History of Art Blakey & Jazz Messengers
Ralph Geiger
Messengers albums I have are "Free For All" and the one with Monk, and
this looks like a good way to cover the rest without becoming a
completist. The only trouble is that it costs $40-45 for only 3 CD's. Is
this the way to go, or would the money be better spent on individual
albums?
--
Ralph Geiger
<gei...@email.unc.edu>
Kevin Bresnahan
If it's only a taste you're after, save some dough and pick up the "Greatest
Hits" Blue Note compilation. Although I haven't owned it in quite awhile, I
remember it having "A Night in Tunisia" and "Moanin'". These 2 tracks alone
will make you buy some of the Messenger's discs.
Kevin
Thomas F Brown
>Is anyone out there familiar with this set? So far the only Jazz
>Messengers albums I have are "Free For All" and the one with Monk, and
>this looks like a good way to cover the rest without becoming a
>completist. The only trouble is that it costs $40-45 for only 3 CD's. Is
>this the way to go, or would the money be better spent on individual
>albums?
The earlier bands are so much superior to the later ones (IMO) that
the set's quality is necessarily very uneven. So I would recommend
individual CDs, unless you really are interested in the historical
progression.
Gordon G. Blewis
gei...@email.unc.edu (Ralph Geiger) wrote:
>Is anyone out there familiar with this set? So far the only Jazz
>Messengers albums I have are "Free For All" and the one with Monk, and
>this looks like a good way to cover the rest without becoming a
>completist. The only trouble is that it costs $40-45 for only 3 CD's. Is
>this the way to go, or would the money be better spent on individual
>albums?
>
A Night At Birdland, Vol.1 with Clifford Brown, Horace Silver- also on the
excellent Clifford Brown Mosaic set which is long sold-out.
Moanin'- with Benny Golson. Great record, great tunes.
Ugetsu - same band as Free For All.
Album of the Year- 1980 with WMarsalis, Bobby Watson, Charles Fambrough, Billy
Pierce. Best of the later years.
If you want to buy a set, by all means get the 6 cd Mosaic set of the 1960-61
Wayne Shorter-Lee Morgan Messengers.
bu...@ibm.net
>gei...@email.unc.edu (Ralph Geiger) writes:
>> Is anyone out there familiar with this set? So far the only Jazz
>> Messengers albums I have are "Free For All" and the one with Monk, and
>> this looks like a good way to cover the rest without becoming a
>> completist. The only trouble is that it costs $40-45 for only 3 CD's. Is
>> this the way to go, or would the money be better spent on individual
>> albums?
>>
>
>Hits" Blue Note compilation. Although I haven't owned it in quite awhile, I
>remember it having "A Night in Tunisia" and "Moanin'". These 2 tracks alone
>will make you buy some of the Messenger's discs.
>
>
> Kevin
Ralph/Kevin -
If what you're referring to is the Mosaic set, listen to a couple of cuts of their
early work, and if you like them , get it.. I did. Truth is, that Art Blakey went
through so many changes that I had flat forgotten just how good he and the early
bands were.
My two cents.
Enjoy the music.
TonyB
John Chacona
>In article <geiger-2004...@async101.async.duke.edu>,
> gei...@email.unc.edu (Ralph Geiger) wrote:
>>Is anyone out there familiar with this set? So far the only Jazz
>>Messengers albums I have are "Free For All" and the one with Monk, and
>>this looks like a good way to cover the rest without becoming a
>>completist. The only trouble is that it costs $40-45 for only 3 CD's. Is
>>this the way to go, or would the money be better spent on individual
>>albums?
>>
>I would go the individual route:
>A Night At Birdland, Vol.1 with Clifford Brown, Horace Silver- also on the
>excellent Clifford Brown Mosaic set which is long sold-out.
>Moanin'- with Benny Golson. Great record, great tunes.
>Ugetsu - same band as Free For All.
>Album of the Year- 1980 with WMarsalis, Bobby Watson, Charles Fambrough, Billy
>Pierce. Best of the later years.
