Talmage Holt Farlow (June 7, 1921 – July 25, 1998) was an American jazz guitarist. He was nicknamed "Octopus" because of how his large, quick hands spread over the fretboard. As

Steve Rochinski Stephen James Rochinski (born January 20, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist, composer, arranger, recording artist, author, and educator. He has worked and performed with Tal Farlow, Attila Zoller, Jimmy Raney, Pete Candoli, Conte Candoli, Ti ...

notes, "Of all the guitarists to emerge in the first generation after

Charlie Christian Charles Henry Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist. Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained na ...

, 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." Where guitarists of his day combined rhythmic chords with linear melodies, Farlow placed single notes together in clusters, varying between harmonically enriched tones. As music critic Stuart Nicholson put it, "In terms of guitar prowess, it was the equivalent of

Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub- 4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres a ...

breaking the four-minute mile."Stuart Nicholson, "Axe of the Apostles," Wire, September 1990, p. 72

Biography

Talmage Holt Farlow was born in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

, United States. He taught himself how to play guitar, which he started when he was 22 years old. He learned chord melodies by playing a mandolin tuned like a ukulele. He said playing the ukulele was the reason he used the higher four strings on the guitar for the melody and chord structure, with the two bottom strings for bass counterpoint, which he played with his thumb. His only professional training was as an apprentice sign painter. He requested the night shift so he could listen to big band standards on the shop radio. He listened to

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical ap ...

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and Singing, vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and se ...

, and Eddie Lang. His career was influenced by hearing

playing electric guitar with the

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

band. He said he made his own electric guitar because he could not afford to purchase one. Farlow employed

artificial harmonic Playing a string harmonic (a flageolet) is a string instrument technique that uses the nodes of natural harmonics of a musical string to isolate overtones. Playing string harmonics produces high pitched tones, often compared in timbre to a whis ...

s and tapped his guitar for percussion, creating a flat, snare drum sound or a hollow backbeat like the bongos. His large, quick hands earned him the nickname "The Octopus". He caught the public's attention in 1949 when he was in a trio with

Red Norvo Red Norvo (born Kenneth Norville; March 31, 1908 – April 6, 1999) was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His rec ...

and

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...

. In 1953, he was a member of the Gramercy Five led by

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

, and two years later he led his own trio with Vinnie Burke and Eddie Costa in New York City. After getting married in 1958, he partially retired and settled in Sea Bright, New Jersey, returning to a career as a sign painter. He continued to play occasional dates in local clubs. In 1962 the Gibson Guitar Corporation, with Farlow's participation, produced the "Tal Farlow" model. In 1976, Farlow started recording again. A documentary about him was released in 1981. Later in his career Tal performed as a member of Great Guitars with a DVD released in 2005 after his death. Farlow died of

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse voic ...

at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City on July 25, 1998, at the age of 77.

Discography

As leader

* ''Tal Farlow Quartet'' (Blue Note, 1954) * ''The Tal Farlow Album'' (Norgran, 1954) * ''The Artistry of Tal Farlow'' (Norgran, 1954) * ''The Interpretations of Tal Farlow'' (Norgran, 1955) * ''A Recital by Tal Farlow'' (Norgran, 1955) * '' Tal'' (Norgran, 1956) * '' The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow'' (Verve, 1957) * ''This Is Tal Farlow'' (Verve, 1958) * ''The Guitar Artistry of Tal Farlow'' (Verve, 1959) * ''Tal Farlow Plays the Music of Harold Arlen'' (Verve, 1960) * '' The Return of Tal Farlow'' (Prestige, 1969) * ''Fuerst Set'' (Xanadu, 1975) * ''Trinity'' (CBS/Sony 1977) * ''A Sign of the Times'' (Concord Jazz, 1977) * ''Second Set'' (Xanadu, 1977) * ''Tal Farlow '78'' (Concord Jazz, 1978) * '' Chromatic Palette'' (Concord Jazz, 1981) * ''On Stage'' with Hank Jones, Red Norvo (Concord Jazz, 1981) * '' Cookin' on all Burners'' (Concord Jazz, 1983) * ''The Legendary Tal Farlow'' (Concord Jazz, 1985) * ''All Strings Attached'' with John Abercrombie, Larry Carlton, Larry Coryell (Verve, 1987) * ''At Ed Fuerst's'' (Xanadu, 1988) * ''Standard Recitals'' with Philippe Petit (FD Music, 1991) * ''Chance Meeting'' with

Lenny Breau Leonard Harold Breau (August 5, 1941 – August 12, 1984) was an American-Canadian guitarist. He blended many styles of music, including jazz, country, classical, and flamenco. Inspired by country guitarists like Chet Atkins, Breau used finger ...

