Pre ADCs rn te etn eens Sen) Rreeren Tin sme nC Recta ae CUR Ly Pees Neen oa Ca NOG eg ier een gn. n au basement location had been doubled in size just a few years pre Serta Score mee provides a showcase for the Pere ene ec ea ea {ded that the Stan Tracey Trio should work with Peter Wallis dec Brinnnra carat ect Penner Eteach Panna Tannen Entrance CC eh a Man ey fon, As readers may know, Tracey has carved out a prime position for himself in the local jazz hierarchy and is often rated as the best British pianist in awards nd polls. Aithough at 72 he’s something of a veteran, Tracey is renowned for his creativity and his fusion with Farmer appeared to promise plenty. Peo BTCC UCR ee Cea aa rors aac (Peter Vacher Collection) Ree OURS Penne Csr cee ee eee Rm Petree cer eee mu Pores ean? usual format of a visiting star teamed. enue er eC Serene err Oa eer RoR Pence sce CURL: ee Nee Reet Renee een RCo! erent sc he stood, and kept his flurries short, the tone less centred than in the past ene Rieurather than the burnished outpourings of the past. That’s not to say that there were no real rewards when the quartet performed, just that there were fewer than expected, with Tracey in surging form and Farmer only showing flashes of brilliance on standards. RITICAL REACTION was largely supportive, though, with John Fordham of The Guardian referring to Farmer's “arresting parabolas of blipping high notes and gruff mutters,” while pointing out the remedial value of Fracey’s “robust and hard-driving trio charges.” For his part, Jack Massarik in the London Evening Standard paid trib- tite to Farmer's track record while em- phasising that jazz “is a young man's ame andall the experience in the world Cannot disguise the gradual erosion of feflexes and stamina.” Farmer's appat~ tent weakness was not so marked that his performances lacked moments of magic, but Massarik felt it right to point out that Tracey was “wearing significantly, better” than the American. Interestingly, much of the press cover age also drew attention to Farmer's use ‘Of the flumpet, a specially created hy- brid of the trumpet and flugelhorn made for him by Dave Monette of Chicago, ‘something of innovator in the brass in Strument world. It’s Monette who made the streamlined trumpet used by ‘Wynton Marsalis in the US and in the UK by Guy Barker. “The trumpet gives {you more projection than the flugelhorn and the flugethorn has a warmer sound, ‘Art said. “The flumpet mixes both quall- ties together.” Farmer was a regular visitor to the UK, often touring as a single playing one- nighters and concerts, organised by Ernie Garside, a former professional jazz trum- peter. These had provided a number of Spportunities to spend time with him ‘ha he seemed happy to answer my ques tions in his considered and patient way. He helped me by filling in the details of hhls period in Los Angeles as part of my researches into the story of black jazz in California (his testimony is also detailed in Central Avenue Sounds. (University Of California Press, 1998}). While I can- hot claim intimate friendship with Art ‘and was always aware that he guarded his privacy closely, he was invarlably cour- feous and co-operative once he had es- tablished that my interests were serious. ‘twas also obvious that Art valued dis- cretion. When I asked him some years ago whether he might consider writing his autobiography, Art said, “I have ‘thought of @ bio but have ruled it out because there is so much personal that I wouldn't want to talk about that a bio Would seem to be dishonest with so much omitted. Maybe later.” He an- Swered my letters and lent photographs, dnd seemed to me to be thoughtful and cultivated, critical and well-informed on the issues of the moment, urbane yet modest, and happy to draw praise away from himself while paying warm tribute to his peers, When [arranged to see Art at the flat in Dean Street provided for him by the lub’s owners, he appeared weary, ask- ing “How long will this take?” his hang- dog look more pronounced than usual. He spoke in a monotone, keeping his comments brief, leaning back in the Couch, but summoned up a smile when T took his picture. For no particular rea- son that I can remember, Charles Mingus was the first name that was men- tioned. “I knew Mingus (in Los Angeles). Tmet him. He was one of the first guys T heard about when I first went to LA in 1945, Iwas told there was this fantastic ‘bass player but he’s temperamental.” Ap- ropos Mingus' reputation for smashing his bass to pieces in temper, Art an- swered, laconically enough, “Yeah, well, Sometimes we would go and buy one for ten dollars in order to smash it just to impress the people. That's what we did. Yeah, I performed with him a little later on, just a night here, a night there. We recorded. Another player who impressed Art in those early days was trumpeter Benny Bailey, "Well, he's still on the Continent. He used to come over here (Britain) a Jot with Clarke-Boland, you know. Well, guess he’s over seventy now (Bailey was born in August 1975).” Does he get round as much as you, Lasked. “No, he doesn’t. Maybe he’s tired.” Earlier, Art hhad told me that, “Benny and I do cross paths from time to time and he was, and fs, an inspiration to me.” Altoist Jackie Kelso was another old colleague whose story was covered in Central Avenue Sounds. “I saw him in Austria a couple of months ago with Basie, We were in Floyd Ray’s band (in Los Angeles) in 1045, ‘46. He could always play — still can” ‘The much-admired Clarke-Boland big band combined European musicians with expatriate Americans like Farmer and Bailey. How had it come about, 1 Wondered? “I don’t know how it came about. I guess it had to do with Gigi Campi and Kenny Clarke and Francy Boland. They were the ones that desired to do something, It was a good band. I'm sorry it doesn’t exist any more. Some- times, we would only play for a couple of weeks. If you'd get a string of dates, you'd do them. Very, very special peo- ple in that band. Like Ronnie Scott and the (British) alto player, Derek Humble.” what do I make of Stan Tracey? He's @ wonderful player to play with, you know. He's interesting. It's not just cliché, cliché, but he always does some- thing to interest the soloist. We're hav- ing fun. I'm just very happy to be here to play with him for the period of this engagement. A lot of times you have to play with this guy tonight, and that guy tomorrow night, and that's really diffi- cult, Well, he’s fine. He's a serious must- ‘cian from the word ‘go.’ He’s always putting the best thing in that he can, find it’s always interesting. Changes in his playing? I haven’t heard any change as T haven't heard him that much so T ‘can't say that it hasn’t changed, His son plays good, too. I'm glad to work with hhim," he emphasised, HAT, | ASKED NEXT, had Art got to look forward to? “Oh, the same stuff. I'm all over the place. I go from the States to Kuwait. I spend half the time in the States now. You don’t get anywhere if you don’t travel. I have a couple of health problems. The doctors said I should stay home but I still want the challenge. Idon’t want to sit at home watching TV all day." On another occa Sion, Art had reflected that, *You never know how it’s going to go In this busi- ness as I'm sure you know. So we always work as much as we can since We Ust- llly expect a slowdown sooner or later, nd it usually happens, or bad health (comes) sooner or later, for sure.” Were there any artists with whom Art ‘would still like to perform? “No, T can’t say there is someone I'd like to play with; T also can’t say that there Is someone I don’t want to play with. You know, whatever the circumstances, you can al- ways learn something from whoever it copa 25uc°TPN ®, '9810M Ua49 10 ,]qOUTEN-HWH9s, P20 OU] 1qoueN e, se UorDas WIAUE e 214 DAM “OHLL 1qONTEN aq se UMOUY on 3141259) SIU SPA. 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NOSWNOHL AWE Ad HEVYDOLONS yao 92 .APENE YedH| © WOIy parp pur || UayeY sea ay A[uappns uoya wane] ayy Mow OF paiues pue saavay dn Suydaams sem a4 198 PIO sity pax9s0D91 a4ey 03 pattads 9 ples qaIM paatt aq UeWON amp puE SHOR s1aN UT JeHTSOY tHOH} paseaja1 sea 24 ‘KemAue,, ‘Buyppe ‘pastuzins apysie «Mf pasi{ear ou pur ayons-uyu e pry, Pay aqceyy “y>eq 198 0} Moy Aquat 1,upino pue Seme syaans 30 ajdnoo e 08 pou ~ Arowous ws03-10Ys yp}a swx9t ~qoxd asatp peu aH “Aeme 1 ag on ues LUPIp aq pue AsvOW! auos apeUt P,aq, 2gTT STU UT ow say amp 103 PES aq ATH svuataneidar diy omy papaau ay pur oyu atom sdiy SiH “S1eaK 105 3 pet, ‘umpAqi ueay afuens © pey aq “parus}0 sip pue pasnguo> sem a4 'sUH|Jyn9 to Stu xy waad y,upfnos aH “WHY Haim aA acy e pey T “asta (yoreyA) Ise] 161 HO 2X1 Seat ay Jey MOUY NOR, :tpTeaY Jo anes s00d s,a1y ynoge strerap punos8yoeq 241 Jo aUOS UY party Ny up 20 yedumnay auy zayge pardoo y,useat a1 punos wey99 v 10} apeWL sa}, “PLAT -4oo ay ,eapt sanaUOW\, ZNAUON, JO JULIE WIM ‘Mou OF parues [aveuriio yeduinyy 943 20) vapr amp pid. ‘Ajanop yeysawos pappe ay , "19194 Atl ‘yfeay Aw daay 04 UPA snl 1, gsuONIA “WY ,'SOWIOD HF Sv IF axPD ‘SsON8 | ‘Os “s} ‘G3SNNILNODGarside also emphasised Art's humility, and illustrated this trait with a story in- volving another of his touring artists, trumpeter Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison (see Coda Issue 290 - March/April 2000): “One time when Art was appearing at UCS (a concert location in Hampstead, London), I had Sweets opening at Pizza Express. I'd managed to collect him at the airport and was hoping to get away at ten at the end of Art’s concert. Art said, ‘Do you think I could come with ‘you to Sweets’ gig?” He would never take erties..." I suspect that Garside could recall many more of Art's stories if time and tape allowed. Here’s one that illustrates the hornman’s eye for the telling detail: “Art played with Lester Young’s quin- tet for a while. Lester wouldn't let him play solos, only the themes at the start and finish. Art was fascinated by Lester's vocabulary - he had his own language. This one time, Mr. Heath brings his son ‘Tootie’ (Albert Heath) to play for Lester. Afterwards, he said, ‘Mr. Young, how did he go?” Lester says, "That bitch vonces nice.’ Art had no Idea what it meant and we asked around and nobody else could ever tell us," he laughed, It’s good to remember Art as a kind of amused bystander, enjoying the small nonsenses of the ja2z life, unphased by success and loyal to his friends. He had suffered many sadnesses in his life - the loss of his treasured twin brother, the bassist Addison Farmer continued to trouble him, as did the deaths of his wife and his son - but he remained true to himself and generous in his appre- ciation of the gifts of others. With such. a substantial discography to his name, Art's exceptional qualities as an impro. vising player, recently summed up (ac curately) by John Fordham as “his spe cial blend of lyrical subtlety, textural richness and phlegmatic melancholia,” are unlikely ever to be overlooked. His music was always distinctive, none of it tawdry or ill-considered, much of It profound, tinged by sadness perhaps, but ultimately life-enhancing. Of course, much the same can be said for the char- acter and personality of Arthur Stewart Farmer himself, © © Peter Vacher/May 2000 ADVERTISING RATES SALES & DISTRIBUTION CODA MAGAZINE is pubished six times per year. 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