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TAL FARLOW – UNRECOGNIZED GENIUS

WHO IS TAL FARLOW?

Talmage Holt Farlow, better known as Tal Farlow, was an American jazz guitarist born

June 7, 1921 in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was raised in a musical family. His mother

played piano and his father played several instruments including guitar, violin, and mandolin.

His father gave him a mandolin that was retuned like an ukulele and showed him a few basic

chords. Tal Farlow died July 25, 1998 of cancer at the age of 77, unlike many of his peers in the

jazz world who died much younger due to vices and lifestyle. (Wikipedia)

I titled this presentation and paper “Tal Farlow, Unrecognized Genius.” Here are a few

quotes from peers, people in the jazz industry, writers and columnists beginning with those I

found most interesting:

“Idolized by Wes Montgomery, Farlow is the guitarists' guitar player” (Cerra)

“I read an interview of Wes Montgomery, and he said that when you (Tal) came out, he

hadn't heard anything like it: the ability to hang in the pocket with all those horn

players.” (Cerra)

“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. “ (Bastian).

“In the 1950s he became part of an elite school of jazz guitarists which also included

players such as Kenny Burrell, Bill DeArango, Herb Ellis, Arv Garrison, Jim Hall, Barney

Kessel, Mundell Lowe, Remo Palmieri, Jimmy Raney, Howard Roberts, Sal Salvador, Johnny

Smith and Chuck Wayne. At such a rarefied level comparisons can become invidious but for
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many followers Tal was the number one jazz guitarist in the world during that era as evidenced

by his standing in the leading polls of the time.” (Little-Jones)

“Farlow had been voted new-star guitarist in the 1954 Down Beat International Jazz

Critics Poll, won a similar award in a poll of musicians conducted for the 1956-year book

edition of Leonard Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz, and took first place in the "established"

division of the 1956, 1957 and 1958 critics polls.” (Cerra)

“Collectively, Tal's 1950s peer group laid down exceptionally high standards for playing

bop guitar which arguably have not been surpassed since, despite many fine players appearing

in the intervening decades. Within this group Tal has to be seen as possibly the greatest

innovator of all - a jazz guitarist's jazz guitarist. There are those players who follow a new style

or genre very competently but do not really produce much in the way of innovation. At the other

end of the spectrum are musicians like Tal Farlow who redefine the idiom, thus blazing a new

trail for the players within the first category to attempt to follow.” (Cerra)

Jim Bastian, a columnist, called Farlow “bebop jazz guitar great” and “a veteran founder

of bebop jazz guitar” in the March 2008 issue of Premier Guitar magazine. (Bastian)

“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.” (Cerra)

TAL FARLOW – THE PERSON

Guitarist Johnny Smith, as told to fellow-guitarist Howard Alden in April 2004 said,

“GOD never put a nicer soul on this planet than my very dear friend Tal Farlow." (Cerra) Johnny

Smith is a renowned jazz guitarist who worked with Stan Getz and Hank Jones amongst others.
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One interviewer notes that Farlow has the air of a farm boy, is gentle and unassuming and

appears to be honestly surprised at all the fuss people make about his guitar playing. It seems to

be unanimous how genuinely humble, unpretentious, easygoing and warm he was. (Cerra)

Considering the year he was born and the eras he lived through will provide a good

perspective of the periods of Jazz he experienced or lived through. He was 10 years old by 1931

which was towards the end of the Prohibition and the beginning of The Great Depression. Jazz

had evolved considerably by this time. He was an adult during the big band and swing era, 1935-

1946, and was an active musician during the growth, evolution and pinnacle of Bebop. In The

New Grove Dictionary of Jazz Tal’s playing is described as “a leading guitarist in the early bop

style”. (qtd in Cerra)

SELF-TAUGHT

Farlow heard Charlie Christian records in 1941 and was inspired to pick up the guitar and

proceeded to learn all of Charlie’s solos by ear as legend has it. (Bastian)

