Customer Reviews

Autumn Leaves

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4 star:		(1)
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Tal Farlow (1921-1997) was a superb bebop guitarist; he made his name in the 1950's, then retired in 1959 at the height of his powers. He made the excellent "The Return of Tal Farlow" in 1969, but otherwise did not return to active performance until mid-1970's.

This 2-disc set includes two of his last recordings: "Tal Farlow '78" (1978)and "The Legendary Tal Farlow" (1985).
This music is less well-mannered than "Sign of the Times", his initial Concord release.
Of particular note in this excellent set is "Mahoney's 11 Ohms", a Farlow original with a swirling backbeat and the guitarist's trademark lightning articulation . He is equally at home with ballads, as "Chelsea Bridge" and "I Got It Bad" demonstrate. He opens "Everything Happens to Me" with a lovely, awe-inspiring tidal wave of chords.

In summary, "Autumn Leaves" is a welcome addition to the Tal Farlow discography. Hats off to Concord Jazz for reissuing all of Farlow's work on the label. Hopefully, this will spur Verve to follow suit and reissue all of his earlier work.

This double album comprehend two different jazz guitar situations from the legendary Talmage Farlow, trio and quintet with woodwinds. The two albums come from two different years too, from 1978 the trio album and from 1985 the quintet album both from the Concorde vaults. Tal is in good shape in both the recordings. My preference anyway goes to the quintet album entitled "The legendary Tal Farlow". It is a more swinging and obviously various effort. The presence of the piano gives the recording a more stable harmonic sense, and the presence of another solo voice (Sam Most, flute and tenor saxophone) gives the music more variety and interest. in the end it is more entertaining. the trio session is a little bit harder in a sense even if it is still very enjoyable. I would give this quintet album "The legendary .." four stars and a half, four stars to the trio album "Tal Farlow 78". The trio session finds Tal in good shape but he wasn't precise as he was in his early years anymore. He played good but he lacked a little bit of precision in his lines. I'm sorry, I'm a Jazz guitar player myself, I love Tal's playing but I hear these kind of things and I can't deny them. Moreover the quintet album is recorded better, Tal's guitar has a more full sound, more rounded, warmer. But in the end it is a way good cd to buy for the jazz guitar enthusiast, you have almost a fivestars album and another important document of the career of one of the legends of the american jazz guitar. It is a double album so the price is very fair too.

"Tal Farlow '78" and "The Legendary Tal Farlow" (from 1985) represent the last discs in Concord's archive from the ace guitarist. Farlow (1921-1997)had a unique gift; he combined amazing technical skill with a heartfelt approach to music. This combination is on full display in this double-disc set. "78" is guitar, bass and drums. The 1985 set adds piano and woodwinds. The music is uniformly excellent - both sessions are energetic and less well-mannered than 1977's "Sign of the Times". Particularly noteworthy: the lovely chords in "Everything Happens to Me", Farlow's interplay with reed man Sam Most on "I Got It Bad" and the quick single note runs on "Mahoney's 11 Ohms".
Hats off to Concord for reissuing these excellent sessions; hopefully this will stimulate Verve to follow suit with Farlow's landmark 1950's discs.