Art Blakey · New to them

New to Blakey

Art Blakey played the drums for more than 40 years and led the Jazz Messengers for most of them, a band that turned young players into leaders. This path starts with his best-loved record, goes back to see how the band began, follows him onto other people's sessions, and ends with the fiery sextet of the early 1960s.

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Start with the sermon
Moanin' Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers · Blue Note BLP 4003 · 1958
Recorded on October 30, 1958, at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, this was Blakey's first album for Blue Note in several years, and it was a fresh start. The band was new: four young men from Philadelphia, Lee Morgan on trumpet, Benny Golson on tenor, Bobby Timmons on piano and Jymie Merritt on bass. It first came out under the band's name alone, but the opening tune caught on so quickly that the record has been called Moanin' ever since. It mixes church and blues feeling with modern jazz, and nearly every tune stayed in the band's book for years. That makes it the easiest door into Blakey's world.
Start with
- Moanin'
- Along Came Betty
- Blues March
"Moanin'" is built on call and response: the piano states a phrase and the horns answer, the way a gospel congregation answers. "Along Came Betty" is Golson's long, lyrical line, the nearest thing here to a ballad. "Blues March" borrows the feel of a New Orleans marching band, with Blakey keeping the march beat. Under all three, listen to how hard the drums push the soloists.
In the band
Bobby Timmons · piano
Bobby Timmons was 22 and had joined the band that summer when he wrote "Moanin'", the tune that gave the record its name. Like the others he came from Philadelphia. In 1959 he left for Cannonball Adderley's quintet, where his "This Here" was a surprise hit, then came back to Blakey early in 1960 before leading his own trios. He died in 1974, only 38.
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A night at Birdland, 1954
A Night at Birdland Volume 1 Art Blakey · Blue Note BLP 1521 · 1956
Now go back four years. On February 21, 1954, Alfred Lion brought a tape machine into Birdland, the club on Broadway, and Rudy Van Gelder recorded Blakey's new quintet: Clifford Brown on trumpet, Lou Donaldson on alto, Horace Silver on piano and Curley Russell on bass. Recording a band in a nightclub was still a new idea. The group didn't have a name yet, but this is where the Blakey sound starts: hot, well prepared and loose at once. These sets are often counted among the first hard bop records, and they let you hear what the room heard that night.
Start with
- Split Kick
- A Night In Tunisia
- Once In A While
Before the music you hear Pee Wee Marquette, Birdland's tiny master of ceremonies, bringing on the band. "Split Kick" is a Silver tune he first recorded with Stan Getz. On "A Night in Tunisia", Blakey tells the crowd he was there when Dizzy Gillespie wrote it. "Once in a While" is Brown's ballad, which Leonard Feather, in the original notes, heard as a lyrical flight.
In the band
Clifford Brown · trumpet
Clifford Brown was 23, from Wilmington, Delaware. Fats Navarro was his model, and a car crash in 1950 had cost him a year. That year he won the Down Beat critics' poll as new star, and soon after this night he went west to form a quintet with Max Roach. In June 1956 he died in another crash, at 25, and Blue Note's memorial album came out that autumn.
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The band gets its name
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers Horace Silver · Blue Note BLP 1518 · 1956
Late in 1954 Horace Silver made his first record leading a band with horns, and he called on Blakey, Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Hank Mobley on tenor and Doug Watkins on bass. There were two dates at Van Gelder's in Hackensack, November 13, 1954, and February 6, 1955. The name on the door was the Jazz Messengers, one Blakey had used before for bigger groups; this band made it stick. Silver wrote seven of the eight tunes. The music mixes bebop with blues and gospel feeling, and it helped set the hard bop style. It's Silver's name on the cover, but you are hearing the first Jazz Messengers.
Start with
- The Preacher
- Doodlin'
- Room 608
"The Preacher" nearly didn't make the record: Alfred Lion thought it too old-timey, and Silver and Blakey insisted on it. Hear the old gospel feel that worried him. "Doodlin'" is a blues with the trumpet and tenor a whole tone apart in the theme. "Room 608", named for Silver's hotel room, is a fast unison theme, with solos and then a chorus for Blakey.
In the band
Horace Silver · piano
Horace Silver was 26, from Norwalk, Connecticut, and had come to New York after Stan Getz heard him in Hartford in 1950. Blakey played drums on his first trio dates in 1952. The two ran the Messengers together until 1956, when Silver left to lead his own quintet, two horns and three rhythm, the shape he kept for most of his career. Blakey kept the name.
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Live in the Village, 1955
At the Cafe Bohemia Volume 1 The Jazz Messengers · Blue Note BLP 1507 · 1956
A year on, the same five men were a working band. On November 23, 1955, Blue Note recorded them at the Cafe Bohemia in Greenwich Village, a club that had turned to jazz only that spring. Blue Note taped four sets, and the night filled two LPs, the first records issued under the Jazz Messengers name. Set it beside the Birdland night: the tunes stretch out, one past 12 minutes, and the band sounds settled with each other. Within months Dorham had left, and later in 1956 the original group broke up. Blakey kept the name and kept going.
Start with
- Soft Winds
- Minor's Holiday
- Prince Albert
Blakey speaks to the crowd before "Soft Winds", an old Benny Goodman Sextet tune stretched into an easy, rocking groove. "Minor's Holiday" is Dorham's own, faster and longer here than on his studio version. "Prince Albert" is his line over the chords of "All the Things You Are". Nat Hentoff, reviewing the record in Down Beat, singled out Dorham and the rhythm section.
In the band
Kenny Dorham · trumpet
Kenny Dorham, from Texas, had played trumpet in Charlie Parker's quintet in the late 1940s, and he wrote two of the tunes here. The Penguin Guide thought his brilliance was seldom captured at such length as on this night. He left the Messengers soon after, made records of his own for Blue Note and Riverside, and in 1963 wrote "Blue Bossa", now a standard.
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Back to 1947 with Monk
Genius of Modern Music Volume 1 Thelonious Monk · Blue Note BLP 1510 · 1956
To understand Blakey you need Thelonious Monk. In the autumn of 1947 Blue Note recorded Monk as a leader for the first time, at WOR Studios in New York, and Blakey was the drummer at all three of those dates: a sextet, a trio with Gene Ramey on bass, and a quintet. Blakey was 28 and fresh from Billy Eckstine's big band. He is often called Monk's most sympathetic drummer, and the two worked together for more than 20 years. This record gathers those dates with one from 1948. It's also your chance to hear Blakey in a trio, with just piano and bass beside him.
Start with
- Ruby My Dear
- Off Minor
- 'Round About Midnight
"Ruby My Dear" and "Off Minor" come from the trio date of October 24, 1947. Ira Gitler, in the original notes, hears sentiment in "Ruby My Dear" that never turns sentimental. "'Round About Midnight", from the quintet date, has what he calls a sombre beauty. With only three players on the trio sides, the drums are easy to follow; listen to the give and take with Monk's piano.
In the band
Thelonious Monk · piano
Thelonious Monk was 30 in 1947, known to musicians from the Minton's years and almost unknown to anyone else. The saxophonist Ike Quebec brought him to Blue Note, and Alfred Lion and his wife Lorraine took up his cause, though Harlem record shops wanted little to do with him. Ten years later he was famous. Blakey drummed on Monk's first session as a leader and, in London in 1971, on his last.
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A septet with two tenor giants
Monk's Music Thelonious Monk Septet · Riverside RLP 12-242 · 1957
Ten years after those first dates, Monk was on Riverside and finally being heard. In June 1957 he made this record in New York with a septet: Ray Copeland on trumpet, Gigi Gryce on alto, Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane on tenor, Wilbur Ware on bass and Blakey. It is the only record on which Hawkins and Blakey played together. Most of the tunes are Monk's older ones, and some you heard on the last record. This is Blakey as a sideman in a bigger, looser group, holding seven strong players together through some tricky music.
Start with
- Ruby, My Dear
- Well, You Needn't
"Ruby, My Dear" is played only by Monk, Hawkins, Ware and Blakey: set it beside the 1947 trio version and hear the ballad carried by a big tenor sound. On "Well, You Needn't", Monk can be heard calling out for Coltrane to take the first horn solo. Follow the drums as the soloists change.
