In the early Fifties Art Farmer was strictly a trumpeter, but the mellowness associated with his later work on flugelhorn was easily discernible then, too. The July 1953 session with his fellow members of the Lionel Hampton band was the taking-the-boy-out-of-California. The June 1954 date, with the same instrumentation (Jimmy Cleveland is the trombonist in both groups), contains the early results of the New Yorkification of the man. The common thread (perhaps a strong rope) linking the two sessions are the arrangements of Quincy Jones and Gigi Gryce. Jones has five charts and Gryce three. These two were among the brightest young writers of the time. Quincy went on to fame and fortune in Hollywood while Gigi dropped out to the anonymity of the Long Island education system before he died in his native Florida early in 1983. *concordmusicgroup.com*

Affectionately know in the UK as the "Godfather of British Jazz", Stan Tracey is an outstanding figure in the jazz world. His distinguished career has spanned six decades of flourishing creativity. He has been a highly influential and stimulating musical voice, not only to his peers, but to each successive generation of musicians with whom he has worked. Stan's capricious piano playing combines the percussive melody of Thelonious Monk with the robust lyricism of Ellington in a highly idiosyncratic style. A master of harmony, he possesses a potent and compelling improviser s intellect.