Art Farmer | Artist

Arthur Stewart Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player born 1928 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He and his identical twin brother, double bassist Addison Farmer, started playing professionally while in high school. Art gained greater attention after the release of a recording of his composition "Farmer's Market" in 1952. He subsequently moved from Los Angeles to New York, where he performed and recorded with musicians such as Horace Silver, Sonny Rollins and Gigi Gryce, and became known principally as a bebop player. As his reputation grew, Farmer expanded from bebop into more experimental forms through working with composers such as George Russell and Teddy Charles. He went on to join Gerry Mulligan's quartet and, with Benny Golson, co-founded the Jazztet. Continuing to develop his own sound, Farmer switched from trumpet to the warmer flugelhorn in the early 1960s, and he helped to establish the flugelhorn as a soloist's instrument in jazz. He settled in Europe in 1968 and continued to tour internationally until his death. Farmer recorded more than 50 albums under his own name, a dozen with the Jazztet, and dozens more with other leaders. His playing is known for its individuality – most noticeably, its lyricism, warmth of tone and sensitivity. Standout albums include Modern Art (1958), Portrait of Art Farmer (1958), Meet the Jazztet (1960), Crawl Space (1977), Big Blues with guitarist Jim Hall (1979) and Blame it on my Youth (1988). Farmer's trumpet influences in the 1940s were Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Fats Navarro, but, in his own words, "then I heard Freddie Webster and I loved his sound. I decided to work on sound because it seemed like most of the guys my age were just working on speed."

Artist Website: artfarmer.org

Featured Albums: Art Farmer

Related Artists: Jim Hall, The Prestige All Stars, The Jazztet, Gerry Mulligan

Video Clips: Live in '64, Petite Belle, With Jim Hall