Art Farmer, Benny Golson,-Meet The Jazztet (Mca 2013)

When people discuss the cream of the hard-bop crop, names such as Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Art Blakey, and Horace Silver usually rise to the top. Without question, the Jazztet deserves inclusion in that discussion. Co-leaders Farmer and Golson had already made names for themselves before the sextet's 1960 recording debut; upstarts Curtis Fuller and McCoy Tyner were well on their way. Benefiting from Golson's usual crafty arrangements, the ensemble rolls through 10 cuts, offering a nifty combination of down-home funk and lyrical flair. Two of Golson's most revered compositions---the gentle "I Remember Clifford," led by Farmer's silky trumpet, and the urgent "Blues March"---accompany the original recording of Golson's "Killer Joe," which includes his verbal description of the title character. The band also rips merrily through Cole Porter's "It's All Right with Me" and struts easily through Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So." --Marc Greilsamer
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