Cash Box : 11/23/1957

The three top flight trumpeters receive the strong support of Hod O’Brien (piano), Addison Farmer (bass), and Ed Thigpen (drums). The featured artists blend their instruments smoothly as they render five originals, both swinging, (Who’s Who, You Gotta Dig It To Dig It) and restrained (Palm Court Alley, Forty Quarters). Disk’s top name value should meet with the sales approval of jazz enthusiasts.

—–

Down Beat : 01/23/1958
Don Gold : 4 stars

The most appropriate title for this LP would be Bopper’s Paradise Regained.

The three trumpeters join forces here in a heated, multi-noted session that will leave many listeners rather limp. There is an impressively vivid rapport among the horns, despite varying approaches to the skeletal forms attacked.

Sulieman is rough and ready. As Ira Gitler says in the notes, “Idrees is very much his own man, a daring jazzman who is not afraid to reach out for the ideas which crystallize in his brain at the moment, however hard they may seem to execute.” In this set he is reaching most of the time and grasping successfully quite often.

Farmer‘s is the delightfully lyrical horn, regardless of temp. Byrd continues to fulfil the potential so many defined months ago. His playing is impressively creative.

In general, the horns seem to converge within the Gillespie–Navarro–Davis tradition, with a Clifford Brown influence apparent, too. Nevertheless, the listener does not feel that he has heard it all before, as each of the trumpeters has something genuinely individualistic to say.

The backing is effective. O’Brien, a 21-year-old pianist from Connecticut making his recording debut, plays confidently, reminiscent of early Bud Powell. He will testify to the heated nature of the session, because he played it with a 102 degree fever. Addison Farmer, Art’s twin, handles bass chores capably and Ed Thigpen digs in, too.

The originals, with Sulieman’s the most distinctive, are more for jumping off purposes than for melodic significance. Basically, the are lustrous races at medium or up tempos, while O’Brien’s Beauty the closest thing to a ballad.

Devotees of modern trumpet playing will relish this, despite some of the technical flaws and moments of hesitancy that accompany a session of such a hectic nature. The playing of the three soloists makes this worth hearing, for the sparks they plant and the fire that develops.

—–

San Francisco Examiner
C.H. Garrigues : 12/01/1957

It used to be a passion of record collectors to compare trumpet styles, sax styles, clarinet styles, etc., on a set of tracks. Prestige, by recording sets like these make it possible to carry on the old pastime in a new form. For me, Byrd cuts the other two but the format of the work is not such as to allow him full stimulus for his fine, inventive, sensitive feeling for spatial form. A fine record, specially for the specialist.

—–

Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

Several times in the past few years Prestige has brought together, in the recording studio, musicians of the same instrument. Many of these friendly jousts between altomen, tenormen, or trumpeters have proved to be highly stimulating affairs, ones in which the emphatic competition has spurred the participants on to playing an inspired stripe. One of these sessions was Two Trumpets (Prestige LP 7062) which featured the horns of Art Farmer and Donald Byrd.

In Three Trumpets, Farmer and Byrd return and are joined by another of the leading modern trumpeters, Idrees Sulieman. Sulieman, active on the New York scene since the mid-Forties has, nevertheless, not been recorded as extensively as the other two and is just started to receive the true credit due him. His is a plunging, soaring, highly volatile style out of the Gillespie–Navarro wing with a more recent parallel influence of Clifford Brown added in. Out of all these sources, Idrees is very much his own man, a daring jazz man who is not afraid to reach out for the ideas which crystalize in his brain at the moment, however hard they may seem to execute. Whether he’s safe or not, he does not, as they say in sports, “choke up in the clutch.”

Art Farmer is one of the most genuinely sensitive trumpet artists to emerge in the Fifties. His lyrical phrasing which is extremely effective on ballads and the “prettier” middle tempo originals is still present on the harder swingers. Art has a wonderful sense of dynamics too, alternatively tender and shouting when he should be. He has succeeded in molding something original and personal from the Gillespie-Navarro-Davis heritage.

Donald Byrd is the youngest of the three and also springs from a background of Gillespie-Navarro-Davis with a strong touch of Clifford Brown. From this description, one more surmise that Don plays like everyone else but not himself. As with many young artists, this was truer earlier in his career but as you will hear in this recording he has synthesized these influences and now has become a definitely recognizable voice.

As with speaking voices, each trumpeter has his own sound and phrasing, musical sentences as it were which make each one a distinct personality.

Another musician who “talks” some down to earth language is Hod O’Brien, the youthful pianist who makes his recording debut here. A 21 year older from Connecticut, Hod, who played the date with a 102 degree fever, is a delightful throwback to the mid-Forties style of Bud Powell. The astute hesitations and long melodic line are coupled to the O’Brien psyche to produce a result less frenetic than the early Powell but not without its own emotional force.

Addison Farmer, Art’s twin, and Ed Thigpen complete the rhythm section. What can you say about rhythm men except that the support they give is of the highest caliber. There are many excellent bassists and drummers in the New York area and these are two of them.

A great blues performance opens side one. The tune is by Idrees and is entitled Palm Court Alley, a section of St. Petersburg Florida which Idrees used to call home. The introduction has Idrees, Art and Donald in that order and this is the way they appear in solo and the “fours” that follow the solos by Hod and Addison.

Who’s Who is by Art and he has the bridge of this “rhythm” swinger. Donald opens the soloing with fluidity and a fat sound. The composer is next followed by Idrees in a humorous mood. Hod shows off his wonderfully long melodic line and then the trumpets returns for exchanges in the same order as their solos.

Donald carries the theme of Hod’s exquisite original Diffusion Of Beauty with Idrees handling the bridge. Hod has the first solo and is followed in the same tender, swinging vein by Idrees, Donald and Art.

Another Sulieman original, also dedicated to a part of St. Pete is Forty Quarters. This section also produced Oscar Dennard, the pianist with Lionel Hampton whom so many musicians have been talking about. Solo order here is Donald, Idrees, Art and Hod.

A facile, lifting introduction by Ed Thigpen sends off Donald’s You Gotta Dig It To Dig It. Idrees comes bursting in on the bridge for the initial solo. Donald is second and is succeeded by Art. Each stands out brilliantly in his own style on this one and the blowing, as inspired as the whole session, makes this number a soul satisfying session closer. Before the ripping, soaring chase choruses, which by the way are in the same order as the solos, Hod has a chorus and Addison walks one. After the chases, Ed Thigpen solos leading into an effective, cacophonous, freeform finale.