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whitesilverandmercury · 2 years ago

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ff7 fic: (a)chronology of now [ 2 / ?? ]

timeline · ff7 chronology project

song pairings · francis forever, mitski / citizen/soldier, 3 doors down / the girl, city & colour / rule #9 - child of the stars, fish in a birdcage / happy just to know, tommy ashby, lydia clowes / boys club, ivory hours, luke roes / pretty boy, lennon stella / in darkness we trust, deadly circus fire / you're not alone, saosin / guilty hands, the senate / she, dodie / remind me to forget you, seafret / i've got this friend, the civil wars

content · profanity, allusions to / sexual content, blood, drug use

ships · zerith, clerith, zakkura, zack/aerith/cloud

chapter 2 / THE UNKNOWN JOURNEY AWAITS

—

october [ ν ] - εγλ 0007

He’s on a tree-lined street and the trees are glowing. They’re not trees. They’re streetlights or whatever wants to be a streetlight when it grows up. Look, a flower shop. ( ) flower shop. Cloud is getting distracted. Chittering filament in electric store signs, twisted into word shapes like balloons twisted into animal shapes it’s so fucking loud can everyone just shut the fuck up? Someone drags a corrugated panel down over a window click click click click like emptied chambers. Go home he’s going, fuck. ( ) on the corner fixing her braid. Keep moving go back he’s staring at a wall with so many broken bones little scales layers of teeth gotta get back ( ) waiting Not teeth, fliers. A public bulletin board at the station. Papers slipping and flapping in the heave of wind from trains coming, going. Ads. Arrival/departure. City map. Hell-ooo are you in there? Lost cat. Lost child. A dog with a soldier’s helmet. ( ) puts a hand on his shoulder babe let’s go home hey buddy watch where you’re going He’s going home home home what do angels dream of?

Someone’s singing. Someone’s cooking mako derivative in a pipe in the alley ( ) cooking dinner for them, Mom’s recipe hold your fire! The fuck you staring at gotta get back get back where? Home home home. Where is ( )? Fire. Alley bricks, such a lovely texture under his hand, one glove off and shoved in his belt for safekeeping mommy what’s on his face I miss you more than anything Sir are you OK? Spent clips. I think you’re bleeding welcome to the undercity bitch Fire. ( ) laughing sunlight. ( ) laughing gunfire. Ads. Arrival/departure. Map. Lost child. Lost. Sir are you a living legacy? Dog with a soldier’s helmet. Fucking hilarious. He’s laughing about it. Hell-ooo? ( ) is waiting at home or the church ( ) says meet at the station. He’s waiting. Heave of wind, trains coming, going, someone’s picking through the trash at the corner, someone’s nailing down scrap metal roof shingles, children are scrubbing cobbled stone for chump change, can we go home, someone’s arguing with a clothesline three stories up mommy he has a (gun) big sword! Blood on the blade. Blood and dirt and rain. Give ( ) kiss for me. Green glow at the belly of a sidewinder alley busted pipe arrival/departure. Home. Cloud rubs at his face, rubs at brick, lost cat. Lost fire. Lost flower. Losing baby teeth. Lost blood. ( ) lost. Lost ( ). Lost a gil, heads up for good luck? Lost his cookies. I miss you. More than anything. Waiting. One hand still naked, one hand out trying to close his fist on the windshear of trains coming trains going trains coming trains going where are they going? Where are they leaving him behind for? Let’s go home.

“Cloud—”

Cloud blinks. He turns to look, dirty hair dancing in and out of his face in the gust of a passing train. ( ) is elbowing her way through strangers. (She) calls his name again, dark hair swishing like the tail of a fish swimming upstream, futile and trying like it isn’t. (Tifa?) grabs his arm. “Cloud?” Her voice breaks. “Cloud, it’s me—” Tifa’s eyes, flicking around his face. Stop, he’s dizzy. Stop. They sit on the curb. Do angels dream of dying? Tifa is turning his arms over in her lap, looking for something. “Cloud, whose blood is that?” Thumb, tracing his veins. “OK, I’m just gonna ask, all right? You’ll understand.” Sure. “Are you using it?” Currents of people swim past them with or without second glances if even first glances. Tifa, snapping her fingers for his attention. “Mako. Are you self-injecting?” Not like it would matter, he’s got years of mako in him already. He’s First Class. SOLDIER. Wait, no, Tifa—ex. Ex-SOLDIER. The SOLDIER is dead.

Tifa stares. Swims. She says, “Let’s go home, Cloud.”

—

september [ μ ] - εγλ 2000

On the same stretch of upper dock where drill weekends are called, uniformed boys and men graduating from boot camp stand in formation listening to SOLDIER’s recruitment program introduction. The speech is led by Angeal, First Class. One of the Big Three. Or—the Big Two, now. Cloud was all nerves and fast heart but Sephiroth does not make an appearance. Angeal’s voice booms. Each new infantry member will engage in a baseline screening, with the sort of advanced biotechnology Shinra’s Science Department pioneers. Eligible candidates will be notified, invited to apply for the program. No Genesis, not for a while now, apparently. No Sephiroth, just Angeal walking and rewalking the same line before them, arms crossed, in the dull green overcast so close to the central reactor. Behind him—Zack Fair, Second Class. Mentee of the second most elite of the elite. Standing there all messy dark hair and hip cocked, manning the digital tablet from which presentation slides are cast to the projector which casts them huge and holographic against a backdrop of sleek topside buildings, Midgar expressway arching its back across a dark sky. Scary good, Cloud has overheard, more often than bitter infantry saying Puppy or Angeal’s Bitch. Zack Fair, scary good, on his way to First Class already, and unaware as is most everyone else how soon he will be filling the space Genesis left. This could be any one of them, Angeal says. This could be any one of you.

—

june [ ν ] εγλ 0001

He thinks of all the ways she says his name and all the ways she could.

Zack.

High in pitch, even in tone, placing it between them like a flower.

Za~ack!

