Sonny Clark – My Conception (Solo Piano)

Recorded for Time Records, 1959

Belated Back To Back Birthdays: Charlie Rouse & Stanley Turrentine

Sonny Clark – Piano / Charlie Rouse – Tenor Sax / Tommy Turrentine – Trumpet / Butch Warren – Bass / Billy Higgins – Drums

Charlie Rouse (April 6th, 1924) plays beautifully on this  Sonny Clark date with extraordinary backing from the rhythm section. Clark really had some inventive comping, feeding Rouse all sorts of melodic and harmonic opportunities. Tommy Turrentine never achieved the success of his younger brother but was a brilliant trumpeter in his own right. Speaking of his brother…

Jimmy Smith – Organ / Stanley Turrentine – Tenor Sax / Kenny Burrell – Guitar / Donald Bailey – Drums

Stanley Turrentine (April 5th, 1934) hits those greasy soul-notes just the way Jimmy Smith wanted them. This is a down-’n'-dirty recording, sanctified and righteous. The interplay between the four men is near-telepathic.

Thinking about Art Farmer…

Yesterday’s Gerry Mulligan post got me thinking about Art Farmer. It took me a long time to get into his music. Whereas most of my favorite trumpeters spat fire, molten solos boiling over, Art blew with a cool melodicism that took some getting used to. As I’ve gotten older and deeper into jazz music and history, on the same trajectory that took me from Coltrane to Hawkins, I find myself swinging from Hubbard to Farmer. Art won’t impress you with pyrotechnics the way Hub does, but he gets deeper into the soul of a song. As the commenter mentioned on the Mulligan post, “Art sure had a way with ballads,” and that is absolutely true here, on a live rendition of “Sometime Ago” back in 1964:

Personnel: Art Farmer (flugelhorn) , Jim Hall (guitar),  Steve Swallow (bass), and Walter Perkins (drums) — such a lovely, intimate recording.

Once, when asked how he could tell himself apart from his twin brother Addison, Art coolly replied “When I get up in the morning I pick up a bass, if I can’t play it, I must be Art.” Addison was known to say the opposite.  The brothers were also known to record together often, including on this composition, “Blue Lights,” from one of my favorite albums, When Farmer Met Gryce:

Personnel: Art Farmer (trumpet), Gigi Gryce (alto sax), Freddie Redd (piano), Addison Farmer (bass), Art Taylor (drums) / Prestige Records, 1954

Finally, there was Art Farmer’s famous Jazztet with Benny Golson and Curtis Fuller, the seeds of which were sown on one of Curtis Fuller’s early Blue Note recordings, Volume 3. Art is heard to great effect on “It’s Too Late Now,” a tender, lyrical ballad that really accentuates all of his soft-blowing skills:

Personnel: Art Farmer (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Sonny Clark (piano), George Tucker (bass), Louis Hayes (drums) / Blue Note, 1957

Art Farmer was born on August 21st, 1928 and died on October 4th, 1999.

Jackie McLean – A Fickle Sonance

Jackie McLean – Alto Sax / Tommy Turrentine – Trumpet / Sonny Clark – Piano / Butch Warren – Bass / Billy Higgins – Drums

This is the album were McLean started steppin’ out from Bird’s shadow and he’s helped by a great band. Tommy Turrentine was a wonderful trumpeter who just couldn’t seem to catch a steady career. All of his handful of performances on record are excellent. Clark, Warren, and Higgins were the Blue Note house rhythm section at this time and they sparkle behind McLean’s acid improvisations — like the sheen of chrome behind a spreading speck of rust. No one could accuse McLean of having a pretty tone. It’s his inventiveness that makes him interesting.

Turrentine/Rouse B-Day Bash Download:

Celebrate the music of Stanley Turrentine and Charlie Rouse with Bop and Beyond’s 3rd Annual Back-to-Back Birthday Bash– now available for download:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TIW10LQM