Customer Reviews

Meet the Jazztet

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album has it all: tight arrangements of standards, fresh new tunes, and fantastic solos by all. Features Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, McCoy Tyner (only 24 years old, not yet into his cuartal harmonies and shimmering pentatonics), Addison Farmer, and Lex Humphries.

The dialogues between McCoy and Lex are fantastic as are all of Curtis Fuller's solos, which seem to all be at smokin' tempos. There is also a hip spoken intro to Killer Joe. Horns don't just sit around either. They back up the soloist or melody.

In short, this is a fine disc. Dig it.

It's difficult to understand from this distance in time why this aggregation never really broke through to the kind of acclaim that they deserved. The playing on this collection is excellent, particularly on the self-penned material ( mostly from Golson - but "Mox Nix" from Farmer is stunning). The standouts are the version of "I remember Clifford", "Park Avenue Petite" and of course, the much lauded "Killer Joe".The ensemble playing is terrific and the rhythm section of Addison Farmer and Lex Humphries gave this version of the group real propulsion. So why not 5 stars ? Well, because the best it got for me, was the group that played on the now-out-of print Verve album "Here and Now" which has been available only from time to time (shame on you Verve Interactive) most recently in 1998.That's where the interplay between Golson and Farmer seemed at its best, and Farmer gets to play some great flugelhorn. However this is just fine!

After working together on a couple of previous albums, Art Farmer and Benny Golson formed the Jazztet in 1960 and recorded a handful of albums for the Argo label; this was the first. (The group lasted only a couple of years, though Farmer and Golson revived it in the 1980s.)

The personnel here is somewhat of an anomaly in that it changed radically after this initial session (except for Farmer and Golson, of course). Curtis Fuller is on trombone and he's phenomenal on IT'S ALL RIGHT WITH ME, which is taken at breakneck speed. AVALON is also taken WAY up tempo; in fact, it's TOO fast - it's all notes. Golson's tenor is featured nicely on his classic tune I REMEMBER CLIFFORD and on the standard EASY LIVING. Farmer is excellent on his own composition MOX NIX, an up-tempo blues. Benny Golson was a superb composer and PARK AVENUE PETITE is a beautiful ballad. His BLUES MARCH is also performed, though not quite as successfully as on the Art Blakey Blue Note recording entitled MOANIN', which is definitive. And his KILLER JOE gets its first airing on this CD, taken medium-slow. McCoy Tyner (p) Addison Farmer (b) and Lex Humphries (d) round out the rhythm section. This is an excellent hard bop album and one of the best by the Jazztet.

"Meet the Jazztet" is certainly a diamond in the rough. I find myself returning to it often--more than most jazz CDs. It's very easy on the ears, full of melodic compositions (say Benny Golson) with a mellow trombone presence from Curtis Fuller.

Recorded in 1960, I suspect this recording isn't better known for two reasons: the name of the band is non-descript and there are no big stars. But the stellar line-up of Art Farmer, Fuller, Golson, McCoy Tyner, Addison Farmer and Lex Humphries swings hard. You won't go wrong with this one. "Killer Joe" could be a pop tune or a jazz tune; it's a sure classic.

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.

Golson's influence is predominant on this album, mostly in the restrained-but-dynamic composition of the tunes. It would be hard to find another LP with such a stellar cast...but I question the "hard bop" moniker, as most of the tunes on the LP flow very smoothly, as is Golson's style. Let's just call it jazz at its ultimate best. This is one of those "If you only had one album to play on your island" LPs.

Horns never sounded so beautiful...

Yes. It contains "Killer Joe" which is a classic. But that tune is just a compliment to an overall great LP.