(Guitarchives, 1997) * ''Complete 1956 Private Recordings'' (Definitive, 2002)

As sideman

With

Buddy DeFranco Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco (February 17, 1923 – December 24, 2014) was an Italian-American jazz clarinetist. In addition to his work as a bandleader, DeFranco led the Glenn Miller Orchestra for almost a decade in the 1960s and ...

* ''Sweet and Lovely'' (Verve, 1956) * ''Cooking the Blues'' (Verve, 1958) * ''The Great Encounter'' (Progressive, 1977) * ''Like Someone in Love'' (Progressive, 1980) With

* ''Red Norvo Trio Vol. 1'' (Discovery, 1951) * ''Red Norvo Trio Vol. 2'' (Discovery, 1953) * ''Move!'' (Savoy, 1956) * ''Red Norvo with Strings'' (Fantasy, 1956) With others *

Cephas & Wiggins Cephas & Wiggins were an American acoustic blues duo, composed of the guitarist John Cephas (September 4, 1930 – March 4, 2009) and the harmonica player Phil Wiggins (born May 8, 1954). They were known for playing Piedmont blues. Histor ...

, ''Flip, Flop, & Fly'' (Flying Fish, 1992) * Cephas & Wiggins, ''Somebody Told the Truth'' (Alligator, 2002) * Sonny Criss, '' Up, Up and Away'' (Prestige, 1967) * Howard McGhee, ''Howard McGhee Vol. 2'' (Blue Note, 1953) *

Gil Melle Gil or GIL may refer to: Places * Gil Island (disambiguation), one of several islands by that name * Gil, Iran, a village in Hormozgan Province, Iran * Hil, Azerbaijan, also spelled ''Gil, a village in Azerbaijan * Hiloba, also spelled ''G ...

, ''New Faces, New Sounds'' (Blue Note, 1953) * Gil Melle, ''Vol. 2'' (Blue Note, 1953) *

Metronome All-Stars The Metronome All-Stars were a collection of jazz musicians assembled for studio recordings by ''Metronome Magazine'', based on its readers' polls. The studio sessions were held in the years 1939-42, 1946–53, and 1956, and typically consisted of ...

, ''

Metronome All-Stars 1956 ''Metronome All-Stars 1956'' was the final album by the Metronome All-Stars, a loose amalgamation of musicians representing winners of ''Metronome'' magazine's annual poll. This 1956 release contains four tracks documenting the first collaborati ...

'' (Clef, 1956) * Sam Most, ''Mostly Flute'' (Xanadu, 1976) *

Anita O'Day Anita Belle Colton (October 18, 1919 – November 23, 2006), known professionally as Anita O'Day, was an American jazz singer and self proclaimed “song stylist” widely admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appe ...

, ''An Evening with Anita O'Day'' (Norgran, 1955) * Anita O'Day, ''Anita O'Day Swings Cole Porter with Billy May'' (Verve, 1991) * Oscar Pettiford, ''

Oscar Pettiford Sextet ''Oscar Pettiford Sextet'' is an album by bassist/cellist and composer Oscar Pettiford which was recorded in 1954 and first issued on the French Vogue label as a 10-inch LP. The material on the original album was rereleased on Prestige in 1963 w ...

'' (BMG, 1964) *

, ''I Can't Get Started'' (Verve, 1956) *

George Shearing Sir George Albert Shearing, (13 August 1919 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 ti ...

, ''Midnight On Cloud 69'' (Savoy, 1956) *

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

, ''Clark Terry'' (Verve, 1997) *

George Wein George Wein (October 3, 1925 – September 13, 2021) was an American jazz promoter, pianist, and producer.

, ''George Wein's Newport All-Stars'' (Atlantic, 1969) *

Mary Lou Williams Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, and ...

, ''The London Sessions Original Vogue Masters'' ((BMG, 1997)

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farlow, Tal 1921 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American guitarists American jazz guitarists Bebop guitarists Cool jazz guitarists Mainstream jazz guitarists Guitarists from New Jersey Musicians from Greensboro, North Carolina People from Sea Bright, New Jersey Verve Records artists Prestige Records artists Inner City Records artists Xanadu Records artists Blue Note Records artists Deaths from esophageal cancer Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Guitarists from North Carolina Jazz musicians from North Carolina