''The Art Farmer Septet'' is an album by trumpeter

Art Farmer Arthur Stewart Farmer (August 21, 1928 – October 4, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. He and his identical twin brother, double ...

, featuring performances recorded in 1953 and 1954, arranged by Quincy Jones and Gigi Gryce, and released by

Prestige Records Prestige Records is a jazz record company and label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock in New York City which issued recordings in the mainstream, bop, and cool jazz idioms. The company recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz music ...

in 1956. It is his earliest recorded full-length album, but was his third issued. The cover art was by cartoonist Don Martin. The recordings made on July 2, 1953 are possibly the earliest studio recordings of the electric bass, according to musician

Chuck Rainey Charles Walter Rainey III (born June 17, 1940) is an American bass guitarist who has performed and recorded with many well-known acts, including Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, and Quincy Jones. Rainey is credited for playing bass on more than 1,00 ...

. The four tracks with electric bass, played by Monk Montgomery, display his facility with walking bass lines, bebop melodies, and Latin-style

ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...

(

said that Monk was the first to record the electric bass). Arranger Quincy Jones highlights Montgomery in the opening sections of three of the four tracks. All of the players on the 1953 recording were at that time members of the

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...

Orchestra, and subsequently toured europe with Hampton from September to December 1953, except Sonny Johnson. Johnson was a previous associate of bass player Monk Montgomery, from Indiana.Album liner notes by Ira Gitler The four tracks recorded in 1953 were first issued in 1954 on a 10-inch album ''Work of Art'', on Prestige Records. Three singles were released, the first being “Mau Mau (Pt. 1 & 2)” (Prestige 875) in 1953.

Reception

AllMusic called the album "An excellent early hard bop set". '' The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' commented that the album demonstrates that Farmer's "style was already firmly in place: a pensive restraint on ballads, a fleet yet soberly controlled attack on uptempo tunes, and a concern for tonal manipulation within a small range of inflexions".Cook, Richard and Morton, Brian (2008) ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings'' (9th ed.), Penguin, p. 469,

Track listing

All compositions by Art Farmer and Quincy Jones except where noted. # "Mau Mau" – 5:15 # "Work of Art" – 5:46 # "The Little Bandmaster" – 4:06 # "Up in Quincy's Room" (Gigi Gryce) – 4:00 # "Wildwood" (Gryce) – 2:55 # "Evening in Paris" (Quincy Jones) – 2:41 # "Elephant Walk" (Jones) – 3:25 # "Tia Juana" (Gryce) – 4:52 Note *Recorded in WOR Studios, New York City on July 2, 1953 (tracks 1–4) and at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey on June 7, 1954 (tracks 5–8)

Personnel

– trumpet *

Jimmy Cleveland James Milton Cleveland (May 3, 1926 – August 23, 2008) was an American jazz trombonist born in Wartrace, Tennessee.

– trombone *

Clifford Solomon Clifford "King" Solomon (January 17, 1931 – June 21, 2004) was an American jazz and R&B musician. Solomon was born in Los Angeles and learned to play clarinet from an early age and picked up saxophone when he was 13. In the late 1940s he pla ...

(tracks 1–4), Charlie Rouse (tracks 5–8) – tenor saxophone *Oscar Estell (tracks 1–4), Danny Bank (tracks 5–8) –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

* Quincy Jones (tracks 1–4), Horace Silver (tracks 5–8) – piano * Monk Montgomery – electric bass (tracks 1–4) *

Percy Heath Percy Heath (April 30, 1923 – April 28, 2005) was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

(tracks 5–8) *Sonny Johnson (tracks 1–4),

Art Taylor Arthur S. Taylor Jr. (April 6, 1929 – February 6, 1995) was an American jazz drummer, who "helped define the sound of modern jazz drumming".Watrous, Peter (February 7, 1995)"Art Taylor, 65, Jazz Drummer Who Inspired Young Musicians" ''The Ne ...

(tracks 5–8) –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Quincy Jones – percussion (track 1) *Quincy Jones (tracks 1–4), Gigi Gryce (tracks 5–8) –

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

Production

*Doug Hawkins – recording engineer (tracks 1-4) * Ira Gitler – producer (tracks 1-4) * Rudy Van Gelder – recording engineer (tracks 5-8) *

Bob Weinstock Bob Weinstock (October 2, 1928 – January 14, 2006) was an American record producer best known for his label Prestige Records, established in 1949, which was responsible for many significant jazz recordings during his more than two decades op ...

– producer (tracks 5-8)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Art Farmer Septet, The Prestige Records albums Art Farmer albums 1956 albums Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio Albums produced by Bob Weinstock Albums arranged by Quincy Jones Septets