Artifacts

The Art Farmer album titled "Early Art" that I own sat in my record collection for about two years before I actually played it. What ended up being one of my favorite albums sat there gathering dust. I had recently discovered Miles Davis and bought Sketches of Spain, Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew, ESP, On the Corner, Cookin', Workin', Miles in the Sky, Miles Ahead, and various other Davis vinyl all at once because I couldn't get enough of listening to Miles singing through that trademark horn. I did see Wallace Roney one night playing it, and that was in itself worth the price of the ticket. But I didn't appreciate Art Farmer until later mainly because Farmer sometimes sounds nearly sentimental when compared with Davis. Nobody, with the exception perhaps of Clifford Brown, plays ballads and sentimental songs so well. Farmer can play intricate solos effortlessly and his sound is so light and airy that it's easy to sit through one of his solos without really concentrating on it very much. When Miles is playing his sound is perfect in its simplicity, but Farmer is creating geometric shapes in the air that are surprisingly complex. Miles's sound is dark to Art Farmer's light, but both are unique in their own ways. Farmer never enjoyed the level of success that Miles did but he deserves it. This is some footage of Gerry Mulligan and Art playing some aerial scrabble.

Ok, separate topic--this page has some of the coolest jazz album covers I've seen. One of my favorites is Jazz Experiments of Charlie Mingus, although I don't know if it's on there. Vintage Vinyl in Evanston had a copy for $100. Mine is slightly damaged though, so I really doubt it's worth that much.