Moanin'

Blakey, Art and the Jazz Messengers

album cover

Hard-Swinging Hard Bop

The horn players who spent time as part of the Jazz Messengers—the finishing school run by drummer Art Blakey whose alums include Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan (heard in sparkling form here), and Curtis Fuller—revered the drummer as the great fire starter of small-group jazz. With just a carefully placed rim shot or a surging press roll, Blakey would nudge soloists along. The tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, another Messengers vet, once explained that these devices were Blakey's way of gently pushing his soloists: "He'd make one of those rolls and say 'No, you can't stop yourself now.'"

Close listening to the lively Moanin' reveals that side of Blakey, his ability to stir sparks out of thin air. It also shows how important the compositions were to his hard-bop laboratory. This set features some of the most engaging Messengers tunes ever recorded, among them pianist Bobby Timmons's prayer-meeting title track, which inspires a lip-slurring love letter from Morgan, and two pieces from saxophonist Benny Golson—the adventurous "Blues March" and the breezy stroll "Along Came Betty." Far from typical hard-bop blowing session quickies, these intricate tunes thrive on the Blakey zen, that ability to guide the music with strokes that are firm, definite, and vibrating with the feeling of swing.

Genre: Jazz
Released: 1958, Blue Note
Key Tracks: "Moanin'," "Along Came Betty," "Blues March."
Catalog Choice: A Night in Tunisia.
Next Stop: Horace Silver Quintet: Song for My Father
After That: Lee Morgan: The Sidewinder.
Book Page: 95