>If you want to buy a set, by all means get the 6 cd Mosaic set of the 1960-61
>Wayne Shorter-Lee Morgan Messengers.
To this, I might add "Indestructible" on Blue Note (I think the CD
reissue is a Connessieur). This band slams and Wayne Shorter, under
the spell of Trane (yet very much his own man), plays in a zone he was
not to reach again until "Plugged Nickel." Lee Morgan is wonderful,
th tunes are kind of modal burners and the entire set is incandescent.
My favorite Messengers (though probably not to everyone's tastes).
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
John Chacona
sir...@erie.net
http://www.erie.net/~sirius/ (coming soon)
Chairman and Neonetologist at Chacona's, a cybercafe in Erie, PA
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Junbste
"The Big Beat" (BN-4029)
"Mosaic" (BN-4090)
"Buhania's Delight" (BN-4104)
"The Freedom Riders" (BN-4156)
"Like Someone in Love" (BN-4245)
I would like to hear your opinions.
Thanks,
Bryan
Michael Kelly
>Does anyone have any take on the following albums:
>
>"The Big Beat" (BN-4029)
This is one of my favorite Messengers. I especially like
the tunes Politely and Dat Dere.
>
>"Mosaic" (BN-4090)
>
>"Buhania's Delight" (BN-4104)
>
>"The Freedom Riders" (BN-4156)
>
>"Like Someone in Love" (BN-4245)
>
>I would like to hear your opinions.
>Thanks,
>Bryan
One of my other real favorites not listed is
Ugetsu. I guess I like a lot of the CDs
that have Wayne Shorter in the group.
--
Mike
"Sometimes it takes a long time to sound like yourself."
- Miles Davis
Jack Woker
>
>Does anyone have any take on the following albums:
>
>"The Big Beat" (BN-4029)
>
>"Mosaic" (BN-4090)
>
>"Buhania's Delight" (BN-4104)
>
>"The Freedom Riders" (BN-4156)
>
>"Like Someone in Love" (BN-4245)
>
>I would like to hear your opinions.
>Thanks,
>Bryan
All of these are superb albums and you would not be disappointed in any
of them. All of them feature Wayne Shorter. Lee Morgan is on "The Big
Beat", "Freedom Rider" (the tune "Blue Lace" is a personal favorite),
and "Like Someone in Love". "Mosaic" and "Buhaina's Delight" are
slightly later, and feature a sextet with Freddie Hubbard and Curtis
Fuller. These all date from 1960-61, an especially fruitful period for
Blakey.
jack
Ed Berkeley
line-up, is definitly worth checking out. You just can't go too wrong
when you've got Lee Morgan & Wayne Shorter playing with Blakey.
As far as "Mosaic", I put it right behind "Free For All' and "Ugetsu" as
far as that Messengers line-up.
Both are worth checking out.
Later,
ED
Glenn Lea
> Does anyone have any take on the following albums:
These three:
> "The Big Beat" (BN-4029)
> "The Freedom Riders" (BN-4156)
> "Like Someone in Love" (BN-4245)
are from 1960-1 with Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Timmons, Jymie
Merritt and Blakey. They're all in the Mosaic box set and are of
uniformly (very) high quality.
These two
> "Mosaic" (BN-4090)
> "Buhania's Delight" (BN-4104)
are from late '61 with Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Shorter, Cedar
Walton, Merritt and Blakey. I only have Mosaic, which is really good. I
prefer Morgan to Hubbard, so I'd lean toward the earlier three, but the
extra horn (Fuller's trombone) in the later groups does add a lot. For
this reason I'd suggest grabbing the limited edition of "Indestructable"
(which has Fuller AND Morgan) before it disappears.
In short, this is all prime Blakey -- it's hard to go wrong here.
