Search - Art Farmer :: Brass Shout / The Aztec Suite

Art in big-band settings

Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 06/01/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The two albums on this CD originally were recorded for United Artist in 1959, and both feature Art with large orchestras. "Brass Shout" is purposely top-heavy with brass players (trumpets, trombones, French horns, tuba), and in this instance at least, arranger Benny Golson has a strong affinity for the French horn: Julius Watkins takes a number of solos throughout the proceedings. Golson also presents two of his better, if lesser known, compositions, FIVE SPOT AFTER DARK (Art has an excellent muted solo here) and MINOR VAMP, and these along with Horace Silver's NICA'S DREAM and Bobby Timmons's MOANIN' are the highlights of the album. Anyone who thinks Count Basie has a monopoly on the way APRIL IN PARIS should be played will be in for a surprise with the version here.



"Aztec Suite" also has a big brass section, though there's a good saxophone section as well, with tenorman Zoot Sims taking the solos; he's especially fine on WOODY'N'YOU. Chico O'Farrill has the arranging honors, and his Latin preferences are in the fore. The title track is a 16-minute multi-faceted work whose exoticism sometimes detracts from its jazz concerns. The Latin rhythms dominate on HEAT WAVE and DRUME NEGRITA. These two albums probably put bigger feathers in the caps of Golson and O'Farrill than in Farmer's, but they are interesting to hear and are perfect together on one CD.



"

Good music, Ok recording quality

S. Ghahreman | 06/20/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Having been a fan of Art, Benny and Chico for many years, I was excited to hear such albums existed and loved that they were put on one CD under Blue Note's Connoisseur series. After carefully hearing the tunes, I was not surprised that I enjoyed all of them and was expecting to hear great arrangements from both arrangers and orchestras. However, I would have enjoyed hearing Benny Golson's recordings cleaned up, there was too much hiss and crackling to the point where it was annoying. The Chico O'Farrill material was good (Fair, luckily my favorite tunes were on the second half. Over all I give it a 3 star."

Some fine brass

Nikica Gilic | Zagreb, Croatia | 11/13/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The main reason for my buying this album was the promise of intelligent (Benny Golson) and well played (Art Farmer, Julius Watkins, Curtis Fuller, Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, Jimmy Cleveland...) brassy big band arrangements of some of my favorite standards (Autumn Leaves, Moanin', April in Paris, Stella by Starlight)and of some songs I don't know that well - or at all... The promise was delivered, and then some! The band sounds so warm and beautiful, I'm really happy with this CD. Also, I'd like to point out that Percy Heath, best known for his work in Modern Jazz Quartet proves here that he is an ideal big band bass player; on some tracks drums are played by Philly Joe Jones, on others by Elvin Jones, but Percy is constantly there, in a group where only one track has a piano (Bobby Timmons on his song "Moanin'") it is a greater responsibility to corner the band and help it build the drive.



The second album on this CD ("Aztec Suite") is a bit less brassy, but it's still fine (arr. Chico O'Farrill), exploring various latin modes of jazz.



So, in addition to Farmer , the first album boasts: Lee Morgan, Ernie Royal (tp), Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Cleveland, Wayne Andre (tb), James Haughton (baritone horn), Julus Watkins, Bob Northern (frh), Don Butterfield (tuba), Bobby Timmons (p), P. Heath (b), Ph. J. Jones, E. Jones (dm). Not all the players appear on each track; check the booklet.



The second album has Farmer and: Bernie Glow, Markie Markowitz, Nick Travis, Joe Ferrante (tp) Frank Rehak, J. Cleveland, Tommy Mitchell (rb), Jimmy Buffington, Tony Miranda (frh), Jay McAllister (tuba), Spencer Sinatra, Zoot Sims, Seldon Powell (ts), Sol Schlinger (bs), Hank Jones (p), Addison Farmer (b); Charlie Persip (dm), Jose Mangual, Tommy Lopez, Willie Rodriguez (perc.)... Conducted by the versatile Al Cohn (since O'Farrill couldn't come to the US to do it himself)."