Lilted by laughter. Gilded with giggles.

—Zack!

Surprised. He’s given her a play-scare. He’s tripped in public. His name in her mouth pivots up halfway through, punctuated by a pout.

Zack.

Slanted down firm. Under her breath. He’s done something dumb, said something dumber. Sometimes one of the somethings is at least cute and she’s trying not to smile. Sometimes she’s the cute one and she’s flustered, she’s giving him a light shove and he’s laughing.

Za~ck!

They’re in the market. She’s calling a puppy back to her side. Her hand is on the back of his arm or her finger hooked in the loop of his SOLDIER belt.

Zack .

They’re leaning nose to nose in a contest of flirting stubbornness, daring the other to give in first.

Za—!

Half his name. They’re half-wrestling. She’s winning. Her hair is messy and her triumphant grin is the sun.

Zack.

When Tseng has just left. When Tseng is just arriving. When she knows more than he does.

Zack—!

He’s heaved open the church doors, she’s turning with a whip of the braid and eyes green as a wildflower ready to bloom.

…Zack.

Quiet, gentle upturn of a question with no answer yet. Face open like a cupped palm, her smile faint but as present as the heart line curling through the middle.

Zack?

Short, sweet, beckoning his attention.

Zack…

Breathy. Soft. Warm. The tension of a gasp in reverse.

Alone in his First Class dorm, he touches himself.

—

[ μ ] - εγλ 1989

She’s dreaming of dying bees, the tickle of wings and legs and stingers. Lots of flowers. The bees crawl up the stems and onto her fingers, up her hands and onto her arms. She doesn’t know how to explain what a bee is. They bite. They leave little dots up her wrists like the Doctors’ needles and she sits in her dream garden trying to peel up the edges of medical tape but it’s too hard. Aerith wakes up crying, she hates the Doctor room so blue and gray and blinking screens on the walls, she wants to be back in the room with Mommy. “Hey,” says the boy with silver hair and a knit sweater, reading a book in a seat against the wall. “At least she’ll be back soon.” What’s he doing here? “Checkup.” What’s he reading? Awkwardly, a pause. He says, “About bees.”

—

june [ ν ] - εγλ 0001

The first time he calls her Sunshine like Mom calls her Honey, a flustered warmth blooms in Aerith’s face and her stomach pinches. She wants to push him, she says What? You’re silly, Zack. He’s in a squat beside her, he’s laughing like he’s not nervous at all. “Nah!” He gestures, nods, props his elbows on his knees. His eyes, bright from mako and brighter from something else more pure. “It’s because flowers can’t grow without sunshine. Plus, you’re always sunshine on my rainy days.”

...

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#cloud strife #aerith gainsborough #zack fair #zack/aerith/cloud #ff7 #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #final fantasy vii #ff7 fanfic #ff7 remake #crisis core reunion #fanfiction #;;ff7 #;;achronology of now #zack/aerith #cloud/aerith #zack/cloud

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jpbjazz · 1 year ago

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LÉGENDES DU JAZZ

TAL FARLOW, UN GUITARISTE PAS COMME LES AUTRES

‘’It may sound unusual to you, but I never felt like a professional musician. I never had any desire to be a leader, either. I just wanted to play guiar. I guess into the whole thing by accident, anyway.’’

- Tal Farlow

Talmage Holt Farlow est né le 7 juin 1921 à Greensboro, en Caroline du Nord. Originaire d’un milieu musical, Farlow a appris à jouer de la guitare en autodidacte sur le tard, à partir de l’âge de vingt-deux ans. Le père de Farlow jouait de plusieurs instruments à cordes, dont la guitare, le violon et la mandoline. Il jouait également de la clarinette. Sa mère et sa soeur étaient pianistes. La soeur de Farlow était d’ailleurs devenue une grande pianiste classique.

Autodidacte, Farlow avait appris les accords en jouant sur une mandoline accordée comme un ukulele. Parallèlement à sa carrière de musicien, Farlow avait gagné sa vie en opérant une entreprise de fabrication d’enseignes. À l’époque, Farlow avait pris l’habitude d’écouter les big bands sur la radio de son atelier, ce qui lui avait permis d’entendre des pionniers du jazz comme Bix Beiderbecke, les frères Jimmy et Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong et Eddie Lang. Comme Farlow l’avait expliqué au cours d’une entrevue accordée au magazine Down Beat en 1979, ‘’I rearranged the schedule at my shop so I could work nights and listen to band remotes from places like the Panther Room of Chicago’s Sherman House, the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York, Frank Dailey’s Meadowbrook in New Jersey and the Hollywood Palladium. I became very familiar with {Glenn} Miller, the Dorsey’s, Basie, Glen Gray and a number of other bands.’’

Loin de se limiter à écouter des disques et la radio, Farlow avait également assisté à des danses où il avait pu entendre de la musique en direct. Il expliquait:

‘’They had these dances for colored only, and white people couldn’t ge it in except for an area reserved for spectators. I did all the signs for these dances so I could get a couple of passes - heard Hampton, Basie, Andy Kirk. The Trenier twins had a band that sounded like Jimmie Lunceford’s. I think Lunceford played there too. I heard a lot of the fellows we’d read about in Down Beat like - Lester {Young} - he’d never be in the band down there because he had other places to be when the band made the southern scene - I guess, I did meet guitarist Irving Ashby when he was with Hampton.’’

N’ayant pas les moyens de s’acheter une guitare électrique, Farlow s’en était fabriquée une lui-même en se servant d’une vieille paire d’écouteurs et de fils électriques. Farlow, qui avait hérité de l’intérêt de son père pour l’électronique, avait aussi fabriqué des postes de radios ainsi que d’autres appareils.

Farlow avait été particulièrement influencé par le jeu de Charlie Christian avec l’orchestre de Benny Goodman. Farlow raconte ce qu’il avait ressenti lorsqu’il avait entendu Christian pour la première fois:

‘’They’d let him stretch out and give him a whole fistful of choruses. First, I couldn’t figure out what kind of instrument it was. It was a guitar of some kind, but at that time electric guitars were mostly all Hawaiian guitars. It had a little of that quality, but it not that slippin’ and slidin’ business of a Hawaiian guitar. That was the first time I had heard an electric Spanish guitar.’’

