Art Farmer (1928-99) was one of a number of great trumpeters who emerged in jazz during the 1950s. By the time he switched exclusively to flugelhorn in the early sixties, he had already become known for what journalist Leonard Feather described as “a style of rare lyricism” and a player whose “solos invariably show[ed] a…
The Film Music of Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. (1933-2024) was a unique musical polymath and a multicultural icon of the everchanging zeitgeist of the 20th century. Few people like Quincy Jones have ever existed. But few lifetimes have ever produced someone as gifted, talented, accomplished, compelling and interesting as Quincy Jones. I don’t hope to encapsulate the entirety of…
This Is How I Feel About Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones, “Musical titan” (CNN) and “Giant of American Music” (New York Times), who was “[w]idely considered one of the most influential forces in modern American music” (Los Angeles Times), passed away on November 3, 2024. He was 91. In more than a half century, Quincy Jones didn’t participate in music. He commanded it:…
The Adventurers (1970)
The three-hour The Adventurers (1970) is a bizarre, overly long. dialogue-heavy oddity. Part action/adventure, part soap opera and a strange mash-up of war epic and non-spy playboy travelogue, it’s a film that makes one wonder “what’s the point here?” Think of mixing the battle scenes from Ben Hur (1965) – or some Western – with…