Meeting the Jazztet

Kim Kleinman, Contributing Writer

When Fritz proposed featuring the debut album of Art Farmer and Benny Golson’s new band, Meet the Jazztet, he included a comment that warranted a pause for thought. He texted: “I’m not sure I have anything I can cite to prove the point, but they strike me as an underappreciated pairing.”

I agree but have even less to cite. I will, though, test my genuine appreciation to see if it is adequate to their accomplishment.

Benny Golson has an outstanding body of compositions that put him, not at Ellington/Strayhorn or Monk heights, but not far after Wayne Shorter and Charles Mingus among jazz composers. “I Remember Clifford” is poignantly luxurious, a fitting tribute to Clifford Brown whose improvisational genius maybe unattainable but in whose lush tone I hear hints of in the likes of, well, Art Farmer and also Woody Shaw.  “Killer Joe” and “Blues March” are infectious. “Whisper Not”, “Stablemates”, and “Along Came Betty” are other highlights of a rich catalog of well-established standards.  He is an unquestionably significant composer.

There are, however, far-better Philadelphia tenor saxophonists of his generation. When your best friend growing up is John Coltrane, you’ve lost whatever little game there is in ranking musicians.  When Wayne Shorter settles into your job with Art Blakey, you’re at a further disadvantage. But, that is extremely heady company. He’s a fine tenor player, but his lasting influence is in his tunes, not his improvisational ideas.

Art Farmer is the distinctive soloist in the band. His tone is rich, deployed inventively over a book that includes those great Golson tunes. I can’t fault my younger self for listening to lots of Miles and Freddie Hubbard and even for appreciating Dizzy more than liking him. The fact is, though, that I didn’t listen to trumpeters as much as to tenor saxophonists and pianists. So to this day, I feel behind in appreciating masters of the instrument. I just know that Farmer and Kenny Dorham along with Lee Morgan are among the players of their generation that I gravitate toward.

The Jazztet’s debut album is featured on this Friday’s Jazz Spectrum introduced their collective talents to the world. Golson brought over “I Remember Clifford” from the Jazz Messengers and it’s a treat to hear what Farmer’s does with it. “Blues March” even more evokes Blakey’s band and that may ultimately be the source of the underappreciation Fritz and I sense. The Jazztet is a great hard bop band, but how different are they from Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers? Their innovation is subtle, but important. Adding Curtis Fuller’s trombone to the front line plays an important role in creating the sextet as a flexible band that can both give soloists space to swing while allowing arrangements, spontaneous on the bandstand or composed, that broaden the sonic palette. That Fuller was recruited to become a Jazz Messenger is quite an endorsement of the concept.

The band lasted just two years, turning over piano players beginning with McCoy Tyner on this first album who was then succeeded by Kenny Barron and Harold Mabern. Tom McIntosh replaced Fuller and the rhythm section was always in flux. Golson seems to have tired of the road and he stayed in New York to launch a studio career that included composing for television. His effective disappearance from jazz until the mid-70s also undercut his stature.

But, Fritz does us listeners a service to reintroduce us to the Jazztet. It is time to Meet the Jazztet again.