gram vinyl pressed at QRP with (AAA) lacquers cut from the original tapes by Bernie Grundman. It is presented in a tip-on jacket.

As we know, Art Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player, but he also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. Indeed, he and his identical twin brother, double bassist Addison Farmer, started playing professionally while at high school in Los Angeles.

Art gained greater attention after the release of a recording of his composition Farmer’s Market in 1952. He subsequently moved from Los Angeles to New York, where he performed and recorded with musicians such as Horace Silver, Sonny Rollins, and Gigi Gryce and became known principally as a bebop player.

As Farmer’s reputation grew, he expanded from bebop into more experimental forms through working with composers such as George Russell and Teddy Charles. He went on to join Gerry Mulligan’s quartet and, with Benny Golson, to co-found the Jazztet.

Continuing to develop his own sound, Farmer switched from trumpet to the warmer flugelhorn in the early 1960s, and he helped to establish the flugelhorn as a soloist’s instrument in jazz. He settled in Europe in 1968 and continued to tour internationally until his death.

Farmer recorded more than 50 albums under his own name, a dozen with the Jazztet, and dozens more with other leaders. His playing is known for its individuality – most noticeably, its lyricism, warmth of tone and sensitivity.

Side A:
1. Back In The Cage
2. Stablemates
3. The Very Thought Of You
4. And Now…

Side B:
1. Nita
2. By Myself
3. Too Late Now
4. Earth

To give you the full SP, this rather excellent quartet album by trumpeter/flugelhornist Art Farmer (1928-1999) was recorded in New York City on April 19 & May 1, 1958 with Hank Jones(piano); Addison Farmer(bass) & Roy Haynes(drums).

Furthermore, Art had complete freedom to choose personnel and the nine varied tunes which include three originals from the trumpeter, one each from Benny Golson and George Russell and four standards.

In my humble journalistic opinion, Farmer’s fluent and elegant trumpet playing, sometimes reminiscent of 1950s Miles Davis, is superbly supported by the rhythm section. Indeed, once selected by British critics as among the 200 essential post-war jazz albums, Portrait Of Art Farmer FULLY deserves a place in any serious jazz record collection.

Back In The Cage is a 12-bar blues with a theme that is not stated until Farmer’s second entry. Benny Golson’s Stablemates is a 36-bar number in ABA form, with each A section lasting 14 bars, and which also contains several ii-V-I progressions. The Very Thought of You and By Myself are played by Farmer with a cup mute.

And Now... is an up-tempo composition by Farmer over the chord changes from I Got Rhythm, the ballad Too Late Now has a brassier trumpet performance from Farmer, as opposed to his breathier playing on the other tracks, George Russell’s Nita is simply gorgeous, and my own personal favorite, Earth is a blues, played in a simple, swinging style.

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