Search - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers :: Moanin

A Beginning

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 07/03/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was my introduction to Bu in my college days, and in retrospect it barely scratches the surface. For a follow-up, pick up the eponymous collection on Columbia with Hank Mobley and Donald Byrd. Also, be certain your Blakey collection generously represents, among trumpet players, Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham, Freddie Hubbard, and Bill Hardman (not to mention Valery Ponomarev, Wynton Marsalis, and Terrence Blanchard). As for saxophonists, Golson, despite his compositional talents, is one of the lesser players to occupy that spot in a Blakey ensemble. Even when it comes to composers, if there's a "genius" among the Blakey contributors, it's Walter Davis, Jr. "Jodie," "Ronnie's a Dynamite Lady," "Backgammon," "Uranus," "Gypsy Folk Tales," "Scorpio Rises"--these are all Davis compositions that Blakey saw fit to record--challenging, adventurous material that places Blakey in the forefront of modern, progressive music, a musicmaker beyond category as opposed to being simply leader of jazz' foremost "hard bop" ensemble.



It's not easy to find, but look for another "Moanin'" on Laserlight. Recorded live, it features Hardman playing the title song like there was no tomorrow along with a cadenza on "Blue Moon" that Freddie, who introduced the tune on "3 Blind Mice," could have played only in his dreams. Another good introduction to Hardman's trumpet artistry is the Italian LP, "Art's Break," on which Art stops the band while Bill plays for half a dozen choruses unaccompanied.



That's jazz. That's the inexhaustible world of Art Blakey."