Seminal modern jazz from
Art Farmer & Gigi Gryce – a pair of records the players recorded together on Prestige Records in the mid 50s! First up is When
Farmer Met Gryce – one of
Art Farmer's pivotal mid 50s sides – recorded in the company of altoist Gigi Gryce, a great player and a budding young arranger who helped
Farmer really formulate the best side of his sound! The tracks are lyrically modern – but still have a nice dose of soul in them – a wonderful blend that really sets the stage for the move that
Art was making away from earlier trumpeters in jazz – into that hip territory that was neither too cool, nor too overblown – and which would almost be known as "
Farmer-like" in years to come! The album features Gryce and
Farmer in 2 different groups – one with Horace Silver on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums – the other with Freddie Redd on piano, Addison
Farmer on bass, and
Art Taylor on drums. Titles include "Social Call", "Capri", "Deltitnu", "Stupendous Lee", and "Blue Concept".
Art Farmer Quintet has
Farmer playing in a quintet (natch!), with able accompaniment from Gigi Gryce, a young newcomer at this point, with a post-bop complication to his style that was not to dissimilar from
Farmer's. Gryce's mode is perhaps a bit more academic than
Farmer's, but
Art's lyricism offsets that tendency nicely, and the pair work together in a mode that's every bit as pleasing as Gigi's work with Donald Byrd. The set features some great tracks in sort of an exoticist hardbop mode – and titles include "Satellite", "Shabozz", "Sans Souci", and "Evening In Casablanca".