Dans une autre entrevue, Farlow avait précisé: ‘’But Christian was the one who get me moving. I bought all the Goodman-Christian recordings and memorized Charlie’s choruses, note-for-note, playing them on a second-hand $14 guitar and 20$ amplifier. Though a later starter for music - I was 22 in 1940 - I sure was fascinated.’’

Également influencé par Lester Young, Farlow avait commenté: ‘’Then I stared listening to other jazz groups. One of them was Count Basie’s little band with Lester Young, and I found out that there was a lot of similarity between some of the things Charlie was playing and some of the things Lester was playing. Also, Lester’s style was pretty easily adapted to the guitar. It sort of fell in place.’’ Décrivant la similitude entre le jeu de Christian et de Young, Farlow avait précisé: ‘’The conception, feeling and phrasing of their music had a lot in common. I believe Pres was the father of the legato style. Most guys weren’t too subtle and didn’t play those long lines before his records got around.’’ Un peu comme il l’avait fait avec Christian, Farlow avait appris les solos de Young par coeur. Il expliquait:

‘’With Prez I went through the same process as I had with Christian, I commited his solos to memory - from the blue Decca discs and many of the Basie Okeh and Columbia recordings. I had special favorites - Lady Be Good, from Prez’s first recording session in 1936, with the small band: Basie, Jo Jones, Walter Page and trumpeter Carl Smith; that one and Taxi War Dance, Texas Shuffle, Every Tub, Jimpin’ At The Woodside, Jive at Five. They all helped me learn what and how to play.’’

Mais c’est surtout après avoir écouté Coleman Hawkins et Art Tatum que l’esprit de Farlow s’était véritablement ouvert. Il précisait: ‘’As I became aware of the chord and interval possibilities, I realized there was much more to music tham I ever thought.’’ Décrivant sa découverte de Tatum, Farlow avait ajouté:

‘’I couldn’t believe it when I first caught Tatum. I was working late one night. I had my little radio on. I moved the dial and came across this pianist who sounded like three or four guys playing at once. Even as dumb I was harmonically, never having listened to far-out harmonies and changes, I knew something marvelous was happening. Begin The Beguine, Rosetta - they played four sides in a row without any commentary in between, I thought to myself, ‘’If they don’t say who it is soon, I’m in trouble.’’ Finally the announced said, ‘’You’ve been listening to the piano artistry of Art Tatum.’’ I took the sign brush and wrote his name on the easel on my work table, it’s probably still there. The next day I went to see the music store guy down the street and order Tatum’s records.’’

Vivant dans une petite ville du Sud, Farlow avait peu d’amis avec qui il pouvait partager sa passion pour le jazz. Parmi ceux-ci, on retrouvait le clarinettiste Paul Bell.

Durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Farlow avait été basé à Greensboro et à Philadelphie. À Greensboro, Farlow avait commencé à jouer avec des groupes de danse. Le pianiste Jimmy Lyons, qui était stationné dans une base voisine, avait aussi commencé à jouer avec Farlow. Décrivant sa collaboration avec Lyons, Farlow avait précisé: ‘’He has a magnificent harmonic sense. It stimulated my interest.’’ Au cours d’une autre entrevue, Farlow avait complété sa pensée: ‘’Jimmy and I got real friendly. He was very much into Tatum, too. We talked a good deal and made plans to form a group when he got out of the service. Eventually, we went to New York together, from Philadelphia.’’

En 1942, après un séjour à Philadelphie, Farlow était retourné à Greensboro pour s’occuper de son entreprise de fabrication d’enseignes.

À Philadelphie durant la guerre, Farlow avait l’habitude de se rendre dans un club situé sur Ransted Street. Le club était la propriété d’un brillant clarinettiste nommé Billy Kretchmer qui l’invitait régulièrement à monter sur scène. Durant cette période, Farlow avait également joué avec un groupe dirigé par le batteur Billy Banks. Le groupe n’ayant plus de contrebassiste, Farlow avait été engagé pour interpréter les parties de contrebasse à la guitare. Farlow précisait:

‘’I hadn’t been playing too long, about two years. Couldn’t read a lick. Still can’t. I joined the musician’s union, which was run by the fire department, most of the town’s players were in the firemen’s band. I left town with Banks but allowed by sign business to continue functioning, in case something went wrong. In fact, I commuted back and forth. After a little while, I met people in Philadelphia and got calls for various kinds of work, mostly with trios in cocktail lounges. Guitar was big. Piano, bass, guitar seemed the most popular instrumentation.’’

À l’époque, Farlow était une sorte d’oiseau rare. Musicien naturel, il n’avait jamais pris de cours de musique et ne savait même pas déchiffrer une partition. Farlow expliquait:

‘’I never did study because I don’t think there was anybody in that area who could have given me what I was alter. You should learn to read right away. With guitar, it’s easy to play a little bit, and alter you’ve played that much, you get to the point where it’s boring to go back and learn scales and read. Even now I sit down and say ‘I’m going to brush up and see if I can’t make my reading passable anyway. You can just take so much of that and you start playing something else.’’’

À l’époque, il était possible de faire une carrière de musicien de jazz sans savoir lire la musique, mais la réalité avait changé. Comme l’avait expliqué Farlow, ‘’You can play jazz without being able to read at all. I mean, you can play tunes and things like that. Jazz now is in so many different boxes that I guess you have to read to be able to bring some of it off. I certainly don’t advise anybody to neglect that. That should be number one. But what happens when you’re playing guitar - it’s easy to learn to play enough si if you don’t get into reading right away it would become too dull because you can play a lot more interesting stuff than what’s written down there for you to learn to read. And, in my case, it was just so discouraging. I was playing stuff that probably wasn’t even easy for a fairly good reader to read.’’

