BLP 5042

Tal Farlow Quartet

Released - 1954

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, April 11, 1954
Don Arnone, Tal Farlow, guitar; Clyde Lombardi, bass; Joe Morello, drums.

BN554-3 tk.4 Tina
BN555-1 tk.6 Splash
BN556-1 tk.8 Rock 'N' Rye
BN557-2 tk.12 Lover
BN558-2 tk.15 All Through The Night
BN559-1 tk.17 Flamingo

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Lover	Rodgers-Hart	April 11 1954
Flamingo	Grouya-Anderson	April 11 1954
Splash	Tal Farlow	April 11 1954
Side Two
Rock 'N' Rye	Tal Farlow	April 11 1954
All Through The Night	Cole Porter	April 11 1954
Tina	Tal Farlow	April 11 1954

Liner Notes

IT WAS a natural expectation that Talmadge Farlow would some day record his own LP session, and that he would do so for Blue Note, the label that has remained preeminent for so many years as a virtual academy of new jazz talent.

Tal's advent on the musical front stems from an unusual background. From the day he was born in Greensboro, N.C. (June 7, 1921) until the time, some 22 years later, when he first started gigging with a guitar he had found lying around the house, he never studied music, nor planned a musical career. By 1943 he had worked for several years in the slightly less glamorous trade of sign-painting. The switch from paintbrush to plectrum took place gradually, with a lengthy overlap; in fact, as recently as 1948, when he was in New York awaiting his Local 802 card, Tal put in several months painting for a living.

It was the work of Charlie Christian that spurred Tal's first enthusiasm for the career he ultimately adopted. His first real break came when, working in Richmond, Va., he was heard by Dardanelle, the pianist, who hired him for her trio. He was with her on and off for a couple of years. Many New Yorkers recall his impressive performance during the trio's stint at the Copacabana lounge.

Later Tal worked around Philadelphia, forming a trio with pianist Jimmy Lyon and bassist Lenny De Franco (Buddy's brother) . After settling in New York and getting his card, he worked with a trio led by vibraharpist Margie Hyams (who later joined the Shearing Quintet), then with Teddy Napoleon, Buddy De Franco and Marshall Grant. The last-named being a society pianist with whom Tal served a six-month stretch at the Little Club, his career as a jazzman seemed to be pretty much in jeopardy until late in 1949, when fate stepped in. Fate took the guise of a guy named Red Norvo, and with a firm berth in the Norvo trio Tal was soon on his way to recognition.

He remained with Red for three years, traveling from New York to Honolulu and simultaneously traveling rapidly toward the top in popularity polls. An interim of several months' free lancing around New York followed his departure from the trio. Artie Shaw hired him for his Gramercy 5 from Sept. 1953 until Feb. '54; a short while later Tal was back again with Red.

During these years with Norvo there was ample recorded evidence of the extraordinary inspirational and technical qualities of this self-schooled plectrist. He was featured on both the Gil Mellé Blue Note LPs 5020 and 5033 and Howard McGhee's LP 5024, as well as with Red.

Farlow The Leader, as he may now be called, assumes a slightly different personality. To back his solo work he decided to use a second guitar. He found the perfect man for this job in Don Arnone, a good musician and fine reader whose previous career had restricted him largely to broadcasts with the Stork Club show and other such commercial assignments. This was Don's first jazz date; his taste and discretion in backing and complementing Tal's work are exemplary throughout. Completing the group are bassist Clyde Lombardi, another Norvo alumnus also heard with Benny Goodman and many other name bands; and Joe Morello, the new drumming sensation from Marian McPartland's trio. Already featured on Blue Note in the two Mellé LPs, Lombardi and Morello combine with Arnone to provide Tal with a moving rhythmic backing.

Of the six tunes, Lover shows Tal's chord conception to the best advantage. Flamingo opens with an example of his "harmonics" style a term used by guitarists to denote the system in which the effective length of the strings is cut in half by placing the forefinger of the right hand on them while the pick is held between the thumb and middle finger. The tonal effect, comparable with that of a mute, lends an interesting dash of additional color to the performance.

Tal uses the second guitar mainly for rhythm, but on Rock 'N' Rye, a blues, the two work intriguingly together in unison, in octave unison and in parallel fourths. The octave unison on All Through the Night is played by Tal himself, while on Tina there is a certain amount of interplay between the two guitars.

These performances were not designed, however, to weave any magic multiple-guitar spells. Their objective, and one in which they succeed on an unpretentious jazz level, is the comprehensive presentation of the nimble and inimitable art of Tal Farlow, one of the truly great new personalities on the jazz scene.

LEONARD FEATHER

Cover by BILL HUGHES and FRANCIS WOLFF

Technical Data: The Wide Range recording characteristic includes frequencies from 20 to 18,000 cycles. Multiple microphone technique was employed, utilizing Telefunken microphones and Ampex Series 300 tape recorders. Mastering equipment included Fairchild variable pitch lathe, Grampian cutter and Thermo-Stylus.