The Jazztet - Big City Sounds
Released 1961
Recording and Session Information
Art Farmer/Benny Golson JazztetArt Farmer, trumpet; Tom McIntosh, trombone; Benny Golson, tenor saxophone; Cedar Walton, piano; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
New York, September 16, 19 & 20, 1960
10430 The cool one
10431 My funny Valentine
10432 Hi fly
10433 Con alma
10434 Five Spot after dark
10435 Blues on down
10436 Wonder why
10437 Bean bag
10438 Lament
Track Listing
| The Cool One | Benny Golson | September 16, 17 & 20 1960 |
| Blues On Down | Benny Golson | September 16, 17 & 20 1960 |
| Hi-Fly | Randy Weston | September 16, 17 & 20 1960 |
| My Funny Valentine | Rodgers & Hart | September 16, 17 & 20 1960 |
| Wonder Why | Nicholas Brodszky, Sammy Cahn | September 16, 17 & 20 1960 |
| Con Alma | Dizzy Gillespie | September 16, 17 & 20 1960 |
| Lament | J.J. Johnson | September 16, 17 & 20 1960 |
| Bean Bag | Benny Golson | September 16, 17 & 20 1960 |
| Five Spot After Dark | Benny Golson | September 16, 17 & 20 1960 |
Liner Notes
FEW JAZZMEN are as well-equipped for leadership tasks as Art Farmer and Benny Golson, helmsmen of The Jazztet. Both are skilled in the ways and means of jazz; both have inspired the respect of musicians and critics.Appraising a Farmer performance in '59, Dom Cerulli wrote in Down Beat, "He is interested in music and in learning. He absorbs and builds on what he has absorbed, rather than parroting it back because it happens to be hip or in the current idiom...He is certainly one of the very few young players today who will have a great deal to do with molding the future of jazz. The often abused phrase, a major talent, must be applied to this man."
In commenting on Golson's artistry, Cerulli added that, "His playing is imaginative and bright, and he turns what could be a hip phrase into something quite fresh almost as a matter of course." Considering Golson as a composer, Cerulli commended him for "those melodic, oddly nostalgic themes which he creates so well."
Other writers have concurred. Ralph Gleason, writing in Down Beat, asserted. "Golson rapidly is assuming his place as one of the most dextrous composers in jazz today. He has a remarkable gift for ordering the talents of others into composite works of his own. As a writer of jazz tunes, his compositions are almost all touched with the quality that lasts." After auditing Farmer's playing, Gleason wrote, "As a trumpet soloist. Farmer is about the most consistently effective man of his generation."
One doesn't have to search for comparable commendations. Whitney Balliett, surveying jazz in The New Yorker, termed Farmer "one of the few genuinely individual modern trumpeters." Critic John S. Wilson noted that Farmer "has reached level of assurance, skill, and flexibility which makes him capable of playing practically anything unusually well, with thoughtfulness and sensitivity." Evaluating Golson, Wilson wrote, "He quickly joined the small group of modern jazzmen who have shown themselves capable of striking and memorable melodic creation (Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, John Lewis, Randy Weston, and Golson)...Once he became known as a composer it also became apparent that he was a performer of great charm...spinning out lithe, elastic lines sprinkled with lifting quirks and stabs which create an intense feeling of movement."
And composer George Russell, a respected figure in his own right, discussing the future of jazz in The Jazz Word anthology, comments on the influence of vital composer — Monk, for example — on the improvisers. "I can add that Benny Golson is another case of a composer influencing the thinking — in this case the harmonic thinking and the over all thinking — of the improviser," Russell stated. "Benny's a wonderful songwriter, and has written some very good songs. Songs are frames for improvisation; he has set up some very good frames for improvising, much as Mulligan has done," Russell added.
These are not casual endorsements. These are the words of jazz observers and performers. They are definite statements, not idle puffs. Critic Nat Hentoff, for example, spoke for many when he wrote: "Art Farmer, after a long apprenticeship, has matured into one of the few trumpet players of his generation who is individual and who indicates a capacity for growth that will make him an influence. Through the years, Art has sharpened his technique so that he can - and has - handled all manner of assignments from the funky, soul-flexing of the Horace Silver quintet through the polyphonic play of the Gerry Mulligan quartet to jagged experimental scores at Brandeis university, Carnegie Hall, and Cooper Union. While absorbing all this experience...and much more...Art has consistently enlarged and strengthened his own musical personality until he now cannot be accurately categorized as a member of any 'school' but his own."
Idle chatter? Hardly. These expressions are simply a few of the positive declarations made in tribute to the co-leaders of The Jazztet. What is most important, such honors are based on the dues-paying the pair experienced along the way to meriting such respect.
