Trumpet Conclave (III)

 Since the time the natives of New Orleans supposedly heard Buddy Bolden's sound from miles away, the trumpet has been the most enduring of all the jazz horns. While the clarinet has decreased sharply in usage, and the trombone assumed a somewhat lesser role than it once held, the trumpet (and I include the cornet and flugelhorn here) has remained an important voice through all of the periods of jazz.

What Louis Armstrong was to the '20s, and Roy Eldridge to the '30s, Dizzy Gillespie was to the '40s. Diz ushered in the modern school of trumpet playing and, together with his most prominent disciples, Fats Navarro and Miles Davis, created a language for the trumpeters of the '50s and '60s. Navarro, had he lived, undoubtedly would have gone on to greater things but, through Clifford Brown, he did have a great impact on the '50s. Davis, of course, became the sound of the '50s and is still exerting an influential force in the '60s.By the mid-50s, the time the following recordings were made, new men had emerged, most of them showing the imprint of the Gillespie-Navarro-Davis triumvirate. Two of the most active on the New York scene were Art Farmer and Donald Byrd.

Art Farmer came to New York to stay in the fall of 1953 when he returned from a European tour with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra. Prior to joining Hamp, he had been active on the West Coast, recording with Wardell Gray.Settling in New York, he co-led a quintet with alto saxophonist Gigi Gryce, and later worked as a sideman with both Horace Silver's quintet and Gerry Mulligan's quartet. In 1959, Farmer and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson formed the Jazztet. When they disbanded, Farmer started his own quartet which featured guitarist Jim Hall until he was replaced by pianist Steve Kuhn.Of late, Farmer has given up the trumpet to concentrate on the flugelhorn with no loss of the characteristics that marked him as one of the most genuinely sensitive trumpet artists to emerge in the '50s.

Donald Byrd arrived in New York in 1955 from his native Detroit. Four and a half years younger than Farmer, Donald was not as mature as Art but his incipient talent was obvious to everyone who heard him in the George Wallington quintet at the Cafe Bohemia. That talent, and his reputation, continued to grow as he worked with Art Blakey, Max Roach, Red Garland, John Coltrane, et al. In 1958, Byrd and baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams had a group at the Five Spot. Since that time, Byrd has worked in Europe, and headed his own combo in the United States. Presently, he is in Europe, playing, and studying composition with Nadia Boulanger.

Idrees Sulieman, who participates in one of the following albums, five years Farmer's senior, and was active on New York's 52nd Street in the mid-'40s with drummer Sid Catlett's group. Originally from St. Petersburg, Florida, he studied at the Boston Conservatory and worked with a wide variety of bands including Cab Calloway, Earl Hines, Louis Jordan, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Erskine Hawkins, and Dizzy Gillespie. He was also a member of the Minton's set in the mid and late '40s. It was then he recorded with Thelonious Monk. In the '50s, Sulieman played with Randy Weston and Teddy Charles among others. Then he took a group to North Africa and Europe, and decided to remain on the latter continent, making Sweden his main base. Idrees, who formed his style before either Farmer or Byrd, is out of Gillespie and Navarro. There are no overt references to Davis, but the later influence of Clifford Brown is evident. Sulieman is very much his own man, however. His is a plunging, soaring, highly-volatile style which does not play it safe and is all the more exciting for it.

In the '20s and '30s, when musicians of the same instrument got together at a jam session they were out to cut each other. In many ways it was an overtly healthy competition. While the trumpet "battles" on the recordings that follow were not conducted at that level, the underlying sense of rivalry, combined with the feeling of respect for, and enjoyment of, each of the other men's playing, helped to inspire all concerned. I think that the music produced, and the pervading spirit, proves that. *Ira Gitler (August 1964)*

Art Farmer • Donald Byrd

Two Trumpets

The presence of two musicians of the some instrument a session will usually produce some interesting results. Each is naturally going to try and outdo the other and while it may not be the cutthroat competition of the Thirties (an overtly healthy competition at that), the underlying sense of rivalry combined with the feeling of respect for and enjoyment of the other's playing very often helps to inspire each.

In recent months. Prestige has tried to stimulate the Friday afternoon recording sessions by bringing together musicians of the same horn.

In Two Trumpets (an un chi-chi title if I ever heard one), Art and Donald once again join horns with Jackie McLean as middleman and foil soundwise. Two of the numbers ("Dig" and "The Third") have conversational exchanges between the trumpets and each Bb hornman also has a number entirely to himself. *Ira Gitler (liner notes, 1956)*

This is a pairing session that was well conceived and programmed. On three tracks, both trumpets are present to challenge and be stimulated by each other with McLean as a third horn and a contrast in timber. To provide further balance, each trumpet has a solo vehicle. Byrd (Midnight) and Farmer (When Your Love Has Gone) are heard in searching moving ballad interpretations.

