Art Farmer and Benny Golson - Meet the Jazztet

This one arrived in the mail over the weekend. I had an incomplete set of MP3s for a while and never got around to getting a better version. Once I thought about it again I figured it was time to just cop the vinyl...so I did!

Such a great, warm-sounding record, full of tracks that are played to this day. Ralph Gleason's liner notes have some cool background on the group's origins. Contrary to the standard of the day, Farmer and Golson had a concept for a band that was so much about the music that they did not want any of the player's names in the group's. They claimed it even caused them to threaten pulling gigs from clubs and promoters who snuck their names into the ads and billings...

From reading Gleason's notes, one gets the sense that this group was designed to last, though the original incarnation only made it around for a few years and records, splitting up in 1962. Incredibly, Golson and Farmer resurrected the name over 30 years later in the mid-80s, playing together until Farmer's death in 1999.

Tracks: Serenata (Anderson-Parish) 3:30; It Ain't Necessarily So (Gershwin) 4:26; Avalon (Rose-DeSylva) 3:29; I Remember Clifford (Benny Golson) 3:10; Blues March (Benny Golson) 5:16; That's All Right With Me (Cole Porter) 3:53; Park Avenue Petite (Benny Golson) 3:41; Mox Nix (Art Farmer) 4:01; Easy Living (Rubin-Ranger) 3:33; Killer Joe (Benny Golson) 4:57

Personnel: Art Farmer, trumpet; Benny Golson, tenor sax; Curtis Fuller, trombone; McCoy Tyner, piano; Addison Farmer, bass; Lex Humphries, drums

Download:
Art Farmer and Benny Golson - Meet the Jazztet