Discography Update as of November 14, 2024
Part 3 (1966-1980):
1. More information on a 1969 radio broadcast of Art Farmer and Jim Hall from Cirkus in Stockholm, Sweden has been received from Alf Arvidsson. He has kindly informed us that the session took place in the summer of 1969 when Hall was on vacation and that the bassist was Red Mitchell and the drummer, Rune Carlsson. Apparently, this performance was a one-off and not a reassembling of the highly regarded Farmer-Hall quartet of 1963-1964.
2. Jazz Olympics June 1-3, 1979
The Jazz Olympics was a 3-day jazz festival produced by Ira Gitler and Howard Rittmaster and held at the Radisson-Muehlebach Hotel in Kansas City, MO. The event featured 5 ensembles led by tenor saxophonists Al Cohn and Billy Mitchell, alto saxophonists Lee Konitz and Earle Warren and trumpeter Ruby Braff. The bands were geographically and stylistically diverse and featured a host of renowned musicians of the time as can be seen in this archival event poster:
Art Farmer was part of the Cohn group that also included trombonist Carl Fontana, pianist Jimmy Rowles, bassist Buster Williams, drummer Shelly Manne and vocalist Carol Sloane. Alto saxophonist Art Pepper was scheduled to be part of this ensemble but was a no show, having come down with pneumonia. Farmer and Sloane were delayed in getting to the event and missed part of the first day.
According to reviews of the festival concerts in the Kansas City Times, the music was excellent but the attendance was disappointing, probably due to the $100.00/person admission fee (equal to over $430 in 2024).
The 5 sessions added to the discography are derived from a mixture of audience recordings and radio broadcasts from the event, stored at The Jazz History Database at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. We are very grateful to Ben Young, JHDb’s director, for making us aware of these recordings. Recordings of this event are also archived at University of Missouri Kansas City.
Apparently, there was some intermingling of the personnel from the 5 set groups, including a closing jam session. Should we gain access to any further recordings with Farmer at this festival, we will certainly add the details to the discography.