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Complete Albums Collection: 1955-1957

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Remembered for his warm, lyrical tone and impeccable sense of rhythm, Art Farmer was not just a highly accomplished trumpet player, he also helped establish the flugelhorn as a leading solo instrument in jazz - and later, introduced the flumpet , a hybrid of the two instruments, which he helped invent. Along with his twin brother, double bassist Addison Farmer, he produced many landmark albums throughout his career, as both a bandleader and as a sideman or as part of The Jazztet, a collective built around the trumpeter and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson. Arthur Stewart Farmer was born on 21st August 1928 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Following the divorce of his parents and subsequent death of his father in a work related accident, Farmer and his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona when he was just four years old. He came from a musical family; his grandfather was a minister at the local African Methodist Episcopal Church for whom his mother played piano, which influenced Farmer to take up the instrument while still in Elementary School. Art Farmer later also took up the bass tuba so he could join the school s marching band, then moved onto cornet and finally trumpet at the age of 13. But Art had to teach himself to read and play music, as the segregation in Phoenix schools at the time blocked his access to music lessons. Art and Addison moved to Los Angeles in 1945 to attend the more music-orientated Jefferson High School - working in a cold-storage warehouse to get by - and began performing professionally at the age of 16. Too young to be drafted, the pair were offered the opportunity to play in the bands of Horace Henderson, Jimmy Mundy and Floyd Ray. Art left high school early but still convinced the principal to award him his diploma, although he didn t collect it until a decade later. Despite immediately starting touring with a group led by Johnny Otis, Farmer s career stalled a few months later as an injury to his lip - caused by overexerting his underdeveloped technique - forced him to take up janitorial work for the next two years, during which time he only played occasionally. Although he produced his first recordings in 1948 with Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson, Farmer suffered further setbacks by failing auditions, struggling to find work in a Los Angeles scene dominated by white musicians, and being involved in a serious car accident which left him concussed. However, he was offered a spot in Lionel Hampton s orchestra in 1952, alongside Quincy Jones and Clifford Brown, which quickly turned his fortunes around. On 2nd July 1953 he undertook his first recording sessions as bandleader - to later be released later as The Art Farmer Septet (Prestige, 1956) - which featured arrangements by Jones and Gigi Gryce. Gryce would also appear on Farmer s first released albums: When Farmer Met Gryce and Art Farmer Quintet Featuring Gigi Gryce (both Prestige, 1955). Thereafter Art Farmer quickly became one of the most sought-after trumpet players of the 1950s, backing Horace Silver, Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus. In return, many big names appeared on Farmer s own records, including Donald Byrd and Jackie McLean on 2 Trumpets (Prestige, 1956), Hank Mobley on Farmer s Market (Prestige, 1956) and Idrees Suliemann on Three Trumpets (Prestige, 1957). This four disc collection contains the first eight albums, remastered and in their entirety, of Art Farmer s career as bandleader. Featuring five hours of sublime music and a host of guest appearances by some of the biggest names in jazz, this set makes the ideal introduction to one of the most brilliant players ever to pick up the trumpet.