Art Farmer - Gentle Eyes (1971) [Reissue 1991]

"I always have the lyrics in the back of my mind" Art Farmer said during these recording sessions. "I try to play all the songs the way a singer would sing them. A very good singer - a singer like Billie Holiday". I can't think of many musicians who would make such a statement. Most of today's player's don't play a song; they'd rather use the song as a vehicle just to play themselves, to demonstrate their technique and their personal point of view. In this album, Art Farmer plays the songs using his fantastic technique and personal point of view to the advantage of the listener.
Most of these songs are ballads - and the specific mood of each ballad is there, carefully and sensitively created. Each note has its very special meaning. Jim Webb's "Didn't We", Johnny Mandel's "A Time For Love", Luiz Bonfa's "Gentle Rain" or Billie Holiday's "God Bless The Child" - you can hear all the lyrics. And if you don't know them, you can feel them. Strangely enough, this even happens with songs that don't have any lyrics at all, like the title tune of this album "Gentle Eyes" written by Austria's fine pianist Fritz Pauer.
In addition to Art's amazing ability to 'sing the song' there are still some surprises, some moments of pure musical delight that the most demanding jazz aficionado cannot fail to appreciate. For example, the way Art rides elegantly over and against the intricate rhythms of the arrangement in "Gentle Rain" or the breath-taking finale of Lady Day's "God Bless The Child". Something you have to hear again and again to believe, and if you listen to Erich Kleinschuster's "Soulsides" (one of my special favourites in this collection), you find Art starting out almost in the trombone register weaving his line over the rich orchestration and the hard-driving rhythm, and ending his solo with a completely unexpected turn, blending back into the rest of the voices. I rarely have heard anything like that before.
By the way, I always like to tell my listeners about the enjoyable level the European jazz scene has reached during the past decade or so. The time when "European" usually meant 'second class' seems to be gone forever. This could never if happened if not for the influx of American musicians moving in to the European jazz scene on a permanent basis. People like Art Farmer - this album is one of the results. With the exception of Jimmy Woode, the musicians surrounding Art are Europeans. It would have been impossible to produce records like this in Europe 15 years before.
This recording was produced in our radio station studio in Vienna, in a very happy and relaxed mood under the best conditions possible with regard to technical and performing personnel and their cooperation in this project - with Johannes Fehring as musical director and Hans Saloman, this country's most gifted arranger, doing the major part of the orchestrations. Two of his own compositions are included in this album.
This music may be a new listening experience to some, and bring the feeling of nostalgia to others. It may even be both simultaneously. But don't bother about its category. Music should be divided into only two categories: good and bad. This is good music.