The Jazz Icon Series ~ A Tribute to Art Farmer & Jim Hall
Dmitri Matheny with The Ed Dunsavage Trio
featuring Joe Cohoon & Chicken Hirsh
Sunday, May 18, 7 p.m.
Jazz In The Vineyard, Paschal Winery
Cost $25/$20 for SMP Members, $10 for Full Time Students
Reservations: by Email or 541-488-3869 or by Paypal:
Siskiyou Music Project welcomes back flugelhorn master Dmitri Matheny with a very special program featuring the music of two jazz icons, Art Farmer and Jim Hall. Dmitri Matheny has a very special connection with Art Farmer who was his teacher and mentor, in fact Dmitri still plays Art’s horn, and with Jim Halls recent passing we thought this would be a good time to feature the music from this classic jazz quartet, which played together from 1962-1964. The performance will also feature the compositions of Jim Hall as well as the arrangements from the Farmer/Hall Quartet.
From the liner notes of the first quartet recording: A horn quartet with guitar has a distinctive sound, different from a quartet with piano. If you’ve heard any of the great recordings Art Farmer did with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet (1958), you’ll know that Art enjoyed the two-horn, piano-less quartet sound. The Art Farmer Quartet with Jim Hall, two instrumentalists with individual and intimate sounds, is unique. First of all, Art plays flugelhorn exclusively, rather than trumpet. The flugelhorn, with a bigger bell than the trumpet, has a deeper, darker and warmer sound. Art knew it would blend well with the guitar. Second, although the guitar can certainly be a chordal instrument, and “comp” (accompany) behind the soloists, it’s also a great linear instrument, and the blend of the timbre of flugelhorn and guitar linear lines was also very appealing to Art. Plus, the guitar can at any time switch from playing linear melody to playing chords, further expanding the sonic palette.