Les énormes mains de Farlow lui avaient éventuellement mérité le surnom de "The Octopus".

DÉBUTS DE CARRIÈRE

Devenu professionnel à l’âge de vingt-deux ans, Farlow avait attiré l’intention de la chef d’orchestre et vibraphoniste Dardanelle Breckenridge. Ayant entendu parler de Farlow, Breckenridge avait décidé de le contacter en 1943. Farlow expliquait: ‘’I was back home in Greensboro, not making any plans to go any place. When Dardanelle sounded me, I went up to Richmond and played for her. I guess she liked what she heard. I joined the trio. Paul Edinfield was the bassist. We made our way north, playing Baltimore, Philadelphia, then New York.’’

À New York, le groupe de Breckenridge s’était produit au Copacabana Lounge. C’était la première fois que Farlow se rendait dans le Big Apple. Fasciné par le bebop, Farlow se rendait tous les dimanches dans les clubs de la 52e rue dans l’espoir de voir jouer par Charlie Parker. Un peu comme il l’avait fait pour Charlie Christian, Farlow avait tenté d’imiter Parker. Comme Farlow l’avait précisé au cours d’une entrevue qu’il avait accordée en 1997, ‘’I was fascinated with Bird and Diz, getting into more complex harmonies, with different ways of phrasing and different sounds from the rhythm section. I tried to copy some of Bird’s stuff, as everybody knows... as everybody did. But I didn’t really have much opportunity to play {that} until I got with Red Norvo, when I replaced Mundell Lowe.’’

Décrivant sa passion pour le bebop, Farlow avait commenté: ‘’That was the only thing for me then. It seemed to me that they were making a new start. Although I hadn’t been listening real close for a few years, it seemed so new and so much different from what was going on before.’’ Tout en se produisant dans les clubs et en allant entendre ses idoles jouer dans les jam sessions, Farlow travaillai également durant le jour chex Goldsmith Brothers, un magasin de Manhattan.

Au début, il avait été assez difficile pour Farlow de s’adapter au bebop. Il expliquait: ‘’I had some difficulty getting into what Bird and Diz and Miles and those fellows were doing. Because I came from Charlie Christian and played essentially in his style, I found that bop phrases didn’t fall easily on the guitar. But I kept listening and working out my problems until I felt comfortable with the modern idiom.’’

Décrivant ce qu’il avait ressenti lorsqu’il avait entendu Parker jouer pour la première fois, Farlow avait ajouté:

‘’It was a great time to be in town Charlie Parker was giving oft sparks, influencing every young player in sight. I’ll never forget the first time I heard him at the Three Deuces on 52nd Street. It was fireworks, like hearing Tatum. From that time on, I was at the club as much as possible. On my Monday night off at the Copa, I was at the Deuces before anyone else, waiting for Bird to show. Sometimes he didn’t, so the guy who ran the place put up a sign advertising other musicians who weren’t there, either. Just to get people to come in.’’

Grand admirateur de Parker, Farlow avait précisé en 1979: ‘’He knew his instrument so well, it was so much a part of him. He could play anything he had in mind. The connection between his fingers and thought was that direct.’’

À l’époque, Farlow ne participait pas aux jam sessions; il se contentait d’écouter. Citant les propos du guitariste Herb Ellis, Farlow avait ajouté: ‘’I wasn’t going out in that deep water.’’

Après avoir quitté le groupe de Breckenridge en 1945, Farlow était retourné à Philadelphie et avait partagé son temps entre son atelier et son travail de musicien avec le trio de Billy Krechmer dans le cadre d’un engagement au culb Jam Session qui appartenait également à Krechmer. Faisait également partie du trio le pianiste Freddie Thompson. Le groupe n’ayant pas de contrebassise, Farlow jouait les parties de contrebasse à la guitare. Un batteur se joignait aussi à l’occasion au trio. Farlow précisait: ‘’Sometimes a drummer would sit in on snare. Krechmer’s was right around the corner from the Click Theater-Restaurant on Market St., where Goodman, etc., used to play. Guy’s used to duck down on their intermission and sit in with us.’’

En 1946, Farlow avait travaillé au Three Deuces avec l’ancienne vibraphoniste du groupe de Woody Herman, Margie Hyams. Charlie Parker faisait également partie de l’affiche à ce moment-là, mais comportement était devenu de plus en plus erratique en raison de ses problèmes de consommation. Farlow racontait:

‘’Bird came strorming into the club at lengthy absence. The management tried to get him up on the stand immediately. He wouldn’t be rushed. We were standing in the rear of the place. Margie, Miles Davis, Al Haig, Curly Russell and I watched the comedy unfold. Bird had some sardines and crackers and was eating them with a sense of relish, while the management pleaded with him to come to the stand. They got to the point where they were cajoling and begging him. He kept offering them sardines and crackers. We laughed ‘til our sides hurt. Finally he came out and played. When he was doing this thing, there was no comedy.’’

En 1948, Farlow avait quitté Philadelphie avec le pianiste Jimmy Lyons et le contrebassiste Lenny De Franco (le frère du clarinettiste Buddy De Franco) et était retourné à New York. Les trois musiciens avaient l’intention de former un trio, mais n’ayant pas encore pu obtenir leurs cartes de l’Union des musiciens, on ne pouvait leur offrir que des engagements occasionnels. Même si Lyons et De Franco avaient réussi à tirer leurs marrons du feu, la situation avait été différente pour Farlow, qui expliquait: ‘’Piano and bass are marketable in the club-date field, but they didn’t care for a guitarist who couldn’t read or, more than that, couldn’t sing.’’

