The Jazz Messengers
The Jazz Messengers (1955–1990) were a jazz band with a rotating line-up led by drummer Art Blakey . The Messengers were originally a project by jazz pianist Horace Silver with Art Blakey.
Band history
Prehistory 1947–1954
In 1947, Art Blakey formed a short-lived big band he called "The Seventeen Messengers". In 1952 and 1953, Art Blakey was the drummer of the newly founded Horace Silver Trio and participated in the two 10 "LPs Introducing the Horace Silver Trio and Horace Silver Trio Vol. 2 (later combined on an LP under the title Horace Silver and Spotlight on the Drums: Art Blakey - Sabu ). With the newly compiled Art Blakey Quintet (consisting of Clifford Brown , Lou Donaldson , Horace Silver and Curly Russell ) he recorded the now legendary live music for Blue Note Records on February 21, 1954 . Session A Night at Birdland on.
The Jazz Messengers with Horace Silver 1954–1956
| Original line-up in 1954 | |
|---|---|
| Drums: | Kind of Blakey |
| Saxophone: | Hank Mobley |
| Trumpet: | Kenny Dorham |
| Piano: | Horace Silver |
| bass | Doug Watkins |
In November 1954 and February 1955 Art Blakey played in the Horace Silver Quintet , consisting of Horace Silver, Kenny Dorham , Hank Mobley and Doug Watkins . This constellation represented the original line-up of the Jazz Messengers. The two recorded 10 "LPs Horace Silver Quintet , Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (BLP 5058/5062) were combined to form a 12" LP in 1956 and under the album title Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers re-released. In March 1955 Art Blakey, Horace Silver and Hank Mobley accompanied the trumpeter Kenny Dorham on his own album Afro-Cuban (Blue Note 92744).
On November 23, 1955, the original line-up was recorded live in the Café Bohemia in New York , which was released under the band and album name The Jazz Messengers - At the Café Bohemia , Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (BLP 1507/1508) on Blue Note Records was released. When Kenny Dorham left the Jazz Messengers in 1956 to finally pursue his solo career, he was replaced by Donald Byrd . In this constellation, the next album The Jazz Messengers was recorded for Columbia Records .
Band history until 1991
Horace Silver, the musical director of the group, left the band name to Art Blakey after his departure in 1956, so that the band henceforth operated under the name Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers . When Hank Mobley left, Bill Hardman and Jackie McLean formed the frontline of the band. During the Bill Hardman era, the Messengers shared Atlantic CD with Thelonious Monk and Johnny Griffin in March 1957.
The most significant change in personnel at the end of the 1950s was the entry of tenor saxophonist Benny Golson , who also served as musical director and composer, and the young trumpeter Lee Morgan . The rhythm section was supplemented by the pianist Bobby Timmons and the bassist Jymie Merritt, who stayed with the Messengers until 1962 .
| Occupation 1958 | |
|---|---|
| Drums: | Kind of Blakey |
| Saxophone: | Benny Golson |
| Trumpet: | Lee Morgan |
| Piano: | Bobby Timmons |
| Bass: | Jymie Merritt |
The normal format of the Messengers was a quintet with trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums; However, the band was temporarily expanded to a sextet - as in the early 1960s with the addition of trombonist Curtis Fuller to the front line - to be heard on the Blue Note album Mosaic in 1961. Later, two saxophones (tenor and alto ) tries. Blakey each set a musical director, in which role, in addition to Silver and other pianists, the tenor saxophonists Benny Golson and Wayne Shorter appeared. The latter was then recruited by Miles Davis for his quintet, where he succeeded John Coltrane . Blakey asked all band members for contributions to the repertoire whenever possible. The compositions " Moanin ' " ( Bobby Timmons ) and " Blues March " (Benny Golson), which could hardly be missing from the Messengers' appearances, became famous .
| Occupation 1961 | |
|---|---|
| Drums: | Kind of Blakey |
| Saxophone: | Wayne Shorter |
| Trumpet: | Freddie Hubbard |
| Trombone: | Curtis Fuller |
| Piano: | Cedar Walton |
| Bass: | Jymie Merritt |
The group's great time was the decade 1955–1965, when several well-known albums were created for Blue Note Records , such as A Night in Tunisia 1960, Roots and Herbs 1961, Mosaic 1961 and Free for All 1964. The Messengers probably formed alongside the Horace Silver Quintett one of the pillars on which the success of this label, which was largely dedicated to hard bop , rested at the time. After hard bop lost its importance towards the end of the 1960s and "Blue Note" temporarily disappeared from the scene with it, the messengers were pushed to the edge of the scene, although they continued until Blakey's death in 1990. Major musicians who were members of the Messengers during this period include John Gilmore 1964/65, Keith Jarrett and Chuck Mangione 1966, Billy Harper and Ronnie Mathews 1968, Joanne Brackeen 1969–71, Jan Arnet 1969/70, Woody Shaw 1971 –73 and again Bill Hardman and Johnny Griffin, and Junior Mance and Reggie Workman .
