Mosaic (album)

chronology
Mosaic
Art Blakey studio album
Publication ; (s)	1962
admission	1961
Label (s)	Blue note
Format (s)	LP, CD
Genre (s)	jazz
Title (number)	5
running time	39:39 (CD)
occupation	Drums : Art Blakey ; Trumpet : Freddie Hubbard ; Trumpet : Curtis Fuller ; Tenor saxophone : Wayne Shorter ; Piano : Cedar Walton ; Bass : Jymie Merritt ;
production	Rudy Van Gelder
Studio (s)	Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs , New Jersey

Mosaic is a jazz album by Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers . It was recorded on October 2, 1961 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs , New Jersey , and released by Blue Note Records the following year .

The album

After Lee Morgan left , trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and trombonist Curtis Fuller joined the Jazz Messengers in 1961 and Blakeys' band expanded into a sextet without changing the basic character of the band. The new Jazz Messengers made their first appearance on August 17, 1961 in New York's Club Village Gate .

The Blue Note album Mosaic was - after a successful tour of Japan - the first major release of one of the most legendary Messengers cast; In addition to Blakey, Hubbard and Fuller, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter , pianist Cedar Walton , who had joined the band for Bobby Timmons , and Jymie Merritt on bass. This formation with the Shorter / Hubbard / Fuller frontline existed from 1961 to 1964.

During the Mosaic recording session, the band only recorded compositions by the band members, Walton's Mosaic , Hubbards Down Under and Crisis , as well as Curtis Fuller's oriental-looking Arabia . Shorter acted as musical director and contributed his composition Children of the Night .

rating

Cook and Morton note that even in the complex title track, a composition by Cedar Walton, the addition of the trombone to the band gives the band a new orchestral color, in addition to the rhythmic power of Blakey and the new pianist Cedar Walton compared to the rather lightweight Bobby Timmons. Leonard Feather emphasizes the possibilities of the arrangement, such as three-part ensemble play or two-part background play that accompanies the soloist. This development continued with the following albums Buhaina's Delight (1961), Ugetsu (1963) and Free for All (1964). Cook and Morton give Mosaic the highest rating, the All Music Guide the second highest.

The titles

Mosaic - Blue Note BST 84090

Mosaic ( Walton ) - 8:13
Down Under ( Hubbard ) - 5:29
Children of the Night ( Shorter ) - 8:51
Arabia ( Fuller ) - 9:10
Crisis ( Hubbard ) - 8:33

literature

Bob Blumenthal: liner notes for the new edition, 2005.
Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz. 1800 bands and artists from the beginning until today. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-01892-X .
Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
Leonard Feather : Original liner notes . 1961.

References and comments

↑ Two tracks from this performance (including Fuller's Arabia ) then appeared on the album Three Blind Mice, Vol. 2 . Bob Blumenthal mentions that the JJ Johnson Band (with Hubbard and Walton) and the Benny Golson / Art Farmer Jazztet with Curtis Fuller and McCoy Tyner or Cedar Walton also played in this line-up at this time; Blumenthal also writes that Blakey experimented with the sextet formation as early as 1957 (on the album Night in Tunisia ), albeit with a front line of alto and tenor saxophone and trumpet. He took this up again in his productions in the 1970s and 1980s.
↑ cf. Leonard Feather described in detail in the 1961 liner notes how Blakey introduced his new formation in Japan.
↑ Jymie Merritt left the Messengers in early 1962 and was replaced by Reggie Workman , first heard on the album Caravan .
↑ Walton recorded the track for the first time four months earlier on Clifford Jordan's album Starting Time for Jazzland Records ; see. Blumenthal 2005.
↑ Hubbard recorded the title, also with a sextet, but with Bernard McKinney on the euphonium and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter - on August 21, 1961 for his Blue Note album Ready for Freddie .
↑ Fuller first played the piece on his album The Curtis Fuller Jazztet with Benny Golson in August 1959 for Savoy Records , using the same front line with saxophonist Golson and trumpeter Lee Morgan .
↑ Feather, liner notes.
↑ All Music Guide

[1] Two tracks from this performance (including Fuller's Arabia ) then appeared on the album Three Blind Mice, Vol. 2 . Bob Blumenthal mentions that the JJ Johnson Band (with Hubbard and Walton) and the Benny Golson / Art Farmer Jazztet with Curtis Fuller and McCoy Tyner or Cedar Walton also played in this line-up at this time; Blumenthal also writes that Blakey experimented with the sextet formation as early as 1957 (on the album Night in Tunisia ), albeit with a front line of alto and tenor saxophone and trumpet. He took this up again in his productions in the 1970s and 1980s.

[2] . Leonard Feather described in detail in the 1961 liner notes how Blakey introduced his new formation in Japan.

[3] Jymie Merritt left the Messengers in early 1962 and was replaced by Reggie Workman , first heard on the album Caravan .

[4] Walton recorded the track for the first time four months earlier on Clifford Jordan's album Starting Time for Jazzland Records ; see. Blumenthal 2005.

[5] Hubbard recorded the title, also with a sextet, but with Bernard McKinney on the euphonium and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter - on August 21, 1961 for his Blue Note album Ready for Freddie .

[6] Fuller first played the piece on his album The Curtis Fuller Jazztet with Benny Golson in August 1959 for Savoy Records , using the same front line with saxophonist Golson and trumpeter Lee Morgan .

[7] Feather, liner notes.

[8] All Music Guide