Il avait fallu six mois à Farlow pour décrocher un contrat avec le pianiste Marshall Grant. Farlow précisait: ‘’By the time {Lyons and De Franco} get our second three months in, we were scattered all over. We never got together.’’ C’est dans le cadre d’un engagement au Little Club de Billy Reed avec le trio de Marshall que Farlow avait été découvert par le chef d’orchestre et vibraphoniste Red Norvo. À l’époque, Red Kelly était le contrebassiste du groupe, mais il avait bientôt quité la formation pour se joindre au groupe de Charlie Barnet. Kelly avait été remplacé par Charles Mingus. Commentant l’arrivée de Mingus avec le groupe, Farlow avait déclaré: ‘’I think Mingus was carrying mail in San Francisco at the time. Red knew him, called and he came down.’’ Dans son autobiographie intitulée ‘’Beneath the Underdog’’, Mingus avait raconté plus tard qu’il avait dû quitter le groupe à son tour à la suite d’un conflit racial, mais selon Farlow, il n’en était rien.

À la fin de 1949, Farlow avait assuré la relève du guitariste Mundell Lowe avec le trio de Norvo. C’est d’ailleurs Lowe lui-même qui avait recommandé Farlow à Norvo. À l’époque, le trio de Norvo se produisait dans un club du East Side appelé The Embers. Les trois membres du trio avaient vite développé une grande complicité. Un jour, le guitariste Steve Rochinski était allé voir jouer Farlow en compagnie d’un autre guitarise. Faisant référence aux énormes mains de Norvo, le guitariste qui l’accompagnait avait dit à Rochinski: ‘’No wonder he can play so good, look at those long skinny fingers !’’ Après avoir réfléchi quelques instants, Rochinski avait rétorqué: ‘’No, that’s not right... Segovia had fat fingers and Django {Reinhardt} could only use two on his left hand. That kind of playing doesn’t come from the fingers, that kind of playing comes from heart and soul.’’

Après avoir quitté le club Embers, Norvo avait emmené la nouvelle édition de son trio (cette fois avec Red Mitchell à la contrebasse) en Californie avant de s’installer à Hawaï dans le cadre d’un contrat d’une durée de six semaines. Par la suite, le trio de Norvo était retourné en Californie pour jouer au club The Haig. C’est dans le cadre de cet engagement que le producteur Norman Granz avait entendu jouer Farlow pour la première fois. Ébloui par le talent de Farlow, Granz lui avait immédiatement offert un contrat d’enregistrement (sur la trentaine d’enregistrements qui faisaient partie de la discographie de Farlow, on estime que près du tiers ont été réalisés avec les disques Verve de 1952 à 1960). Même si Granz avait accordé énormément de liberté artistique à Farlow dans le cadre de son contrat, le guitariste avait tenu à préciser que ‘’Norman liked some things more than others.’’ Farlow avait ajouté: ‘’From me, he liked fast tempos.’’

Durant un certain temps, le trio de Norvo s’était produit au club Three Deuces de la 52e rue aux côtés du groupe de Charlie Parker, qui comprenait aussi Miles Davis et Al Haig. Farlow précisait: ‘’We were working opposite Charlie Parker there for two or three weeks. I got to listen to him quite a bit at close range.’’ Commentant la vitesse du jeu de Norvo, Farlow avait ajouté:

‘’Red was a great teacher. I spent about five years with him - on and off - in the 1950s. He kept feeding me knowledge. Talk about technique ! Red was really fast. He loved to play ‘’up’’ especially when he got Mingus in this group. I was no faster than the next guy until I went with Red. Those litle arrangements he had played with the Woody Herman band were really tests. I had to work litle crazy just to keep up with Red and Mingus - they forced me into the woodshed. I kept praticing until I could play with them without any trouble. By the time we made our first records, I was ready.’’

Contredisant la thèse du manque de rapidité de Farlow, le critique Ted Gioia écrivait dans son ouvrage ‘’West Coast Jazz’’ publié en 1998:

‘’The recording of the Red Norvo Trio tell a different story from these mutual laments about musical inadequacy. The ensemble work bristles with virtuosity; few trios of that period, perhaps only Art Tatum’s or Bud Powell’s, could boast as firm a command of fast tempos. Mingus emerges on these sides as a powerful young bassist with solid time and a strong, resounding tone. His solos are few, but his presence is constaltly felt.’’

Farlow n’avait probablement jamais prévu le succès qu’il connaîtrait avec le trio de Norvo. Au début, Farlow avait eu des difficultés à s’adapter à la rapidité du jeu de Norvo, mais il avait rapidement amélioré sa technique pour devenir un des guitaristes les plus rapides de l’époque. Farlow précisait: ‘’Red liked to - I guess he still does - play real fast tunes, things on which he was featured with Woody Herman’s band, like I Surrender Dear and The Man I Love. When I first went with him, and it was a question of its having to be done. I worked on my technique so I could make the tempos.’’

Après avoir quitté le trio de Norvo et travaillé chez un fabricant d’enseignes de New York, Farlow avait de nouveau assuré la relève de Mundell Lowe, cette fois avec le trio de Marjorie Hyams, qui comprenait également un vibraphone.

En l’espace d’un an, Farlow avait commencé à enregistrer et avait dirigé un des groupes les plus populaires des années 1950.

Farlow, qui s’entendait particulièrement bien avec les joueurs de vibraphone, avait aussi travaillé avec Milt Jackson lorsqu’il s’était joint au groupe de Buddy De Franco en 1949. Le groupe comprenait également le contrebassiste John Levy.

En 1946, Farlow avait travaillé pour le réseau NBC à New York.

Lorsqu’il résidait à New York, Farlow vivait dans un édifice à logements situé sur la 93e rue Ouest. Fréquenté par de nombreux musiciens de jazz, le bâtiment était également habité par les guitaristes Jimmy Raney et Sal Salvador. Site de nombreuses jam sessions, le bâtiment était fréquenté par de nombreux musiciens de jazz comme Johnny Smith, John Collins, Phil Woods, Joe Morello et Chuck Andrews. Farlow expliquait: ‘’Sal’s father had a store in Massachusetts, and every so often he would send down a big cardboard cartoon lull of canned goods and things. That was for Sal, but everybody partook - The CARE package we called it. Jimmy and I played a lot together. Sal, too, but he was on the road a lot. Jimmy and I were racing for last place when it came to work.’’