In the early 1970s, Blakey turned to other projects, but occasionally continued to perform with the Messengers . In 1975 he re-formed the Messengers with young musicians such as the Russian trumpeter Valery Ponomarev , the saxophonist Bobby Watson and David Schnitter , for which the pianist Walter Davis contributed some succinct compositions such as Jodi and Uranus . Bill Hardman was repeatedly called in to work and, with his thirty years of service (1956–87), he certainly had a share in the continuity of the Messengers . In later line-ups, Blakey brought in pianist James Williams and bassist Dennis Irwin .
| Occupation 1981 | |
|---|---|
| Drums: | Kind of Blakey |
| Trumpet: | Wynton Marsalis |
| Saxophone: | Bobby Watson |
| Saxophone: | Bill Pierce |
| Piano: | James Williams |
| Bass: | Charles Fambrough |
Although the late messengers could no longer match the success of their predecessors from 1955 to 1965, they were an extraordinary "talent factory" of hardbop or neobop , which later became successful musicians such as Wynton Marsalis , Branford Marsalis , Kenny Garrett , Robin Eubanks and Mulgrew Miller , Lonnie Plaxico , Terence Blanchard or Frank Lacy should emerge. Blakey has also performed with reunions of the old Messengers line-up at various jazz festivals, such as the Kool Jazz Festival in 1981, in Japan in 1983 and the Blue Note Festival in 1985.
Blakey toured regularly with the band until 1990, appearing at the North Sea Jazz Festival and Moldejazz , and recording albums, most recently in April 1990 with trumpeter Brian Lynch , trombonist Steve Davies , saxophonist Dale Barlow and Javon Jackson , pianist Geoff Keezer and bassist Essiet Okon Essiet . The Jazz Messengers last performed in the week before Blakey's death - at New York's Sweet Basil .
Band history after Blakey's death
The Jazz Messengers Reunion Band , founded in 2004, included trumpeter Valery Ponomarev, tenor saxophonist David Schnitter, alto saxophonist Bobby Watson, pianist Mulgrew Miller and bassist Lonnie Plaxico with changing drummers such as Louis Hayes and Ben Riley .
Another ghost band formed Blakey contemporaries Benny Golson , Curtis Fuller with Geoff Keezer, Terence Blanchard, Peter Washington and Lewis Nash for a concert at the Iridium Jazz Club in November 1997; the recording was released as The Legacy of Art Blakey on Telarc.
Quotes
Blakey sums up the way the band works ironically: "When the guys in the band get too old, I get younger ones, it keeps the spirit going"
Leonard Feather : "The messengers determined the hard bop area of jazz with a tremendous kinetic force , for which Blakey's imaginative and stimulating work was largely responsible."
Occupations
- Saxophonists: Jackie McLean , Johnny Griffin , Lou Donaldson , Hank Mobley , Benny Golson , Wayne Shorter , Donald Harrison , Bill Pierce , Michael Brecker , Javon Jackson , Bobby Watson
- Trumpeters: Clifford Brown , Kenny Dorham , Donald Byrd , Lee Morgan , Freddie Hubbard , Bill Hardman , Charles Tolliver , Woody Shaw , Terence Blanchard , Valery Ponomarev , Wynton Marsalis , Jean Toussaint , Wallace Roney , Randy Brecker
- Trumpet: Robin Eubanks , Curtis Fuller
- Pianists: Horace Silver , Bobby Timmons , Walter Davis Jr. , Ronnie Mathews , Cedar Walton , Chick Corea , Keith Jarrett , Johnny O'Neal , James Williams , Donald Brown , Sam Dockery , Harold Mabern , Mulgrew Miller , Ray Bryant , Joanne Brackeen , Geoff Keezer , John Hicks
- Bassists: Oscar Pettiford , Doug Watkins , Jymie Merritt , Reggie Workman , Lonnie Plaxico , Spanky DeBrest , Reggie Johnson , Charles Fambrough , Stanley Clarke
Discographic notes
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Chart placements (preliminary) Explanation of the data |
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| Albums | ||||||||||||
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- 1955 Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers ( Blue Note , BLP 1518)
- 1955 At the Cafe Bohemia , Vol. 1 & 2 (BLP 1507/1508; recorded live on November 23, 1955)
- 1956 The Jazz Messengers (with Horace Silver), (Columbia, CL 897)
- 1957 Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk ( Atlantic Records )
- 1956/57 Drumsuite (with Ray Bryant's hit "Cubano Chant"), (RCA Victor)
- 1958 Moanin ' (Blue Note)
- 1959 Just Coolin ' (Blue Note, ed. 2020)
- 1960: A Night in Tunisia (Blue Note)
- 1961: Jazz Messengers (Impulse Records)
- 1961: Mosaic (Blue Note)
- 1961: Buhaina's Delight (Blue Note)
- 1962: Three Blind Mice Vol 1 & 2 (Blue Note)
- 1962: Caravan (OJC)
- 1963: Ugetsu (OJC)
- 1964: Kyoto (OJC)
- 1964: Indestructible (Blue Note)
- 1961 Buhaina's Delight (Blue Note)
- 1964 Free for All (Blue Note)
- 1965 S'Make It ( Verve Records )
- 1982 Keystone 3 (Concord)
- 1984 The New York Scene (Concord)
- 1985 Live at Kimball’s (Concord)
- 1990 Chippin 'In (Timeless)
Web links
- Complete discography ( memento of October 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- chronology
References and comments
- ↑ The success of the messenger also saved the financially precarious situation of the label from ruin; it was mainly thanks to the success of titles like The Preacher and Doodlin ' , which Alfred Lion initially wanted to reject.
- ↑ Online chronology
- ↑ Radio Protocol - Hardbop (ORF)
- ↑ However, between 1969 and 1972 he brought Joanne Brackeen into his band, and for a short time in 1986 Gail Thompson also played with the Messengers ; Otherwise, however, he never resorted to female jazz musicians .
- ↑ Chart sources: DE