Billboard : 06/30/1956
Score of 77

A concert of mostly Gigi Gryce compositions that again spotlight the Farmer-Gryce fivesome as one of the more intriguing modern groups. Gryce experiments boldly with unorthodox musical patterns and harmonies, giving his material individual, highly original shape. The Quintet has a consistently hard-hitting, aggressive approach whose tenseness somethings becomes rather wearing. Farmer’s trumpet solos, with their carefully thought-out color and dynamic effects, however, are unfailingly exciting. Hipsters should be easy sales targets.

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Cashbox : 07/28/1956

It’s a swing story throughout this Prestige pressing by the closely knit Art Farmer Quartet. The boys go all out on six cleverly devised tunes of which five were created by alto sax man Gigi Gryce. Forecast (by pianist Duke Jordan) and Satellite are two sessions that make the air quiver with laudable swing excitement. The platter constantly maintains well balanced sound. Solid entry for the modern jazz following.

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Providence Journal
Philip C. Gunion : 06/17/1956

Prestige Records’ new LP, The Art Farmer Quintet, shows this group to be well balance and happily swinging, with Gigi Gryce on alto getting in most of the important sounds alongside of Farmer on trumpet. There is also some interesting writing, mostly by Gigi, on display. Good second-line work all the way by Philly Joe Jones on drums, Duke Jordan, piano, and Addison Farmer, bass.

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Saturday Review
Whitney Balliett : 06/16/1956

This is an excellent example of what is wrong with much modern small-band jazz. All the men here (Farmer, Gigi Gryce, Duke Jordan, Addison Farmer, Philly Joe Jones) are accomplished technicians, and at least one is a talented composer-arranger. The materials (six originals) are well thought out and good use is made of extended structures – 44, 46, and 56 bar choruses, polyrhythms, and wide harmonic patterns. Finally, there is a lot of gusto in the soloing and the polished ensemble work. But, somehow, the music seems to glide by on ping pong balls, to have an almost desperately sophisticated quality, as if this were the first and last record these men could ever make. Ira Gitler claims in the notes that this is swing and subtlety in perfect balance. He is right; jazz, however, is more than that. It is also an emotional music and swing, no matter how subtle, can be metronomic.

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Down Beat : 06/27/1956
Nat Hentoff : 4.5 stars

Art Farmer and Gigi Gryce head one of the more individualized unpretentiously inventive of modern small combos. Their solos and those of pianist Duke Jordan are in the direct hard-bop tradition, but melded with this fire is a concern for new, challenging, often lyric thematic material and flexible structural devices.

These scoring stimuli are provided largely by Gryce, who wrote five of the six tracks (Forecast is Jordan’s). Gryce has the considerable skill of being able to write distinctive melodies and build thereon with various logical harmonic and rhythmic devices that wind up sounding quite personal. Gryce is a key compositional figure in this further transitional stage of modern jazz. He also solos intensely in an improvisatory vocabulary based on Bird with a tendency toward stridency. He communicates emotion with immediate impact.

Farmer gets surer, mellower, more original with almost every session. He is developing his tone quality and, all in all, has grown into a vital modern jazz hornman. Jordan, as has often been suggested here, is one of this generation’s most unsung piano heroes.

Bassist Addison Farmer is steady, and guest drummer Philly Joe Jones swings with his usual vehemence and unfailing time. Good though somewhat sharpened recorded sound and excellent Ira Gitler notes.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

Some musicians and groups cannot swing unless they play loud and fast. To swing they must sacrifice subtlety. Then there are many groups (especially in recent years) who in their subtlety forget about swinging. Granted that the musical ideas of the two are about equal, the former group is preferable to the real jazz lover.

Art Farmer‘s quintet is a group that saves the trouble of making a choice for they combine swinging and subtlety in a natural balance where neither suffers. Here they present some attempts at new forms (new structures, new harmonies) which are permeated by an atmosphere with a strong aesthetic pulse.

Forecast

This was the first tune cut on the date. It’s a swinger by Duke Jordan which got everyone loose. Solos by Art, Gigi, Duke.

Evening in Casablanca

Gigi got the idea for this when he was in North Africa with Lionel Hampton. It is an atmospheric piece and derives its mood from the peace and quiet of this foreign land on that particular evening. The form (46 bars) is longer than the usual 32 bar song pattern. Art serves as the muezzin and then he, Gigi and Duke sensitively caress the evening.

Nica’s Tempo

This is a 44 bar pattern, written by Gigi, built on key centers more so than natural resolutions of chords. Attention is paid to color changes and dynamics. For instance in the opening theme, the trumpet and alto play in octaves which you might expect more from a tenor and trumpet. When the theme is repeated there is a switch to harmony. In the bridge there is a mixture of harmony and unison. Therefore three different color moods have been created. There are solos by Gigi, Duke and Art and Philly Joe Jones also works out on this number, originally written as a vehicle for drum solo.

Sattelite

Another Gryce original, (he did all but Forecast), this has a theme of 32 bars in one key and then modulates into a 56 bar theme with a new set of chords and key for the trumpet and alto solos. After another modulation into the key of the theme for the piano solo, the group takes it out utilizing counter rhythms as the horns play 3/4 against the rhythm section’s 4/4.

Sans Souci

This is named after an island in the Caribbean and translated from the French means, without car. Gigi, Art, Duke and Addison show hot get somewhere from “nowhere.” The first of Art’s two muted choruses is sans piano which translated from the French means strolling.

Shabozz

This derives its name from an Africa tribe and uses an African rhythm for a different type of effect. It also makes use of the pentatonic scale. Solos are by Gigi, Art and Duke.

Art feels that these came closest to what he is striving for. The reasons he gave were three: Gigi’s compositions which while not too far out are still challenging and inspiring; the wonderful rhythm section; the engineering which captured the sound of the whole group as well as the horns both collectively and individually in an exemplary manner. The fluency and imagination of Gigi and Duke as soloists are certainly important factors and a big reason is one which Art certainly would not mention – his own playing.