He taught himself how to first play a baritone ukulele at an earlier age, which is tuned

exactly the same as the top four strings of the guitar. Once he moved to the guitar he used the

fingerings he mastered on the ukulele and carried them over to the guitar. However, he now had

two extra strings, the 5th and 6th, and chose to use his thumb on the lower two strings. He

commonly played notes on the lower strings simultaneously which is something most

accomplished guitarist are unable to do. He could play closed voicings and voicings with wide

intervals, similar to a piano, impossible for many players. This is a sample from Farlow’s version

of “Autumn in New York” which I will discuss in more detail a little bit later.
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Example:

In the movie Good Will Hunting, Lambeau, a university math professor at Harvard,

writes an unsolveable math equation on the blackboard for his class. Will, a janitor, solves the

math equation while doing his rounds cleaning classrooms. Will has serious emotional and

insecurity issues regardless of his genius ability. I was reminded of this movie while preparing

for this presentation about Tal Farlow.

Nobody informed Farlow that you just don’t learn complex chords scales, advanced

harmony and chord substitutions on your own. He did, and also taught himself how to play them

and use them on the guitar. In the “Tal Farlow” biography authored by Guy Littler-Jones he

states that it is probably a good thing he was self-taught. (qtd in Watrous) Had he started with

lessons, most guitar instructors would probably have discouraged his unconventional technique

and style. They likely would have squelched his innovations by persuading him to use

conventional techniques.

Farlow never took a guitar or theory lesson. Naturally gifted, he learned the correlation
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between scale and underlying harmony or chord by listening to and copying Charlie Christian

solos on records. (Little-Jones).

TO READ OR NOT TO READ

Farlow did not learn to read music and this became something that haunted him all his

life and made him feel very inadequate even though he was a virtuoso player, similar to Will in

Good Will Hunting. He never took the time to go back and learn to read music and stated in an

interview that is was difficult for him to go back to that elementary level to learn it. It made him

ineligible for most studio or recording work. (Cerra)

Never learning to read music may seem like a disadvantage to being self-taught but I

don’t see evidence in his playing that it limits him. Since he could not read he was forced to do

everything by ear and developed an incredible ability to hear things, such as complex lines and

chords.

I have a theory that is a conclusion from having taught different kinds of players over the

years. My theory may not be an absolute rule applicable 100% of the time, meaning that there

are always exceptions. What I observed is this, that gifted people who initially were self-taught

and took lessons later seem to have a better sense of the function of two main aspects of music,

viz., feeling versus technique. Musicians who initially were self-taught, seem to mostly have the

perception that technique and theory serve the feeling or expression of music which is a matter of

the soul or emotions. These players nourish the soul with their music when they perform, and

make you feel something. Reversing the two can result in music sounding mechanical, technical,

perhaps impressive, but cold.

In my opinion Farlow’s playing married the two aspects and displays them in proper

balance, using incredible technique without losing a sense of the beauty. This is pure genius.
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Farlow started to play professionally at the age of twenty-two after he has only been

playing for a year or so. He attracted the attention of Dardanelle Breckenridge and toured the

East coast with her between 1943 to 1945. (Little-Jones). He soon acquired the nickname The

Octopus due to his large hands and long fingers. (Bastian)

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK AND THE MUSIC BIZ

He spent about ten years in the jazz scene and in 1958 with a very successful career

ahead of him, at his peak, he quit the scene and went home. He wanted to get away from the big

city and specifically get away from the “show biz” aspects of jazz he disliked. (Cerra)

This started a pattern of disappearing for years at a time and returning to the scene and to

the scene. He usually returned due to the persuasion of various people in the jazz industry. What

is obvious in this pattern is the duality he struggled with in his life. He loved jazz and performing

but did had a distaste for the typical performer’s lifestyle.