In the band
Coleman Hawkins · tenor sax
Coleman Hawkins was 52 and had been the model for jazz tenor players since the 1920s; his 1939 "Body and Soul" was a hit. He was also one of the first established stars to hire the young modernists: Monk was in his quartet in 1944 and made his first studio records with him. Here the older master takes the ballad, Monk's music on its own terms.
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Blakey drives a big band
Art Blakey Big Band Art Blakey Big Band · Bethlehem BCP-6027 · 1958
Blakey learned his trade in big bands, with Fletcher Henderson and then three years with Billy Eckstine, but as a leader he rarely went back. In December 1957 he did it once, for Bethlehem: 15 players, with trumpets including Donald Byrd and Idrees Sulieman, Melba Liston among the trombones, and Al Cohn and John Coltrane on tenor. Cohn and Liston wrote some of the music. Two tracks shrink to a quintet with Byrd and Coltrane. AllMusic calls it a one-shot affair, and that is the reason to hear it: his drums with a whole orchestra to drive, not four horns and a rhythm section.
Start with
- Midriff
- The Outer World
- Pristine
"Midriff" is by Gerald Valentine and "The Outer World" by Al Cohn, both for the full band. Listen for the drums setting up the band's entrances and pushing it from section to section. "Pristine" is Coltrane's own tune, played by the quintet; hear how different Blakey sounds when the band drops to five.
In the band
John Coltrane · tenor sax
John Coltrane was 31 and in the middle of his breakout year. He had left Miles Davis that spring, played with Monk at the Five Spot through the summer, and in September made Blue Train for Blue Note. Six months before this date he had sat beside Hawkins on Monk's septet record. In 1959 he recorded Giant Steps, and he went on to lead one of the great quartets of the 1960s.
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Sideman for Cannonball and Miles
Somethin' Else Cannonball Adderley · Blue Note BLP 1595 · 1958
On March 9, 1958, at Van Gelder's in Hackensack, Blakey joined Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis, Hank Jones and Sam Jones for a record under Adderley's name. Adderley was then in Davis's band, and Davis, rarely a sideman after 1955, picked most of the tunes and wrote the title track. It was Adderley's only album for Blue Note. For Blakey it is a lesson in restraint. This is a cool, spacious record, and Orrin Keepnews later wished Blakey had been given the chance to shift into high gear. Hearing him hold back tells you as much as hearing him roar.
Start with
- Autumn Leaves
- Somethin' Else
"Autumn Leaves" fills most of side one; Davis said the treatment came from listening to Ahmad Jamal. After a long introduction Davis states the theme and Adderley follows. On "Somethin' Else", a 12-bar blues, Davis plays short phrases and Adderley answers them. Listen to how lightly Blakey plays here, next to the Messengers records.
In the band
Cannonball Adderley · alto sax
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley had been a band director at a Fort Lauderdale high school before he sat in with Oscar Pettiford's group at the Cafe Bohemia in 1955 and made his name in a night. By 1958 he was in Miles Davis's band, and a year later he played on Kind of Blue. Then he led his own quintet with his brother Nat, and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" reached the pop charts in 1967.
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Mobley's quartet, Blakey behind
Soul Station Hank Mobley · Blue Note BLP 4031 · 1960
On February 7, 1960, Hank Mobley made a quartet record at Van Gelder's with Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Blakey, his old bandleader from the first Messengers. Kelly and Chambers were Miles Davis's rhythm section at the time. Two standards frame four new Mobley tunes. Bob Blumenthal, in later notes, compared it to what Saxophone Colossus was for Sonny Rollins. With only one horn, nothing stands between you and Blakey's time and drive. Blakey had once led Mobley in the Messengers; here the roles are reversed.
Start with
- Remember
- This I Dig Of You
- Soul Station
Irving Berlin's "Remember" opens the record at an easy pace. "This I Dig of You" is the fast one, and "Soul Station" is the bluesy title tune. Pete Welding, reviewing it in Down Beat, called Mobley's partners three of the finest rhythm men in the business. Listen to the three of them working as one under the tenor.
