Art+blakey

Art Blakey and Jazz Messengers - Heat Wave (1977) {Meldac Japan MECJ-30010 rel 1995}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 385 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 148 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 29 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1977, 1995 Meldac Japan | MECJ-30010
Jazz / Hard Bop

These red hot live performances by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers – recorded in 1977 in San Fransisco – are evidence that the hard-bop school of Blakey was alive and well in arguably the darkest time for the straight ahead jazz musicians. The "fusion" music was taking the attention – and audiences – away from this kind of music, and we had to wait a few more years before its resurgence and emergence of young lions such as Wynton and Branford Marsalis.

Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers - Free For All (1964) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD UCCQ-5047 rel 2014} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 332 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 107 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 244 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit 192 kHz remaster
© 1964, 2014 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | UCCQ-5047
Jazz / Hard Bop

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. Hardly a free for all at all – as the album's a masterpiece of focus and direction, and a classic set from the sextet lineup of the Jazz Messengers! The album's a real feather in the mid-60s cap of Art Blakey –and features an expanded sound from the quintet era of his group – with a sublime horn lineup that features Wayne Shorter on tenor, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, and Curtis Fuller on trombone – all gliding along these soaring piano lines from Cedar Walton! Reggie Workman works some real magic on bass, too – and the tracks are all very long – with titles that include "Free For All" and "Hammer Head" – both written by Shorter – plus "The Core", by Hubbard, and a beautiful version of Clare Fischer's "Pensativa".

This is the one that started it: Mosaic, recorded in 1961, was the first recording of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers as a sextet, a setting he kept from 1961-1964. The band's front line was trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, trombonist Curtis Fuller, and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter; Cedar Walton played piano and Jymie Merritt (a criminally underappreciated talent) was the bassist. Everything on this set was written by the musicians in the band. Walton wrote the burning title track; its blazing tempo and Eastern modes were uncharacteristic of the Jazz Messengers sound, but it swings like mad. Hubbard contributed two pieces to the album, the first of which is the groover "Down Under," with its blues gospel feel. The bandmembers dig their teeth into this one, carrying the blues theme to the breaking point as Hubbard fills in between…

One of the greatest non-blue Note albums ever recorded by Art Blakey in the early days - an album that was originally only ever issued in France, as the material here was done for a great new wave film directed by Roger Vadim! The vibe here is nicely different than some of the more familiar Blue Note albums of the time - in part because the set is a soundtrack, done in a spirit similar to the great Miles Davis French soundtrack of the same period - but also because the album features a very special appearance from the young tenor star Barney Wilen - a key player on the French scene who'd also shown up on Miles' soundtrack, and who's equally great here with Blakey! The rest of the group echoes the Jazz Messengers of the period - with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Bobby Timmons on piano, and Jymie Merritt on bass - players who do a nice job of linking the album to other Blakey work…

Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers - Midnight Session (1957) {Savoy Japan SV-0145 rel 1991}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 208 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 90 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 15 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1957, 1991 Savoy / Nippon Columbia Japan | SV-0145
Jazz / Hard Bop / Drums

In the fall of 1956, Blakey introduced a new edition of the Jazz Messengers with Jackie McLean (alto), Bill Hardman (trumpet), Sam Dockery (piano) and Spanky DeBrest(bass). Over the next 25 years Blakey's bands would go through many personnel changes (sometimes it seems as if everyone in jazz has worked with Art) but the hard bop sound of this prototypical unit became the model for all of Art's aggregations.