Reconnu comme un excellent guitariste bebop, Farlow avait inspiré le commentaire suivant au critique Stuart Nicholson: ‘’In terms of guitar prowess, it was the equivalent of Roger Bannister breaking out the four minute mile. But on these recordings his speedy melodic inventiveness is matched by an extraordunary variety of rhythmic and harmonic variations. On Cheek to Cheek his elaborate chord substitutions hint at the polytonal work of the avant-garde. On Night and Day he pushes the group by playing the guitar body like a bongo. In essence, Farlow serves as soloist, accompanist, and rhythm guitarist - all with great skill. Freed by the absence of keyboard and drums, Farlow continually takes chances with the music.’’

Les idées innovatrices de Farlow l’avaient rapidement placé à l’avant-garde des musiciens de jazz de l’époque. Farlow avait d’ailleurs remporté le New Star Award décerné par le magazine Down Beat en 1954. Deux ans plus tard, Farlow avait également terminé au premier rang du sondage des critiques du même magazine.

Après voir quitté le groupe de Norvo en 1954, Farlow s’était joint au célèbre groupe Gramercy Five du clarinettiste Artie Shaw. Après être retourné brièvement avec le trio de Norvo, Farlow avait définitivement quitté le groupe en octobre 1955. Farlow se trouvait en Californie la même année lorsque Sy Barron, le propriétaire du club Composer de New York, l’avait convaincu de venir jouer dans son établissement avec un trio composé du pianiste Eddie Costa et du contrebassiste Vinnie Burke.

Selon Farlow, c’est Burke qui avait suggéré à Barron de fonder le groupe. Farlow précisait: ‘’I hadn’t know Eddie, but he was a friend of Sal’s {Salvador}. Eddie and Vinnie had been playing at the Composer in a two-piano group with John Mehegan.’’ Cette collaboration avait marqué le début d’une longue association entre les membres du trio et le club. Grand improvisateur, Costa était une véritable bougie d’allumage. Malheureusement, le trio n’avait pas survécu suffisamment longtemps pour atteindre sa véritable maturité.

Lorsque le Composer avait fermé ses portes, Farlow avait perdu un peu sa maison. Farlow ne s’était pratiquement plus produit dans un club depuis, à l’exception d’un séjour avec Burke dans un club de Long Branch, au New Jersey. Au moment de la fermeture du Composer, Barron était sur le point de faire bâtir un nouveau club, le Composer-Lyricist, sur la 56e rue Ouest. Si Burke avait lancé sa propre carrière comme leader, Costa est mort quelques années plus tard dans un accident d’automobile.

Après s’être marié en 1958, Farlow s’est retiré partiellement et s’est installé à Sea Bright, au New Jersey, où il s’étai occupé de son entreprise de fabrication d’enseignes. La retraite de Farlow s’expliquait non seulement par son mariage, mais aussi parce qu’il en avait un peu assez de certains aspects négatifs de l’industrie du showbusiness. Il précisait:

‘’Perhaps I was meant to be away from New York and places like that. I got fed up with the backstage parts of the jazz life, the ‘’business’’ relationships, the pushing and shoving, it seemed that I became increasingly involved with stuff that had nothing to do with music. Though I wanted to continue playing, I couldn’t deal with all the other things. So I made a change. I moved to Sea Bright on the Jersey Shore with my wife. I like it there. It’s quiet and peaceful. It feels right to me. I do things around the house, tinker with tape recorders and boats. I teach a bit and something get out and play, mostly locally. Every once in a while I make a record or appear at a festival. I’m not really a part of the scene. It may sound unusual to you, but I never felt like a professional musician. I never had any desire to be a leader, either. I just wanted to play guitar. I guess into the whole thing by accident, anyway.’’

Une légende avait prétendu par la suite que Farlow s’était retiré parce qu’il était asthmatique, ce qui était complètement faux. Lorsque le contrat de Farlow était arrivé à échéance en 1960, presque personne ne savait ce qu’il était devenu. Farlow expliquait: ‘’I played all kinds of jobs. Many of them had nothing to do with jazz. Most of the time the players didn’y know me. I felt there was no necessity to concentrate entirely on jazz. I found I could have fun playing a variety of jobs, as long as I didn’t have to read.’’

En 1967, le disc jockey Mogi Fega avait réussi à faire sortir Farlow de sa retraite temporairement. Comme Fega l’avait précisé plus tard, ‘’It was difficult to persuade him, but finally he decided to make the move. The man is truly modest, self-effacing and reticent. He has no idea of the extent of his talent.’’ Livrant sa propre version de l’histoire, Farlow avait commenté:

‘’Mort got me together with pianist Johnny Knapp. Johnny, who has the same kind of rolling power and sensitivity that Costa had, was working at the Little Club in Roslyn, Long Island, Mort drove me out and I sat in with John, Ray Alexander - the vibes man - and drummer Mousey Alexander. It felt pretty good. Then John came out to my house at the shore are we got into some things. He suggested ‘’a doctor who plays real good bass.’’ That turned out to be Lyn Christie. We played together, got to know one another, then began work at the Frammis on New York’s East Side - a gig that Mort had set up for us.’’

Décrivant le travail de Farlow avec le groupe, le critique du New York Times, John S. Wilson, écrivait: ‘’He is heard less as a soloist with accompaniment than as par of an ensemble. His electric guitar and Mr. Knapp’s piano are constantly dancing around each other in musical conversations full of delightfully responsible passages.’’ Malheureusement, Farlow avait de nouveau tiré sa révérence après avoir enregistré l’album ‘’Tal Live.’’ En 1969, Farlow avait brièvement refait surface dans le cadre de l’enregistrement d’un album intitulé à juste titre ‘’The Return Of Tal Farlow.’’ Produit par Don Schitten, l’album avait été réédité par la suite dans le coffret ‘’Tal Farlow - Guitar Player’’. L’album avait été enregistré avec un petit groupe composé de John Scully au piano, de Jack Six à la contrebasse et d’Alan Dawson à la batterie.

