Art Blakey
(Pittsburgh, Pa, US 11.10.1919 - 16.10.1990)



few works:
Compact Jazz (1993)
The History Of Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers (1992)
Best Of Art Blakey (1989)
Blakey's Theme (1980)
In This Korner (1978)
Buttercorn Lady (1966)
Indestructible (1964)
A Night In Tunisia
Ugetsu (1963)
Three Blind Mice, Vol 1 (1962)
Three Blind Mice, Vol 2 (1962)
Jazz Messengers (1961)
Mosaic (1961)
Africaine [Limited Edition]
The Freedom Rider
Orgy In Rhythm Volumes 1 & 2
At The Jazz Corner Of The World, Vol. 1 & 2
Buhaina's Delight
Free For All
Moanin'
The Big Beat
Big Beat (1960)
Like Someone In Love (1960)
Copenhagen 1959 (1959)
Moanin' (Blue Note) (1958)
The African Beat
Roots And Herbs
The Witch Doctor
Drums Around The Corner (Connoisseur Series)
Art Blakey's Big Band (1957)
Ritual (1957)
At The Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 (Rvg Edition)
At The Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2 (Rvg Edition)
A Night At Birdland, Vol 1 (1954)
A Night At Birdland, Vol 2 (1954)
Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers
Meet You At The Jazz Corner Of The World (Rvg Edition)
Blue Night
Feeling Good
Free For All
Hard Drive
In My Prime

Though self-taught he developed into one of the most explosive, singular bandleaders of the modern era. He often told the story of how in his developmental days in Pittsburgh, he went into a club as a budding piano player, only to be ordered to play the drums by a gangster-clubowner because Erroll Garner was already at the keyboard. By age 14 he was leading his own dance band. Blakey's first noted sideman job came in 1942 with Mary Lou Williams, whom he joined for a club engagement at Kelly's Stables in New York. The following year he joined Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, where he stayed until 1944, whereupon he briefly led his own big band in Boston. Later in 1944 Blakey joined Billy Eckstine's modern jazz big band, where he met numerous other bebop trailblazers. In 1947 Blakey put together a band called the Seventeen Messengers, and later made a recording with his Jazz Messengers, which would become his famous band name thereafter. A subsequent trip to Africa, ostensibly to immerse himself in Islam, revealed to him that jazz was truly an American music, which he preached from the bandstand thereafter. In the early 1950s he worked with such greats as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Horace Silver, and Clifford Brown. The latter two became members of the Jazz Messengers, which was originally a cooperative unit. In 1955 Blakey and Silver made it official, bringing Hank Mobley and Kenny Dorham into the Jazz Messengers. Silver left to form his own band in 1956 and Blakey was forever after the leader of the Jazz Messengers. The Messengers went on to play in a style that critics called hard bop, a logical progression on the bebop style that was more hard driving and blues-oriented. The Messengers made a concerted effort at re-kindling the black audience for jazz that had begun to erode when the ballroom era of jazz declined. Despite his pronouncement that jazz is a peculiarly American art form (....no America, no jazz... he was fond of saying), Art Blakey powered his bands with a distinctive, hard driving, take-no-prisoners style of drumming that recalled the thunderous and communicative drum traditions of Africa. His use of cross-rhythms and strategic dropping of bombs to further accent and drive his bands became his signature, as his drumming became among the most easily recognized sounds in jazz. Since forming his first Jazz Messengers band Blakey has welcomed generations of exceptional young musicians who've evolved to become prominent bandleaders and contributors themselves. That list, reading like a who's who of nearly forty years of jazz, includes: Donald Byrd, Johnny Griffin, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Woody Shaw, Joanne Brackeen, Bobby Watson, James Williams, and three of the Marsalis Brothers (Wynton, Branford, and Delfeayo). For the remainder of his career Blakey was relentless in taking the Jazz Messengers message across the globe. On rare occasions he did pause to play in various all-star bands, including the Giants of Jazz, with Dizzy Gillespie, Kai Winding, Sonny Stitt, Thelonious Monk, and Al McKibbon.