POP AND JAZZ CAPSULES : PURIST FARMER

With his pure, round tone and economical approach to improvisation, Art Farmer has set the jazz standards for the fluegelhorn. The American expatriate has just wrapped up a rare L. A. appearance at the Palace Court, where he worked with three local musicians (pianist Billy Childs, bassist Tony Dumas and drummer Roy McCurdy). Last Thursday’s opening set suffered only slightly from the lack of rehearsal.

Farmer concentrated on lesser-known jazz compositions in his six-song set. Fred Hersh’s “Summer Song” had an unattractive, jagged melody set against a Latin rhythm, while Kenny Drew’s “Blue Whale,” though insistently swinging, was equally unattractive in its darkly minor mode. Farmer’s best work came on the set’s only standard, “Have You Met Miss Jones?” and on Mal Waldron’s beautifully melodic ballad “Soul Eyes”--the perfect vehicle for the lyrical fluegelhorn.