On the others, both blow with swift imagination and heat. There are passages of quick exchanges, particularly the long exciting bout at the end of Dig, that recall in spirit if not idiom a 1939 Ellington record, Tootin' Through the Roof, with Cootie Williams and Rex Stewart.

Both Farmer and Byrd have a long and fertile jazz life ahead. Thus far, it seems to me that Farmer is the more settled of the two, particularly on up-tempos. He is, I think, closer to having found his inner style than Byrd, although Byrd is getting there. McLean is searing and a welcome presence. Harris plays with consistent taste and ease. Art Taylor and Doug Watkins are strongly underneath. Good notes by Ira Gitler that identify all solos. *Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, February 6, 1957)

1 - The Third

(Donald Byrd)

2 - Contour

(Kenny Drew)

3 - When Your Lover Has Gone

(Elinar A. Swan)

4 - Dig

(Miles Davis)

5 - 'Round Midnight

(Monk, Williams, Hanighen)

Art Farmer, Donald Byrd (trumpets); Jackie McLean (alto sax);

Barry Harris (piano); Doug Watkins (bass); Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, August 3, 1956

✳✳✳

Art Farmer • Donald Byrd • Idrees Sulieman

Three Trumpets

Several times in the past few years Prestige has brought together, in the recording studio, musicians of the same instrument. Many of these friendly jousts between altomen, tenormen, or trumpeters have proved to be highly stimulating affairs, ones in which the emphatic competition has spurred the participants on to playing an inspired stripe. One of these sessions was Two Trumpets (Prestige LP 7062) which featured the horns of Art Farmer and Donald Byrd.

In Three Trumpets, Farmer and Byrd return and are joined by another of the leading modern trumpeters, Idrees Sulieman. Sulieman, active on the New York scene since the mid-Forties has, nevertheless, not been recorded as extensively as the other two and is just started to receive the true credit due him. His is a plunging, soaring, highly volatile style out of the Gillespie-Navarro wing with a more recent parallel influence of Clifford Brown added in. Out of all these sources, Idrees is very much his own man, a daring jazz man who is not afraid to reach out for the ideas which crystalize in his brain at the moment, however hard they may seem to execute. Whether he's safe or not, he does not, as they say in sports, "choke up in the clutch".

As with speaking voices, each trumpeter has his own sound and phrasing, musical sentences as it were which make each one a distinct personality. *Ira Gitler (liner notes, 1957)*

The most appropriate title for this LP would be Bopper's Paradise Regained.

The three trumpeters join forces here in a heated, multi-noted session that will leave many listeners rather limp. There is an impressively vivid rapport among the horns, despite varying approaches to the skeletal forms attacked.

Sulieman is rough and ready. As Ira Gitler says in the notes, "Idrees is very much his own man, a daring jazzman who is not afraid to reach out for the ideas which crystallize in his brain at the moment, however hard they may seem to execute". In this set he is reaching most of the time and grasping successfully quite often.

Farmer's is the delightfully lyrical horn, regardless of temp. Byrd continues to fulfil the potential so many defined months ago. His playing is impressively creative.

In general, the horns seem to converge within the Gillespie-Navarro-Davis tradition, with a Clifford Brown influence apparent, too. Nevertheless, the listener does not feel that he has heard it all before, as each of the trumpeters has something genuinely individualistic to say.

The backing is effective. O'Brien, a 21-year-old pianist from Connecticut making his recording debut, plays confidently, reminiscent of early Bud Powell. He will testify to the heated nature of the session, because he played it with a 102 degree fever. Addison Farmer, Art's twin, handles bass chores capably and Ed Thigpen digs in, too.

The originals, with Sulieman's the most distinctive, are more for jumping off purposes than for melodic significance. Basically, the are lustrous races at medium or up tempos, while O'Brien's Beauty the closest thing to a ballad.

Devotees of modern trumpet playing will relish this, despite some of the technical flaws and moments of hesitancy that accompany a session of such a hectic nature. The playing of the three soloists makes this worth hearing, for the sparks they plant and the fire that develops.

*Don Gold (Down Beat, January 23, 1958)*

1 - Palm Court Alley

(Idrees Sulieman)

2 - Who's Who

(Art Farmer)

3 - Diffusion Of Beauty

(Hod O'Brian)

4 - Forty Quarters

(Idrees Sulieman)

5 - You Gotta Dig It To Dig It

(Donald Byrd)

Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, Idrees Sulieman (trumpets);

Hod O'Brien (piano); Addison Farmer (bass); Ed Thigpen (drums).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, January 26, 1957