Art Farmer - The Art Farmer Quintet Plays The Great Jazz Hits (1967/2017) [HDTracks]

The title of this reissue LP is a bit ironic for jazz was really struggling commercially in 1967 and the "hits" were few and far between. In fact flugelhornist Art Farmer, who leads the notable hard bop quintet (with Jimmy Heath on tenor, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Walter Booker and drummer Mickey Roker), would be moving to Europe the following year where he would work much more often than he had in the U.S. The ten numbers on this LP were fairly popular, particularly such tunes as "Song for My Father," "The Sidewinder," "Watermelon Man" and "Take Five." The quintet's concise interpretations (no performance is over six minutes) are melodic without being overly predictable. As usual Farmer's lyricism by itself is a good reason to search for this underrated album.