--
Glenn Lea
Patrick Foley
In article <DqE2B...@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, Ed Berkeley
<eb...@virginia.edu> wrote:
FREE FOR ALL! What a record! Wayne Shorter was so prolific in the
mid-sixties, the records with Blakey, then Miles --- all those amazing
records with the Hancock/Carter/Williams version of the quintet --- and
the stuff he did as a leader for Blue Note --- ADAM'S APPLE! SPEAK NO
EVIL! Incredible...
Can someone bring me up to date? Has Wayne ever returned to non-fusion?
(I'm not knocking Weather Report, but it just never did for me what, say,
"Nefertiti" or "Free For All" or "Speak No Evil" does.)
Cheers,
Pat
"No where in man is there room for carelessness"
Charles Olson, THE MAXIMUS POEMS / Letter 7.
Michael Fitzgerald
On 23 Apr 1996 16:36:10 -0400, jun...@aol.com (Junbste) wrote:
>Does anyone have any take on the following albums:
>"The Big Beat" (BN-4029)
Fairly standard quintet messengers. Wayne, Lee, Timmons, Merritt.
Has "Dat Dere" by Timmons.
I much prefer....
>"Mosaic" (BN-4090)
One of the finest albums ever. Hubbard, Wayne, Curtis, Cedar, Merritt.
The tunes are amazing - Mosaic, Down Under, Crisis, Children of the
Night, Arabia. If you don't like this one, I don't know what to tell
you....
>"Buhania's Delight" (BN-4104)
Same band as above, but not as good. Still an excellent record. "Moon
River" is beautiful. CD has alternate takes/versions.
>"The Freedom Riders" (BN-4156)
Not on cd from Blue Note yet. OK quintet material with Walter Davis
and Timmons trading off, as I recall.
>"Like Someone in Love" (BN-4245)
One of the better quintet sessions. Recorded at the same time as the
phenomenal "Night In Tunisia" album.
Mike
Bonnie J. Nicholas
ma...@galaxy.nsc.com (Mike Maida) wrote:
>In article 2104...@news.eclipse.net, fitz...@eclipse.net (Michael Fitzgerald) writes:
>> On 23 Apr 1996 16:36:10 -0400, jun...@aol.com (Junbste) wrote:
>>
>> >Does anyone have any take on the following albums:
>> >"The Big Beat" (BN-4029)
>>
>> Fairly standard quintet messengers. Wayne, Lee, Timmons, Merritt.
>> Has "Dat Dere" by Timmons.
>>
>> I much prefer....
>>
>> >"Mosaic" (BN-4090)
>>
>> One of the finest albums ever. Hubbard, Wayne, Curtis, Cedar, Merritt.
>> The tunes are amazing - Mosaic, Down Under, Crisis, Children of the
>> Night, Arabia. If you don't like this one, I don't know what to tell
>> you....
>I agree.
>>
>> >"Buhania's Delight" (BN-4104)
>>
>> Same band as above, but not as good. Still an excellent record. "Moon
>> River" is beautiful. CD has alternate takes/versions.
>Yes, this is also very good, although I dunno about Moon River.
>>
>> >"The Freedom Riders" (BN-4156)
>>
>> Not on cd from Blue Note yet. OK quintet material with Walter Davis
>> and Timmons trading off, as I recall.
>>
>> >"Like Someone in Love" (BN-4245)
>>
>> One of the better quintet sessions. Recorded at the same time as the
>> phenomenal "Night In Tunisia" album.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>I love the sextet with Hubbard, Shorter and Fuller. The heads took advantage of
>the harmonic possibilities of the 3 horn front line. Free For All and the live CD's
>Three Blind Mice vol. 1 and 2 are very hot. V. 1 has the coolest version of
>Three Blind Mice I ever heard!!! Wayne Shorter really came into his own as a
>soloist in this group. TBM has a great live version of Shorter's tune "Crisis"
>which he orginally recorded on Hubbard's "Ready For Freddie." This has similar
>group sound since it has a third horn (euphonium) but Elvin Jones is on drums.
>I recommend it!
