The Jazztet was a jazz sextet, co-founded in 1959 by trumpeter Art Farmer and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, always featuring the founders along with a trombonist and a piano-bass-drums rhythm section.
In its first phase, the Jazztet lasted until 1962, and helped to launch the careers of pianist McCoy Tyner and trombonist Grachan Moncur III.
[3] It benefitted from having a set of strong compositions by Golson, including "I Remember Clifford", "Whisper Not", "Blues March", "Killer Joe" and "Five Spot After Dark".
[12][13] A later New York appearance, at the Town Hall on November 28, was well received, with The New York Times' critic John S. Wilson writing that, although the soloists were "unusually good", "it is the ensemble feeling of the group that is its strongest point, for Mr. Golson's arrangements constantly offer the soloists a kind of close, intimate support that has all but disappeared from small group jazz".
[13] Farmer felt that the band suffered from being co-billed with Coleman, who attracted more press attention: "compared to what Ornette was doing, what we were doing [...] was more conventional.
[18] The personnel continued to change: by early September, Addison Farmer had left, being replaced on bass by Tommy Williams,[24] and pianist Cedar Walton had taken over from Pearson.
Critic Bob Blumenthal's comment on Meet the Jazztet and Big City Sounds was that "too many features for supporting band members and the resulting programming clutter make [...them] imperfect representations of the band's first year", although "they offer a clear enough picture of the unit's character", which combined numerous, unexpected written sections that helped to gel each piece and its improvised parts together.
[6]: 12 Kenny Barron was briefly the new pianist, but was replaced by Harold Mabern; the other new players were Grachan Moncur III (trombone), Herbie Lewis (bass), and Roy McCurdy (drums).
In early 1983, the band contained Farmer, Golson, Fuller, Mickey Tucker (piano), Ray Drummond (bass), and Heath.
[26] In July, 1995 the Jazztet, with Farmer, Golson, Fuller, Michael Weiss (piano), Buster Williams (bass) and Carl Allen (drums) toured Europe, performing at jazz festivals in Vienna, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, and Belgrade.