Par la suite, Farlow avait collaboré à d’autres albums produits par Schitten, dont ‘’Up, Up And Away’’ de Sonny Criss et ‘’Mostly Flute tor Xanadu’’ de Sam Most. À la fin de sa carrière, Farlow avait aussi participé à l’enregistrement de deux albums pour les disques Concord. Au cours de cete période, Farlow avait également fait des apparitions dans des festivals de jazz comme ceux de Newport et de Concord.

Parallèlement à sa carrière de peintre, Farlow avait continué de se produire occasionnellement dans les clubs. Ses collègues guitaristes Jim Hall, Jimmy Raney, Attila Zoller et Gene Bertoncini le rejoignaient périodiquement à Sea Bright pour participer à des duos.

En 1962, la Gibson Guitar Corporation, avec la collaboration de Farlow, avait produit une guitare en son honneur.

DERNIÈRES ANNÉES

En 1976, Farlow avait recommencé à enregistrer. Après que Barney Kessel ait été victime d’une attaque en 1992, Farlow avait aussi été membre du groupe Great Guitars. Un DVD documentant sa collaboration avec le groupe a été publié en 2005.

Tal Farlow, qui éprouvait des problèmes de santé depuis plusieurs années, est mort d’un cancer de l’oesophage le 25 juillet 1998 au Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center de New York. Il était âgé de soixante-dix sept ans.

Le critique Steve Rochinski avait écrit au sujet de style de Farlow:

"Of all the guitarists to emerge in the first generation after Charlie Christian, Tal Farlow, more than any other, has been able to move beyond the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic vocabulary associated with the early electric guitar master. Tal's incredible speed, long, weaving lines, rhythmic excitement, highly developed harmonic sense, and enormous reach (both physical and musical) have enabled him to create a style that clearly stands apart from the rest."

Doté d’un style unique, Farlow employait des harmonies artificielles et frappait sur sa guitare pour donner un effet de percussion similaire au ‘’snare drum’’ ou un rythme d’arrière-plan apparenté aux bongos. Le fait que Farlow ait joué de l’ukulele durant son enfance était une des raisons pour lesquelles il avait utilisé les quatre cordes supérieures de la guitare pour la mélodie et les structures d’accords. Farlow se servait des deux cordes inférieures comme soutien rythmique, en jouant avec son pouce.

Contrairement aux autres guitaristes de son époque, Farlow combinait les accords rythmiques avec des mélodies linéaires, ce qui lui permettait de réaliser des variations harmoniques. Décrivant le style de Farlow, le musicologue Stuart Nicholson avait déclaré: "In terms of guitar prowess, it was the equivalent of Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile." Très apprécié des autres musiciens, Farlow avait inspiré le commentaire suivant au guitariste Johnny Smith: ‘’GOD never put a nicer soul on this planet than my very dear friend Tal Farlow.’’

Commentant le jeu de Farlow, le New Grove Dictionary of Jazz avait ajouté: ‘’Farlow was a leading guitarist in the early bop style, with phenomally fast execution {...} and a rapid flow of ideas. He has been admired for the unusual intervals in his improvised lines, his original handling of artificial harmonics, and his gentle touch (even at exceedingly fast tempos), achieved partly by using his thumb instead of a plectrum.’’

Même s’il avait été rarement mentionné parmi les leaders légendaires du bebop comme Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, J.J. Johnson et Bud Powell, Farlow avait transformé le jeu de la guitare électrique un peu comme Charlie Christian quelques décennies auparavant. Faisant référence à la relative obscurité du jeu de Farlow, Richard Cook et Brian Morton écrivait dans lea sixième édition du Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD:

‘’One could hardly tell from the catalogue that Farlow is one of the major jazz guitarists, since most of his records - as both leader and sideman - are currently out of print. Perhaps, in the age of Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny, his plain-speaking is simply out of favor. His reticence as a performer belied his breathtaking speed, melodic inventiveness and pleasingly gentle touch as a bop-orientated improviser {...}. Farlow’s virtuosity and the quality of his thinking, even at top speed, have remained marvels to more than one generation of guitarists, and given the instrument’s current popularity in jazz, his neglect is mystifying.’’

Farlow a influencé de nombreux musiciens au cours de sa carrière, tous genres confondus, de Jim Hall à Steve Howe (du groupe Yes), en passant par Alvin Lee, John McLaughlin, Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Raney et Attila Zoller. Souvent décrit comme un génie, Farlow, qui s’était toujours distingué par son humilité, avait catégoriquement rejeté cette épithète dans le cadre d’une entrevue qu’il avait accordée à son biographe Steve Rochinski peu avant sa mort. Farlow avait toujours prétendu en effet que le succès était le résultat d’un travail acharné. Farlow avait déclaré:

‘’That seldom ever entered into any particular instance of my picking up the guitar and practicing in any conventional or traditional way. I mean, I would hear something that I liked from Bud Powell or Bird and try to work it out and gradually put it into my little bag of tricks. I think about Jimmy Raney’s attitude toward the guitar, and mine is similar, in that I don’t have any great, strong allegiance to the instrument. Jimmy said, ‘It happens to be the instrument I can play.’’ It’s less a love for the instrument than it is a love for the music.’’

Comparant Farlow aux plus grands guitaristes de l’histoire du jazz, Bill Simon écrivait dans les notes de pochette de l’album ‘’The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow’’ (1957):

‘’Ask any professional guitarist - in jazz, that is - to name his own favorite guitarists and it’s ten to one he’ll name, in this order, Segovia, Charlie Christian, and Tal Farlow... Segovia for his complete mastery of the instrument and his consummate musical artistry, the late Christian for his powerful jazz drive and for his original concept of the guitar’s role in jazz... and Farlow as the currently operating individual who has carried the instrument to its most advanced and satisfying stage in modern jazz.’’

