Art Blakey – And The Jazz Messengers

This is part of the Blue Note Rudy Van Gelder Editions series.

If you simply can only have one Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers disc it absolutely must be MOANIN’. This 1958 Blue Note date is the cream of the early Messengers’ studio sessions. The group of this period featured the wailing Lee Morgan (trumpet), the swinging Benny Golson (sax) and the soulful Bobby Timmons (piano) with longtime bassist Jymie Merritt by Blakey’s side. All of the pieces fell into place here to create one of the most hard-swinging, blues-inflected records in jazz history.