Search - Art Blakey :: Album of the Year

Sending the Message of Jazz

Lincoln | Black Mountain, NC United States | 04/28/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a great album! Released in 1981, when Art Blakey had almost 50 years in the music business, he brings in the fresh young talent of the then 20 year old Wynton Marsalis on trumpet along with Kansas City's own Robert Watson and the classically trained Bill Pierce on sax. A very tight band and a really fabulous set."

Monodynamic, but excellent monodynamics

Andrew Taranto | Kew Gardens, NY United States | 10/07/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The 6 cuts on "Album of the Year" are pretty uniformly high-energy: medium to fast tempos, high volume, busy arrangements. Even where the volume comes down (e.g., bass solos), the intensity remains high. Because of the large group, solos are short, and don't have a lot of dynamic range themselves: 1-2 choruses of blowing."Album of the Year" is notably -- though not significantly -- marred by the nasal bass tone: it sounds like it could be an electric upright. Whether it's a function of recording/sound engineering, or the bassist's (Charles Fambrough) gear, it sounds strange in the context of the album overall (not that there's anything wrong with electric uprights per se). Frmbrough's playing makes this a minor cause for complaint.Since the playing is uniformly high-caliber, the high intensity is uniformly exhilerating. This makes an excellent "driving album.""