Jo Privat 1945 1958

In 1956, trumpeter Art Farmer was teamed with tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley and pianist Horace Silver in one of the most vital and important modern jazz groups of the seminal hard bop era. But it was Farmer here who was emerging as a leader, with Mobley tagging along on this excellent date. Not to say that Mobley was a slouch, and indeed far from it as a peer of Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Fact is, Mobley led the band with Farmer and Silver, but achieved his greatest acclaim alongside trumpeters Lee Morgan, and eventually Miles Davis. For Farmer, this recording was a coming out party, establishing him not only as a fine player, but a composer who lyricists were attracted to. "Farmer's Market" with its by now immortal swift hard bop melody and harmony courtesy of the Farmer/Mobley tandem, and the languid ballad "Reminiscing" with Mobley out but pianist Kenny Drew adding reinforcement a hundredfold…

Less a "best of" than an early full album that brings together some of Muddy Waters' earliest recordings for Chess - a great collection of early singles recorded in Chicago between 1950 and 1954! The work's relatively spare and rootsy overall - a great example of Chicago blues in its formative years, with some traces of a more southern style still in the mix.