Art Farmer

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Arthur Stewart (Art) Farmer (August 21, 1928 in Council Bluffs, Iowa – October 4, 1999), was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette.

The son of a steelworker, Farmer began working as a musician from the mid-1940s onwards. Based in Los Angeles, he played in the bands of Benny Carter and Jay McShann among others.

He joined Lionel Hampton's orchestra around 1953, fellow trumpeters Clifford Brown and Quincy Jones were also with Hampton at the time), and having relocated to New York, later worked with Gigi Gryce, Horace Silver and Gerry Mulligan among others. From the middle of the decade he featured in recordings by leading arrangers of the day, including George Russell, Jones and Oliver Nelson. He also formed "The Jazztet" with the composer and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson; both men had independently come to the decision that the other should be a member of their group. "The Jazztet" did not gain sufficient club engagements to last beyond 1962, but it did assist the careers of pianist McCoy Tyner and trombonist Grachan Moncur III, and the group recorded several albums for Argo and Mercury Records. Farmer and Golson revived "The Jazztet" in the 1980s for a number of engagements, with the original trombonist Curtis Fuller returning to the group.

In the early 1960s Farmer established a trio with guitarist Jim Hall and bassist Steve Swallow. He then moved to Europe, ultimately based in Vienna, where he performed with The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band. Farmer also recorded extensively as a leader throughout his later career.

His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer was a bassist. British trumpeter Humphrey Lyttleton tells the following story: once, when an interviewer asked the brothers how they told each other apart, Art laconically replied: In the morning, I pick up the bass and if I can't play it, I know I'm Art.

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Last updated on Sunday February 24, 2008 at 10:05:40 PST (GMT -0800)
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