This is the second half of one night. On Thursday, March 7, 1957, Art Blakey brought 12 musicians to Manhattan Towers in New York for the drum session Alfred Lion had been talking about since 1954. Eight tunes came out of it. Four went on Orgy in Rhythm Volume 1 in late May. These four waited until October.
The band was the same all night. Blakey, Jo Jones, Art Taylor and Charles "Specs" Wright played drums, with Jones and Wright taking turns on timpani. Sabu Martinez led the Latin section and chose its players: Carlos "Patato" Valdés and José Valiente on congas, Ubaldo Nieto on timbales, Evilio Quintero on cowbell, maracas and tree log. Ray Bryant played piano, Wendell Marshall bass and Herbie Mann flute. Ira Gitler, in the original notes, says there were no scores and no rehearsal. Blakey simply laid out each tune before the band played it, and Gitler does the same for the reader.
Each tune was done only once.
Ira Gitler, original liner notes
The take numbers in the session listing run to 13 for the eight tunes, so there may have been false starts; we can't tell from the sources.
Side one opens with "Amuck." Blakey goes first, then Sabu on bongos played with sticks, then Taylor. Marshall brings in a figure on the bass, and the drummers build to a climax. "Elephant Walk" has a cast.
"Specs" on tympani plays the role of the pachyderm in Elephant Walk with Herbie's flute sounding down the jungle paths.
Ira Gitler, original liner notes
Sabu chants, the Latin drummers change the pattern, and Blakey and Mann solo. Side two starts with "Come Out and Meet Me Tonight," a kind of calypso. Mann and Jones on timpani bring it in, Sabu sings the lead with the chorus behind him, and Blakey solos. The record ends with "Abdallah's Delight," a blues and the last tune of the night. Marshall opens it, Mann and Bryant carry the melody and each solo, and Mann plays his metal flute, the only time he used it that night. All eight tunes are credited to Blakey.
The reviews were mixed. Jack Maher in Metronome found this volume more musical than the first but disliked the heavy sound. Don Gold gave it three stars in Down Beat. Two tracks, "Elephant Walk" and "Abdallah's Delight," were paired on a single. Blue Note put both volumes on one CD in 1997, and in November 1958 Blakey went back to Manhattan Towers with a new drum choir for Holiday for Skins.
