Art Farmer - Crawl Space (1977 Japanese CTI LP Gatefold)

Vinyl: EX
Sleeve: VG+
Obi: None

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Art Farmer - Crawl Space | Vinyl LP - 1977 Japanese CTI Gatefold (GP 3099, King Record Co. Ltd.)

• Art Farmer's 1977 CTI recording, cut at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs in January 1977 by Rudy Van Gelder; produced by Creed Taylor; four tracks arranged across two sessions by David Grusin (A1, B1) and Austrian pianist Fritz Pauer (A2, B2), with Farmer on flugelhorn throughout
• A CTI all-star ensemble: Steve Gadd on drums, Eric Gale on guitar, Jeremy Steig on flute, David Grusin on keyboards, Will Lee on electric bass and George Mraz on acoustic bass (A2 only) — the kind of session personnel that defined CTI's 1970s sound
  
• 1977 Japanese CTI pressing on King Record Co. Ltd. (GP 3099); gatefold sleeve; includes poster and Japanese-language inserts

Art Farmer was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1928 and moved to New York in the late 1940s, working his way through the bebop and hard bop worlds with Lionel Hampton, Horace Silver, Gerry Mulligan and others before finding his most natural voice on the flugelhorn — the warmer, darker instrument he increasingly favoured over trumpet from the 1960s onwards. By 1977 he had been living in Vienna for a decade, and the combination of his American hard bop grounding with a European sensibility is what Creed Taylor was drawing on when he produced this CTI session at Van Gelder Studio in January 1977.

The four tracks split between two arrangers who reflect both of Farmer's worlds. David Grusin — the American keyboardist and composer who had become a central figure in CTI's studio sound — wrote and arranged the opening title track and "Chanson," both airy and melodically direct. Austrian pianist Fritz Pauer, who shared Farmer's Viennese life, wrote and arranged "Siddhartha" and (with the other two tracks) handed over the arranging duties on "Petite Belle," Farmer's own composition. The rhythm section is the CTI house ensemble at its peak: Steve Gadd on drums, Eric Gale on guitar, Jeremy Steig on flute, Will Lee on electric bass, George Mraz on acoustic bass for "Siddhartha." Van Gelder engineered. The Japanese pressing is on King Record Co. Ltd. (the CTI licensee for Japan), in a gatefold sleeve with poster and Japanese-language inserts.