1958 · Album
Farmer's Market
Recorded 1956 · New Jazz · Produced by Not specified in available sources
Early Farmer, Raw and Urgent
A document of Farmer's brass work before the flugelhorn took over, holding its own against his most celebrated peers.
Farmer's Market arrived quietly in 1958, credited to the New Jazz label, and built its reputation slowly over decades rather than generating immediate fanfare. The Allmusic reviewer later positioned it as genuinely important precisely because it captures Farmer early, before his move to Europe and his shift toward the softer flugelhorn sound that would define much of his later work. Compared favorably to Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, and the emerging voices of Donald Byrd or Lee Morgan, the album functions as a historical marker — proof that Farmer belonged in that conversation from the start.
Musically, the record moves with unexpected propulsion. Elvin Jones drives hard on drums, Kenny Drew comps assertively on piano, and Addison Farmer locks in on bass while Art Farmer and Hank Mobley trade off front-line energy. The Penguin Guide noted that Drew's soloing stands out, though it also caught a tension in the record — tempos pushed harder than might be expected, and Mobley didn't always settle comfortably into the pocket. That unevenness is part of the record's character. It doesn't sound polished or strategic. It sounds like working musicians finding their footing.
This is not Farmer at his peak, and it's not the place most listeners start. But for anyone wanting to hear where his voice came from before the flugelhorn became his signature, before his European period reshaped his sound, it's essential. A working session, well documented, caught in real time.
Who's playing
Where next?
More by Art Farmer
All 32 albums →
The musicians on this record
Soul Station 1960
Hank Mobley
plays tenor saxophone here
plays tenor saxophone here
Puttin' It Together 1959
Elvin Jones
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
