Search - Art Farmer :: Interaction/Sing Me Softly of the Blues

Two Great Albums For One Low Price

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 01/14/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With Rhino, Koch, Mosaic and now Collectables releasing old Atlantic jazz titles, it's amazing that there is anything left in the vaults to put out. This CD from tiny independent Collectables in Narbeth, PA (the same folks that finally reissued Chick Corea's "Tones For Joan's Bones" -- thank you!) collects two classic Atlantic albums by trumpet great Art Farmer, "Interaction" and "Sing Me Softly of the Blues," recorded in the years immediately following the breakup of the Jazztet. First, "Interaction" was originally released in 1963 and features Jim Hall on guitar, Steve Swallow on bass and Walter Perkins on drums. It is an enjoyable set, but a little heavy on standards that were clearly recorded in the hopes of garnering crossover/financial success. But don't worry Farmer and Hall would never get too watered-down on us. However, the real gem of this CD is the second album, "Sing Me Softly of the Blues." For those of you familiar with Pete LaRoca's amazing Blue Note album "Basra" (now sadly out of print), "Sing Me" is the same band with Farmer replacing Joe Henderson -- Steve Kuhn on piano, Swallow on bass and LaRoca on drums. Like "Basra," "Sing Me" was recorded in 1965, and while it is not quite as scintillating and exploratory as the Blue Note set, it is an incredible session. Add to this the fact that you get over seventy minutes of music for one low price, and there should be no doubts about buying this CD twofer."

Great! with a proviso ...

John Paine | Australia | 07/10/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

""INTERACTION" -Great album first heard 5 years after release. BUT, has no-one ever commented on the extremely distorted guitar track on "MY Little Suede Shoes"? This may be only on the cd version, as I bought one years ago and it was really annoying. I would have thought this would have been rectified by now. All in all a great recording and I recall one of the original Down Beat reviews saying that "Embraceable You" was as close as you could ever get to "chamber jazz". p.s. I guess I'll just have to put up with the distortion on track 3!"