Ernie Farrow, the brother of Alice Coltrane, seems to have as many talents as his native West Virginia has river valleys. He was capable of playing all three of the main instruments in a jazz rhythm section -- piano, bass, and drums -- and additionally was more than up to the multi-instrumentalist tasks demanded by bandleader Yusef Lateef. The latter musical mystic prompted Farrow to play the rabat, an ethnic stringed instrument that has some similarities to the bass. Piano was Farrow's first axe; his uncle, Charles Lewis, was a professional pianist who provided lessons for the teenage Farrow, by then a New York City transplant.

Farrow had his own bands throughout high school and emerged in the professional jazz scene in the first half of the '50s, working with a series of demanding bandleaders including Terry Gibbs and Stan Getz. His relationship with Lateef began around 1956. A few years later Farrow began leading his own group, based out of Detroit and a strong influence on his younger piano-playing sister. In the '60s he was featured on bass in a terrific classic jazz piano trio fronted by Red Garland. Farrow's discography stops at that decade and consists of a great deal of material under Lateef's name. Lateef lovers tend to think the man's greatest rhythm section featured Farrow alongside pianist Hugh Lawson and drummer Louis Hayes. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi