CD-Charts Position 1

Live at the 1972 Monterey Jazz Festival

by: Art Blakey & Giants of Jazz

Release Date August 05, 2008

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Moanin'

by: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

Release Date March 23, 1999
This is simply a fantastic CD. One of the hard bop classics. Pure soul. Sound is great too! All the tracks are just amazing - the playing is simply sublime. Can't lose with this one!

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

A Night in Tunisia

by: Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers

Release Date February 15, 2005
Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers light up my CD players. In my home and in my car. I have been listening to Jazz since I was small and my Uncle played with many name bands. Good Jazz has always been a feeling for me more then a sound. Art Blakey and his band make me feel it baby.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1

by: Art Blakey, Clifford Brown, Horace Silver

Release Date August 07, 2001
First of all, enough other reviewers have covered the history and make-up of this CD, so I won't do that. All I want to say is, this is a delightful and historic piece of live jazz music that simply cannot be surpassed. The players assembled make this recording one for the ages. And if you think you might enjoy this (jazz fans definitely will, I reckon), my suggestion would be to go ahead and get Clifford Brown's The Complete Blue Note & Pacific Jazz Recordings, because that includes both this CD and the volume 2 companion, plus two more CD's of Brown's work. Wonderful, wonderful jazz you'll want to share with everyone you know.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Mosaic

by: Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers

Release Date February 21, 2006
a generous offering by art blakey. the six selections are written by four of the sidemen. the way blakey plays he can afford to be generous, his solo on mosaic, the title track, is one of the best drum solos i've heard, even the metronomic cymbal he uses during his solo caught me between being distracted and wondering if someone else was playing a percussive instrument. the solos, particularly by curtis fuller and freddie hubbard, are spectacular. all selections are moderate to up tempo. my favorite piece is arabia by curtis fuller, for reasons previously mentioned, the soloing. and the ensembling.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Free for All

by: Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers

Release Date August 10, 2004
THIS IS ONE TRULY GREAT RECORDING, WITH A GREAT BAND. CURTIS FULLER, WAYNE SHORTER, FREDDIE HUBBARD, CEDAR WALTON, REGGIE WORKMAN. WOW! AND ART BLAKEY IS ON FIRE. IF YOU ENJOY LISTENING TO THE HARD BOP SOUND, THEN THIS ALBUM IS A MUST-HAVE FOR YOU. ANOTHER GREAT BLUE NOTE RECORDING FROM THE EARLY 60'S.............

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1

by: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

Release Date August 07, 2001
I cannot say enough good things about this record. I really like the atmosphere. I like the way Blakery announces the tunes. it kind of makes you feel that you are there. This issue adds two or three songs per volume in what is a two volume series.

All of the musicians play great. The quality of the sound is excellent. My favorite songs are Prince Albert and Soft Winds.

Hank Mobley and Kenny Dorham both play wonderfully. It is one of my favorite Mobley records. The rhythm section is as good as it gets. Horace Silver is fun and funky. Blakey out does himself.

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

The Jazz Messengers

by: Art Blakey

Release Date February 01, 2008
I think it is a fine album but not quite as ecclectic as Caravan. Straight be-bob becomes tiresome just like reggae in my humble opinion.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

A Night at Birdland, Vol. 2

by: Art Blakey, Clifford Brown, Horace Silver

Release Date August 07, 2001
The band: Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver, Curly Russell, Art Blakey. (Should recognize at least Brown, Silver and Blakey - big names in jazz.)

The venue: Birdland - "Jazz Corner of the World"

The production: Rudy Van Gelder remaster of a live recording. (Hot, but clean.)

The verdict: This is a worthwhile CD and should be in every serious jazz music collector's collection in one form or another (see below). It really swings and is seriously hot live jazz by some of the greatest jazz musicians ever to play music.

The caveat: You can buy Clifford Brown's The Complete Blue Note & Pacific Jazz Recordings, which contains this CD, A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1, The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Vol. 1, and another disc of Clifford's ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Roots & Herbs

by: Art Blakey

Release Date November 16, 1999
"Roots & Herbs" is the last recording by this particular edition of the Jazz Messengers, with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Bobby Timmons on piano, Jymie Merritt on bass, and Art Blakey pushing everyone from behind the drum set. Walter Davis Jr. replaces Timmons on a couple of tunes. Typically "A Night in Tunisia" and "The Big Beat," the earlier albums by this group, get more attention, but this one in particular is very intriguing in that all of the material is contributed by Wayne Shorter, at the time a new composing sensation who would go on to be possibly the greatest composer in the history of American music (insert debate here). One of Shorter's gifts, evident for the first time here, is his ability to write appropriately for the particular stylistic situation, ... Read More: