Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers 1958 - Paris Olympia

The mighty Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers caught live in Paris during their 1958 sojourn at the City of Light. You will be hard-pressed to find a more satisfying live hard bop set than this one.



Tracklisting

1. Just By Myself (Golson)
2. I Remember Clifford (Golson)
3. Are You Real(Golson)
4. Moanin' Timmons)
5. Justice(Monk)
6. Blues March(Golson)
7. Whisper Not(Golson)

Personnel

Lee Morgan tp
Benny Golson ts
Bobby Timmons p
Jymie Merritt b
Art Blakey d



Recorded at "L'Olympia", Paris, France, November 22, 1958 (Tracks 1, 2, 3) and December 17, 1958 (Tracks 4, 5, 6, 7)

Originally released by Fontana (F) 608 202 (LP) and Fontana 460 642 (EP)

Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder (1963)

The Sidewinder, Lee Morgan’s 24-bar blues with an infectious bass line and backbeat, instantly became one of the most popular pieces in modern jazz history. Every track on this classic album is a gem.

The Philadelphia-born trumpeter and superb bop stylist Lee Morgan apprenticed with Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey before emerging as a leader in his own right in the early ‘’60s for Blue Note Records. Although Morgan owed a stylistic debt to both Gillespie and Clifford Brown, he quickly developed a voice of his own that combined half-valve effects, Latin inflections, and full, fluid melodies. While many of Morgan’s later sessions for Blue Note would find him paired with saxophonist Hank Mobley, The Sidewinder features then up-and-coming tenor player Joe Henderson, plus Detroit pianist Barry Harris, bassist Bob Cranshaw, and drummer Billy Higgins. Along with the title track, an unconventional 24-bar blues, the album’’s compositional standout is “Totem Pole,” a minor Latin groove featuring an outstanding solo by Henderson. This is the kind of relaxed blowing date, invigorated by thoughtful performances, that forms the backbone of the Blue Note catalog. --Fred Goodman

Tracklist:
1 The Sidewinder
2 Totem Pole
3 Gary’s Notebook
4 Boy, What a Night
5 Hocus Pocus
6 Totem Pole [alternate take]

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N.B.: Material posted on this site is for information purposes only. You must delete it after listening and/or viewing and buy the original CDs.

Lee Morgan - Here’s Lee Morgan (1960)

This is a reissue of the 1960 debut album (originally on Vee-Jay Records) by jazz trumpet great Lee Morgan. Morgan had one of the sharpest, brashest modern trumpet sounds in the ‘60s, right up there with contemporaries Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard. On his debut he was in great company: hard bop drum legend Art Blakey (whose Jazz Messengers Morgan was a member of), ‘50s Miles and Coltrane pianist Wynton Kelly, bass ace Paul Chambers, and the fine, underrated tenor sax of Clifford Jordan.

The program is the usual mix of standards and originals, with a fine-and-mellow version of Frank Sinatra’s ballad “I’m A Fool To Want You.” Wayne Shorter’s sturdy “Running Brook” pointed towards the moody, thoughtful hard bop of the Blue Note era. On his debut, Morgan was still heavily under the sway of Miles and Kenny Dorham, not having yet developed the bristling, crackling sound that was his mid-to-late ‘60s trademark. But the seeds of greatness are present in this easygoing set of mainstream jazz, and this set is all the more valuable for the distinctive tenor of Jordan.

Recorded at Bell Sound Studios, New York from February 2-8, 1960. Originally released on Vee-Jay (3007).
Personnel: Lee Morgan (trumpet, flugelhorn); Clifford Jordan (tenor saxophone); Wynton Kelly (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Art Blakey (drums).

Tracklist

1. Terrible T
2. Mogie
3. I’m a Fool to Want You
4. Running Brook
5. Off Spring
6. Bess

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N.B.: Material posted on this site is for information purposes only. You must delete it after listening and/or viewing and buy the original CDs.

Art Blakey - Moanin' 1958

This is truly one of the great classics of hard bop, with drummer Art Blakey leading arguably his greatest Jazz Messengers lineup through a driving program that never lets up. Tenor saxophonist Benny Golson (whose composition "Along Came Betty" is heard here, subsequently becoming a jazz classic), brilliant trumpeter Lee Morgan, and funky pianist Bobby Timmons (who wrote the hit title cut) each take some of the best solos of their great careers, and Blakey was never greater. No jazz record collection should be without this disc. It remains one of the premier items in Blue Note's catalog, and rightfully so.



Same band as above gave us this gem, recorded in 1958 at the famous Olympia in Paris, one of the best live albums in jazz, period.