“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” Farlow

stated in an interview. (Cerra)

(Watch “Misty” YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIaseicCzFk)

(Watch “Fascinating Rhythms”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXA4U-OXQZs)

FARLOW’S PROFESSIONAL LIFE

Some of the notable groups he performed with were Artie Shaw and His Gramercy
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Five, Buddy DE Franco Quintet, Clark Terry Septet, Gil Mellé Quintet, the Red Norvo's Trio

which included a young Charles Mingus. (discogs). He started to record under his own name in the

early 1950s very successfully and won a few Downbeat awards which is a notable jazz

magazine.

Similar to the Blue Note label, Verve was a prestigious jazz label started by Norman

Granz in 1956 who owned other record labels. Verve artists include Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz

John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, Lester Young and Oscar Peterson, the elite of jazz.

Mr. Granz was enamored with Tal Farlow’s music and rolled him over from his other label

immediately after he created Verve. Needless to say that Farlow had the endorsement of one the

most respected jazz labels in the industry. In 1997 while interviewing Tal Farlow Barry Feldman

while discussing his recording history stated “Norman ran the most successful jazz operation

from a financial standpoint.” (Cerra). Farlow also recorded for Blue Note for a brief period.

FARLOW’S RECORDINGS

For many jazz enthusiasts, the recording made in the mid fifties with pianist Eddie Costa

and bassist Vinnie Burke, “Tal” and “The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow” and a couple of other

projects are the most preferred which is a matter of opinion. He recorded thirty plus albums and

many others as a sideman and reviews were always overwhelmingly positive.

I selected a recording that represents Farlow’s unique technical abilities, his impressive

skill on the instrument, his grasp of re-harmonization techniques and harmonic creativity. This

recording also is an excellent example of the beautiful and imaginative lines he creates. The

example is the title track from his 1954 recording “Autumn in New York”. The recording was

supervised by Norman Granz and features Ray Brown on bass, Chico Hamilton on drums and
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Gerry Wiggins on piano. The transcription is from a “Tal Farlow” song book published by Hal

Leonard. I added the Real Book chords to the transcription to compare the original chords with

Farlow’s re-harmonized version.

(Play “Autumn in New York” recording and display the transcription.)

UNCONVENTIONAL TECHNIQUES AND INNOVATIONS - UNIQUE TUNING

Farlow was an incredible player but was also extremely innovative. I attribute it partially

to not having been given instrumental limitations by guitar instructors early on regarding what

could or could not be done on the guitar. One of ingenious ideas was to tune the guitar so that he

would have access to lower notes. His innovative tuning method is illustrated below with blue

notes being the conventional guitar tuning and red Farlow’s alternate tuning.

UNCONVENTIONAL TECHNIQUES AND INNOVATIONS - ARTIFICIAL HARMONICS

Farlow is also known for the use of artificial harmonics on the guitar. Unlike natural
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harmonics which can only be played at certain frets, artificial harmonics can be played anywhere

by touching the note an octave higher on the same string.

(Do artificial harmonics demonstration on guitar)

An example of Farlow’s use of artificial harmonics on Isn’t It Romantic from the album

“Tal”.

(Listen to recording and watch song transcription.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61RfameOaKk)

UNCONVENTIONAL TECHNIQUES AND INNOVATIONS - BEBOP AND SPEED

Besides an array of unique techniques and overall mastery of the guitar Farlow was

known for his ability to play fast. Wes Montgomery stated that Tal had “the ability to hang in the

pocket with all those horn players”. (Cerra) It was his tenure with Red Norvo’s Trio, who had an

affinity for fast tempos, that drove Farlow to work on his speed to be able to keep up with the

tempos Red Norvo preferred. Once mastered he would incorporate rhythmic and harmonic

creativity while creating melodically inventive lines. He did not use speed for the sake of speed.

(Cerra)

Steven Cerra in an online article wrote “Although he’s rarely mentioned with the

legendary Bebop masters who brought superior techniques to super fast tempos – musicians

such as Charlie Parker on alto saxophone, Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, J.J. Johnson on trombone

and Bud Powell on piano – Tal brought speedy, scintillating Bebop ideas to the amplified guitar

and in so doing, transformed the instrument, a process that had begun a decade earlier with

Charlie Christian.” (Cerra)

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Some of the features of his playing that I personally admire are the sense of constant

forward motion and drive making his solos exhilarating with fluidity and continuity. He was also

known for his beautiful tone, fat but not muddy, generated by the Gibson guitars he used. This

full but clear tone was critical to his style and enabled him to play the harmonically complex

voicings ridden with dissonance in the lower range, but yet with individual note clarity.

FARLOW’S INFLUENCES

Farlow woke up to jazz when he first heard Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman

band. (Wikipedia). Tal listened to many of the well-known swing and Bebop players including

Lester Young, Ben Webster and Hawk. Tal spoke of analyzing and committing Prez’s (Lester

Young) solos to memory but Hawk drew his attention the most of the three. Later he would be

introduced to the music of Art Tatum, Dizzy and Bird and became aware that his music horizon

was expanded enormously by this new style these guys were playing. He had a chance to see

Charlie Parker up close while working in New York for extended periods. Farlow was fortunate

to be able to attend segregated concerts due to his profession as a sign painter. He saw and met

notable jazz artists such as Count Basie and Lionel Hampton. (Cerra)

Listening to Art Tatum challenged him to develop the ability to use Art’s complex and

advanced harmonic concepts in simplified or modified form on the guitar. This expanded his

understanding and use of substitutionary concepts which led him to the forefront of these

advanced concepts on the guitar evidenced in his early 1950s recordings. This in combination

with his technical prowess set him aside as a pioneer. He consequently influenced countless

future players and generations from a wide range of styles. A few well-known players and

stylistically diverse who were greatly affected by Farlow are Jim Hall, Attila Zoller, Alvin Lee
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and John McLaughlin and Steve Howe. (Cerra)

WHY PRACTICE?

As a final note Farlow made a stunning comment in an interview, “Practicing? I was

unorthodox and still am. I practice only what I expect 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.” (Cerra)

One website describes Tal as “One of the most influential and important jazz guitarists of

the 20th century, Tal Farlow was truly a virtuoso.” (Guitarinstructor.com)

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Bibliography

Bastian, Jim. “Tal Farlow: Reluctant Jazz Great and His Gibson Model.” Premier
Guitar, Premier Guitar, 11 Mar. 2008, Accessed 15 Oct. 2017.
www.premierguitar.com/articles/tal-farlow-reluctant-jazz-great-and-his-gibson-model-1.

Cerra, Steven. “Jazzprofiles.blogspot.com“. Tal Farlow: Jazz Guitar and Bebop.

Jazzprofiles.blogspot.com, 26 Feb., 2017. Jazzprofiles.blogspot.com. Accessed 15 Oct. 2017.
<http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2017/02/tal-farlow-jazz-guitar-and-bebop.html.>.

Discogs, “Tal Farlow.” Discogs, Accessed 15 Oct. 2017. www.discogs.com/artist/339515-

Tal-Farlow.

Guitarinstructor. “Tal Farlow.” Guitarinstructor.com, Guitarinstructor.com, Accessed 15 Oct.

2017. http://www.guitarinstructor.com/product/viewinstructor.action?biographyid=307.

Little-Jones, Guy. “Tal Farlow”. Great Britain: Lulu, 2007.

Righter, George. “Tal Farlow.” Sessionville, Badass Players, 30 Apr.

2013, sessionville.com/articles/tal-farlow.

Watrous, Peter. “Tal Farlow, 77, Jazz Guitarist Rooted in Bop.” The New York
Times, The New York Times, 27 July 1998, Accessed 15 Oct. 2017.
www.nytimes.com/1998/07/28/arts/tal-farlow-77-jazz-guitarist-rooted-in-bop.html.

Wikipedia. “Tal Farlow.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Oct. 2017, Accessed

15 Oct. 2017 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tal_Farlow.