Art Farmer In Wrocław

ART FARMER IN WROCŁAW — MASTER REEL TAPE RELEASE

AC Records | ACR0033 | Pure Analogue Jazz on ¼″ Tape

A remarkable late-period Art Farmer recording returns in one of the most revealing formats available to the serious jazz listener: 2-track, ¼-inch master reel tape at 38.1 cm/s / 15 ips.

Recorded at Radio Wrocław, Poland, in May 1997, Art Farmer in Wrocław captures Farmer during one of his Polish tours, surrounded by an outstanding international quintet and recorded with the spontaneity of a true live studio session.

There were no cuts and no conventional performance editing during the original recording. What was played in the studio is what gives this album its character: musicians responding to each other in real time, with space, dynamics and the natural flow of an experienced jazz ensemble.

THE SESSION

Art Farmer — flumpet (except track 4)
Piotr Baron — tenor saxophone (except tracks 1 & 4)
Kuba Stankiewicz — piano
Harvie S — double bass
Adam Czerwiński — drums

Art Farmer’s flumpet — the distinctive hybrid of trumpet and flugelhorn developed especially for him — gives the session its unmistakable tonal centre: rounded and lyrical, yet capable of extraordinary articulation and authority.

The programme moves effortlessly between standards, ballads and original compositions. It has the atmosphere of a classic hard-bop blowing session, yet Farmer never dominates simply for the sake of it. Instead, he gives his colleagues generous room to develop ideas and extend their solos.

🎵 TRACKLIST

1. What’s New — Bob Haggart
2. Hard Farmer — Piotr Baron
3. I Mean You — Thelonious Monk
4. Deep in a Dream — Jimmy Van Heusen
5. Artificial Thing — Kuba Stankiewicz
6. No Walls — Harvie S
7. My Shining Hour — Harold Arlen
8. Alone Together — Arthur Schwartz

Total playing time: 51:10

FROM 1997 ANALOGUE SESSION TO THE 2024 MASTER

The original session was captured in analogue at Radio Wrocław on a multitrack tape machine. The production master used for the original release was subsequently created on DAT at 16-bit / 44.1 kHz, and the album first appeared on CD in 1998 through EmArcy.

More than a quarter-century later, the recording was revisited by Piotr Łukaszewski at Custom34 Studio in Gdańsk, Poland.

For the 2024 analogue remastering and mastering work, Studer A80 and Studer A827 machines were used. The Direct Metal Masters for the LP edition were subsequently cut at Pauler Acoustics, Northeim, Germany, by Günter Pauler.

For the AC Records reel-tape edition, the duplication chain is equally serious:

Playback machine: Studer A807 MkII, 2-track ¼″
Recording machine: Telefunken M15A, 2-track ¼″
Heads: Butterfly / linear configuration
Tape: 2 × Recording The Masters SM911
Speed: 38.1 cm/s / 15 ips
Equalisation: NAB
Format: 2-track, ¼-inch analogue tape

This is the type of release that demonstrates why open-reel remains such a compelling medium for acoustic jazz. Cymbal decay, bass articulation, the body of the piano, the breath around Farmer’s instrument and the spatial relationship between musicians all benefit from the scale and dynamic freedom of high-speed analogue tape.

High Fidelity praised the recording in especially strong terms:

“This is an excellent album. Musically — a revelation. Sonically — stunning.”

The publication awarded the album its “Big Red Button” distinction for reference-quality recordings.

ART FARMER — A MASTER IN HIS FINAL YEARS

Born in 1928, Art Farmer became one of the most distinctive voices in post-war American jazz. His career encompassed bebop, hard bop, lyrical modern jazz and extensive collaborations with many of the leading musicians of his generation.

He recorded for labels including Blue Note, worked with Horace Silver, and developed a particularly strong relationship with European audiences during the later decades of his career.

Farmer died in 1999, making this 1997 Wrocław performance one of the important recordings from the final period of his life.

And that gives this release an additional significance: it is not simply an audiophile demonstration tape. It is a musical document of one of jazz’s great brass voices, captured with a superb Polish-American ensemble only two years before his death.

⚠️ IMPORTANT — TAPE IS SUPPLIED TAIL-OUT

The tape is supplied tail-out. Place it on the take-up reel side and rewind completely before playback.

Artist: Art Farmer
Album: Art Farmer in Wrocław
Label: AC Records
Catalogue: ACR0033
Genre: Jazz
Recorded: May 1997
Location: Radio Wrocław, Poland
Recording Engineer: Włodzimierz Krakus
Assistant Engineer: Stanisław Kołodziej
Analogue Remastering: Piotr Łukaszewski, May 2024
Mastering: Piotr Łukaszewski
Mastering Studio: Custom34 Studio, Poland
Tape: 2 × RTM SM911
Speed: 15 ips / 38.1 cm/s
EQ: NAB
Tracks: 8
Playing Time: 51:10

🇵🇱 Recorded, remastered and master-tape duplicated in Poland.

For collectors of Art Farmer, European jazz history and true high-speed reel-to-reel recordings, this is a release with both musical and historical importance.

Which Art Farmer recording would you choose as your personal reference — and would you rather hear this session on master tape, vinyl or the original CD?

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