When I think of Art Farmer I remember the times I first heard him on record on trumpet, the sweet sound the very interesting melodies he created. Then I heard him on flugelhorn, and the sound was sweeter and the melodic lines were more interesting with more intervals and a more added space.
Art lived around the corner on 20th Street between Broadway and Park Avenue South and I lived on 19th Street and Park Avenue South. We would only see each other on a record date or the the deli on Park Avenue South.
I remember Art telling me that if you lay off the horn for a day or more, when you picked it up again, there should be only one person that knows you haven’t played in a few days, that is YOU.
Art was an influence on me when I first started to play the flugelhorn back in 1960 and I understood from him the difference in concept between the trumpet and flugelhorn.
Art did a lot to make the flugelhorn come back into the Jazz instrument family along with Clark Terry.
I was very happy to include Art in the series of video tapes I did for the Schomberg Library (NYC Library System) on what he would practice when he started out, in his middle period and at the later part of his life. His interview was very exciting with lots of information.
Jimmy Owens
23 October 2017