Art Farmer - Crawl Space (1977/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Despite the title - no crawl space here – as the sound is wide open, and surprisingly funky – a set that stands as one of Art Farmer's few great 70s outings for the CTI label. The album's got Art blowing with all the cool, compressed sound that he'd bring to a straighter album – but on longer tracks, with that open, flowing vibe you might hear on some of Freddie Hubbard's efforts for the label with less bite, and more flow overall! The set includes great work on flute from Jeremy Steig – plus guitar from Eric Gale, keyboards from Dave Grusin, and drums from Steve Gadd – and although the date of this one is late, the sound is in that prime 1972/1973 CTI mode.