Farmer, at 32, has pursued a varied, but purposeful, career. Originally a student of violin and tuba, he switched to trumpet after being overwhelmed by the artistry of Roy Eldridge. He played lead trumpet with Johnny Otis' band, then, after encouragement from fellow-trumpeter Freddie Webster and study with Maurice Grupp, he moved from group to group. Among them were the bands of Jay McShann and Lionel Hampton, the Silver quintet and Mulligan quartet (with the latter, he can be seen and heard in the films I Want To Live, The Subterraneans, and Jazz On A Summer's Day). In the fall of '59, he presented The Jazztet concept to Golson. The latter, hardly idle, was intrigued and accepted. It marked another in a string of key moves in Golson's career.
Born in Philadelphia in 1929, Golson began studying music at the age of nine; he started on piano, but switched to tenor five years later. He studied music at Howard university, then embarked on the jazz road, working with groups headed by Bull Moose Jackson, Tadd Dameron, Johnny Hodges, Earl Bostic, Hampton, Art Blakey and Dizzy Gillespie. With Dizzy's big band, Golson won recognition as a composer; I Remember Clifford, Stable Mates, and Whisper Not became jazz standards. In late '59, Golson considered forming his own group; he wanted Farmer. When Farmer phoned him, the merger was made.
But The Jazztet was not conceived as a duo. As Farmer told Down Beat, "This group was created with a thought in mind of creating a framework for each member of the group, not only for Benny and me." In this group, all the members count. Trombonist Tom McIntosh, 33, left his Baltimore home to study at Juilliard; he followed that formal training with stints with James Moody and others. He now lives in Manhattan.
Dallas-born pianist Cedar Walton, just 26, attended the University of Denver for three years before deciding on a full-time career in jazz. Since making that decision, he's worked with Kenny Dorham, Gigi Gryce, and —shortly before joining The Jazztet — the J.J. Johnson quintet. He calls Brooklyn home these days. Bassist Tom Williams was born in that borough in 1933. His mother and two brothers played violin and a sister played piano. Williams worked with pianist Mary Lou Williams, singer Carmen McRae, and the Gene Rodgers trio before hitching onto The Jazztet star.
Drummer Albert Heath, 23, comes from a Philadelphia family that is well-represented in jazz. His bass-playing brother Percy is a mainstay of the Modern Jazz Quartet; another brother, Jimmy, is an able reed man who has worked with Dizzy and other prominent jazzmen. Al's first maior job was with the Chet Baker quartet; before joining The Jazztet, he also was with J. J. Johnson's fivesome.
In recent months, The Jazztet has appeared on TV, cut one of Argo's best-sellers, Meet The Jazztet, and played at key jazz events and at leading clubs throughout the country. Its popularity can be attributed to several factors: a stress on melody — not on obscure, anarchical goings-on; a meticulously-selected, intriguing repertoire; a substantial sound, based on the effective voicings achieeed within the front line; fluently-stated, memorable solos by all hands, and on an overall unity rare in contemporary jazz.
All these are evident in this set.
Four of the tunes are Golson originals: The Cool One, Blues On Down, Bean Bag, and Five Spot After Dark. All indicate Golson's philosophy, as he once summarized it: "I don't want to venture too far out. I don't want to be too complex. Basically I'd like to stay simple I'd like to write melodically, and pretty harmonically. I'm not looking for anything that's going to revolutionize music. I like, most of all in writing, beauty."
The other tunes reflect the group's aim in building a diversified library. Randy Weston's appealing Hi-Fly,; the ballad standard, My Funny Valentine; the pop vehicle, Wonder Why; Dizzy's Con Alma, and the touching Lament contribute to that end.
The performances contain a string of highlights: the subtle use of tenor and trombone - to punctuate Farmer's statement on The Cool One - the use of horns behind Walton on Blues on Down - Walton's playing, as featured soloist, on the surging staccato line of Hi-Fly - Farmer's penetratingly moving exploration of My Funny Valentine - the briskly invigorating manner in which all contribute to Wonder Why - the Latin emphasis, never heavy-handed, on Con Alma...McIntosh's weaving lines on Lament...the attractive voicing in the ensemble passages On Bean Bag...the enticing bass-drums intro and subsequent Farmer and Golson solos on the Five Spot After Dark wrap up.
Throughout, Farmer and Golson shine. But there is a cohesive nature to this group; the rhythm section and the horns emerge as a single voice. The soloists exist within a constantly-maintained framework; they don't wander hopelessly or endlessly. There is discipline inherent in all that's played — a blend of and devotion so uncommon in jazz today. It is one of several qualities that make the group one of the most compelling on the current scene.
Don Gold
