Renowned for his good taste, flbeautiful tone, fluent swing andflunflappable cool, Art Farmerflwas among everyone's favouriteflperformers, particularly on ballads.flBorn in 1928, he first came toflattention in the Lionel Hamptonfltrumpet section, where he sat nextflto Clifford Brown, progressingflto post-bop groups with GerryflMulligan and Benny Golson inflthe 1950s and 60s. Early in hisfllong career he began doubling onflflugelhorn, a larger-bore instrumentflwith a mellower tone than theflmore incisive trumpet. He playsflit throughout this session andflmore or less concentrated on itflfor the next four decades, touringflthe world as a single and finallyflexperimenting with the ‘flumpet’, aflhybrid instrument custom-built forflhim. He kept working continuouslyfluntil his death in 1999. This disc, floriginally released on vinyl for theflAtlantic label, finds him fronting aflhigh-quality group featuring JimflHall on guitar. It's a great match, flJim being another performer whofleschewed flashy pyrotechnicsflin favour of a lustrous tone andflthoughtful economy of ideas.flNeither wastes a note here, notfleven during brisk versions of ‘IflWant to Be Happy’ and ‘Stompin'flat the Savoy’, yet much speed offlthought is clearly present. Farmerflis at his silken best on ‘Yesterdays’, flunselfishly dropping out for ‘GettingflSentimental over You’, an oldflstandard that Hall voices cleverly, flcomping skillfully during his ownflsolo. Behind the co-leaders bassistflSteve Swallow and former MJT+3fldrummer Walter Perkins are equallyfltasteful, swinging and well matchedflin an enjoyable set which, for all itsflungenerous playing time, can beflheartily recommended.