In the band
Hank Mobley · tenor sax
Hank Mobley was the tenor in the first Jazz Messengers, and he came back to Blakey's band for a short stay in 1959. For years he was overshadowed by Rollins and Coltrane. In 1961 he spent a short time with Miles Davis. AllMusic calls him one of the most underrated musicians of the bop era.
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Shorter arrives, the drums roar
A Night In Tunisia Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers · Blue Note BLP 4049 · 1961
By 1960 the Messengers had changed again. Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt were still there, and Wayne Shorter, a young tenor player from Newark, had joined in 1959 and was writing for the band. In August 1960, at Van Gelder's new studio in Englewood Cliffs, they made this record. Every tune but the title was written by band members, which was the point: Blakey wanted to show off his young players. The title tune, Dizzy Gillespie's, is the one you heard him introduce at Birdland in 1954, now stretched out by a bigger-sounding band.
Start with
- A Night In Tunisia
- Kozo's Waltz
- Sincerely Diana
Put this "A Night in Tunisia" beside the 1954 one and hear how much the band has grown. The Down Beat reviewer of the day singled out Blakey's solo on "Kozo's Waltz" as a remarkable demonstration of modern drumming, full of passion and energy. "Sincerely Diana" opens the record with the full quintet. Listen for the drums pushing the horns from behind, then taking over.
In the band
Lee Morgan · trumpet
Lee Morgan grew up in Philadelphia and played in Dizzy Gillespie's big band as a teenager before Blakey hired him in 1958. He stayed into 1961 and came back in 1964. In between he made The Sidewinder, a hit for Blue Note. He was shot and killed at a New York club in 1972, at 33, with a great deal of music still ahead of him.
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Six men, three horns
Mosaic Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers · Blue Note BLP 4090 · 1961
In 1961 Curtis Fuller's trombone joined, and the Messengers became a sextet. Late that summer Freddie Hubbard replaced Morgan and Cedar Walton replaced Timmons; Shorter stayed on tenor and Merritt on bass. This record, made at Van Gelder's on October 2, 1961, is all the members' own writing: the title tune by Walton, two by Hubbard, one each by Shorter and Fuller. Three horns gave the writers more colours to work with. With one change on bass, this lineup recorded and toured together into 1964.
Start with
- Mosaic
- Children Of The Night
- Arabia
"Mosaic" is Walton's, "Children of the Night" is Shorter's and "Arabia" is Fuller's, so each tune shows a different writer. Listen for the themes voiced for three horns, a fuller sound than the quintet could make, and for how Blakey keeps the heavier ensemble moving.
In the band
Freddie Hubbard · trumpet
Freddie Hubbard came from Indianapolis and reached New York in 1958. He was 23 when he took Morgan's chair, and he already had records of his own on Blue Note. He stayed until 1964, then led his own bands; in 1970 he made Red Clay for CTI, his best-known album. He wrote two of the five tunes here.
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The fire of 1964
Free For All Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers · Blue Note BLP 4170 · 1965
Made on February 10, 1964, this is the sextet at full heat, with Reggie Workman now on bass. It was meant to hold more: a Shorter tune and two vocals by Blakey's cousin Wellington, but no usable takes came of them, and one take of the title track stopped when Blakey's drums broke. What's left is four long pieces. Shorter wrote the title tune and "Hammer Head"; Hubbard wrote "The Core" and arranged Clare Fischer's "Pensativa". AllMusic's Al Campbell called the title track one of the Messengers' finest moments. End here, and you'll want to know where the band went next.
Start with
- Free For All
- The Core
- Pensativa
"Free for All" runs 11 minutes, a good place to hear how hard Blakey could push a band. Hubbard dedicated "The Core" to the Congress of Racial Equality, whose work for civil rights he admired. "Pensativa" is the calm one: Hubbard heard a pianist play it at a gig on Long Island and arranged it for the band.
In the band
Wayne Shorter · tenor sax
Wayne Shorter, from Newark, joined the Messengers in 1959 and soon became the band's musical director, writing much of its book. This record comes near the end of his time with Blakey: in 1964 he left for Miles Davis's quintet. In 1970 he co-founded Weather Report, and he kept writing tunes that musicians still play. Many of them started in this band.
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