Dans les mêmes notes de pochette, le critique Nat Hentoff avait ajouté:

‘’Of all current jazz guitarists’, Jimmy Raney was saying recently, ‘Tal is the one I most like to hear. There are several with a great deal of facility and others with less facility but more ideas. Tal has both. He also does the best chord work of anyone I heard. He was a wild harmonic sense, and fortunately, the long fingers to match it.’ ‘His time and sound are fine’, Raney adds, ‘and I’m especially impressed by the fact that when he plays a solo, he’s never unsure and never hung up. It’s not that he’s worked out a bag of tricks - because he knows that he’s doing and is in complete control all the time.’’’

Au cours d’une entrevue accordée au magazine Metronome, Farlow avait insisté sur l’importance d’avoir un bon son. Il expliquait: ‘’If I don’t get a good sound, I can’t play at all. A good sound to me is a natural sound, a natural guitar sound. I play a good many fast tempos, because I feel better playing in that kind of groove. I don’t really like the sound I get on slow tempos or ballads. It’s thin. It’s difficult to sustain a sound on the amplified guitar, especially in the high register. Johnny Smith gets a beautiful sustained sound; he does it by adjusting the amplifier a particular way.’’

Musicien naturel doté d’un grand sens du swing, Farlow n’avait jamais beaucoup pratiqué au cours de sa carrière. Il précisait: ‘’Practicing ? I was unorthodox and still am. I practice only what I expec to play on the job. No scales, arpeggios or exercises. I don’t recommend my method. But that’s what I do. Not being able to read, playing entirely by ear, might have something to do with the way I prepare myself to play.’’

Lorsqu’on demandait à Farlow de qui il avait le plus appris, il mentionnait souvent Artie Shaw et le pianiste Hank Jones avec qui il avait joué avec le groupe Gramercy Five en 1953-54. Mais de tous ses mentors, c’est assurément Red Norvo qui avait joué le plus grand rôle dans son développement. Farlow expliquait: ‘’Red was a great teacher. I spent about five years with him - on and off - in the 1950s. Ke kept feeding me Knowledge.’’

Farlow avait également donné des cours privés. Évoquant son séjour dans l’enseignement, Farlow avait expliqué:

‘’What I’m trying to do, in the teaching business, is have them {les étudiants} utilize what they’ve learned in the way of scales and modes and arpeggios and things like that. Sometimes they play these things that come out and, to my ear, they don’t belong. There are all these things that have an ambiguity to them, that can almost fit anything. But that also makes them sort of not have much meaning. Sometimes guys come and show up and don’t have the ability, say, to just stay in meter, who just keep getting lost. That’s something that I don’t think you can ever learn. If you don’t have the ability to just stay with the time, you can’t play with anybody bu yourself.’’

En 1993, Farlow a également donné une clinique avec Jimmy Raney et Attila Zoller. La clinique a été enregistrée sur vidéo.

Faisant le bilan de sa carrière en 1991 à l’occasion de son 60e anniversaire de naissance, Farlow avait commenté:

‘’The difference in the business between the time Red {Norvo}, Mingus, and I worked together and now is that then it was possible to make a living and travel around as a group. Now, to put three guys in a hotel, or to pay them enough money to cover it, you’ve got a big nut before you even pay them any salary. So now it’s gotten to where the artist goes and plays with two guys who already live there. That takes away what little bit you gain by being organized, and the way I like to be is to have a great deal of organization. I always admired that about Oscar Peterson’s groups. The product showed that they had worked on it, and it was very interesting. It wasn’t a jam session.’’

Les albums de Farlow n’étaient plus disponibles depuis plusieurs années lorsque l’apparition des CD avait permis de les rééditer pour la postérité. Howard Alden écrivait dans les notes de pochette du coffret ‘’The Complete Verve Tal Farlow Sessions’’ publié en 2004:

‘’There have been few jazz guitarists more influential and universally loved than Tal Farlow. Several generations have already been inspired by his almost completely self-taught guitar inventions, in which he combined many prominent influences and his own creativeness into a fresh, personal and amazingly multifaceted approach to the instrument. His large hands and fingers, combined with his open ears and agile mind, coaxed logical yet stimulating chord voicings and intricate melodic lines almost effortlessly from his guitar, earning him the nickname ‘’The Octopus’’ from his many admirers. He also cultivated one of the warmest, well-balanced and richest electric guitar sounds ever heard; the perfect medium for his myriad ideas to flow through. The complexity and sophistication of his playing could intrigue the most intellectual ears, but the innate warmth, humor and melodicism appealed to the most naive listener.’’

Farlow a fait l’objet de deux biographies, rédigées respectivement par Guy Littler-Jones et Steve Rochinski. En 1981, le réalisateur Lorenzo De Stefano a consacré un documentaire d’une durée de soixante minutes à la vie et la carrière de Farlow. Tourné dans différents contextes, le film réalisé pour la télévision montre Farlow en train de participer à une jam session avec le guitariste Lenny Breau, donner une leçon et se produire en concert à New York avec Tommy Flanagan et Red Mitchell. Dans le film, Farlow racontait également les principaux épisodes de sa collaboration avec Red Norvo. Toujours aussi modeste malgré ses nombreuses réalisations, Farlow se demandait toujours ce qu’il avait accompli pour qu’on lui accorde un tel mérite. Dans une séquence du film, son épouse Tina avait cité une déclaration de Farlow dans laquelle il avait déclaré: ‘’What have I done with my life ? What have I accomplished ?’’

Le seul fait de poser cette question démontre à quel point Farlow était un gentilhomme. Mais les plus grands artistes ne sont-ils pas aussi souvent les plus modestes ?

SOURCES:

‘’Tal Farlow.’’ Wikipedia, 2023.

‘’Tal Farlow.’’ All About Jazz, 2023.

CERRA, Steven. ‘’Tal Farlow: Jazz Guitar and Bebop.’’ Steven Cerra, 28 septembre 2019.

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