>After Buhania's Delight, they recorded 1 album of standards for Impulse with Lee
>Morgan instead of Hubbard, I think. How good is this one??? Then they went back
>to Blue Note, recorded Free For All with Hubbard and Indestructible with Morgan which
>I haven't heard yet either. Comments on that one????
>Mike Maida (ma...@galaxy.nsc.com}
I ordered "Indestructible" by accident. (I had wanted "Free For
All"). Lucky accident! Its a great album! I would defintely
recommend it.
John Nicholas
Mike Maida
Jack Woker
In <DqI0L...@voder.nsc.com> ma...@galaxy.nsc.com (Mike Maida) writes:
>
t
>>
>>
>After Buhania's Delight, they recorded 1 album of standards for
Impulse with Lee
>Morgan instead of Hubbard, I think. How good is this one??? Then
they went back
>to Blue Note, recorded Free For All with Hubbard and Indestructible
with Morgan which
>I haven't heard yet either. Comments on that one????
>
>Mike Maida (ma...@galaxy.nsc.com}
Mike, you have your chronology a little mixed up here. Here are the
correct recording dates for Blakey's sextet albums:
June 13/14, 1961 - Impulse
August 17, 1961 - Three Blind Mice Village Gate live portion
October 2, 1961 - Mosaic
November 28/December 18, 1961 - Buhaina's Delight
March 16/18, 1962 - Three Blind Mice Renaissance live portion
October 23/24, 1962 - Caravan
June 16, 1963 - Ugetsu
February 10, 1964 - Free For All
February 20, 1964 - Kyoto
April 24/May 15, 1964 - Indestructible
November 15/16/25, 1964 - S'Make It
April 21/May 12/13, 1965 - Soul Finger
>
jack>
Lew Green
jun...@aol.com (Junbste) wrote:
>Does anyone have any take on the following albums:
Yes... I believe all of Blakey's BN's are worth getting at somepoint...
but if on a budget:
>"The Big Beat" (BN-4029)
Upper Mid-level enthusiasm here...
>"Mosaic" (BN-4090)
One of my very, very favorite Blakey BN's... with Wayne Shorter and Freddie
Hubbard in top form ... I love Hubbard's "Crisis" (didn't he write it?) This is
one of those LPs where IMO the whole album is song after song is excellent...
and will sound more like a 60's Shorter or Hubbard LP... than the earlier
material...
>"Buhania's Delight" (BN-4104)
>"The Freedom Riders" (BN-4156)
Again the similar style messengers of "mosaic"... I hear the Shorter becoming
the composer and player that was to lead to JuJu and Speak No Evil... But Mosaic
remains my first pick of these... Freedom Rider last because of the very long
drum solo... I'm only occassionally in the mood for those...
>"Like Someone in Love" (BN-4245)
I never quite "got" this LP ... haven't listened in a couple years and should do
so again...
LG
Scott Murman
According to Mike Maida <ma...@galaxy.nsc.com>:
>Then they went back
>to Blue Note, recorded Free For All with Hubbard and Indestructible with Morgan which
>I haven't heard yet either. Comments on that one????
I got Indestructible! as soon as it came out, and it quickly became
one of my favorite discs, period. Almost all of the tunes are written
by Curtis Fuller, and really feature the trombone and hard horn
playing in general. If you like great musicians letting it all hang
out, and just playing, then I would recommend it. Besides, it's a
limited edition, whatever that means these days.
SM
Marc Sabatella
Patrick Foley wrote:
> Can someone bring me up to date? Has Wayne ever returned to non-fusion?
> (I'm not knocking Weather Report, but it just never did for me what, say,
> "Nefertiti" or "Free For All" or "Speak No Evil" does.)
As a sideman, sure. His playing on the VSOP dates from the 70's, or the Miles
Davis tribute band of a few years ago, and several other recordings, is still
great. But he doesn't seem to be writing in that style, or organizing such
projects of his own.
--
Marc Sabatella
--
ma...@fc.hp.com
http://www.fortnet.org/~marc/
--
All opinions expressed herein are my personal ones
and do not necessarily reflect those of HP or anyone else.