Art Blakey - Delivering The Message

Art Blakey could seriously pound those skins, in fact, he pounded them harder than anyone. Art Blakey was joined by Horace Silver in early 50s to form a jazz group unlike any other. This group was called The Jazz Messengers. From this period on, this group became Blakey's main focal point.

Blakey was also a very demanding band leader. He once said "When you get on stage with me, you better blow." He was very serious too. If you didn't play your horn or your bass or your piano, he would pound you out. A strong characteristic of Blakey's bands were their ability to navigate through very fast syncopated lines and keep this energy and momentum going for a whole piece of music. Nobody played bebop like Blakey, nobody.

Most of Blakey's band members have gone on to do great things of their own: Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton, Horace Silver, Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Timmons, Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson, Walter Davis, Jr., Curtis Fuller, Terence Blanchard, Hank Mobley, and the list goes on.

Here are some essential Art Blakey recordings:

The Big Beat - 1960 Blue Note Records

Moanin' - 1958 Blue Note Records

A Night In Tunisia - 1960 Blue Note Records

Free For All - 1964 Blue Note Records

Caravan - 1962 Riverside Records

Ugetsu - 1963 Riverside Records

The Jazz Messengers - 1956 Columbia Records

Miles Davis: The Chameleon

Miles Davis had a sound on the trumpet unlike anyone before or after him. During his career, which lasted from the 40s through the early 90s, he established himself as not only an outstanding bandleader and trumpeter, but one of the innovators of jazz. He has helped develop bebop, modal jazz, progressive big band, avant-garde, jazz-rock, acid jazz, and fusion.

Davis' innovations can be traced all the way back to his days of playing on the bandstand with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Coleman Hawkins. The year of 1949 saw a change in Miles' approach to music. Blue Note Records released "Birth Of The Cool" and this signaled a very different approach to jazz music at that time. It also marked his first meeting with composer/arranger Gil Evans with whom Miles would go on to work with on such notable recordings as "Miles Ahead" and "Sketches Of Spain."

Miles' music can be divided up into two eras: the acoustic and the electric era. I prefer his acoustic era, because it was during this time he played with some of the living legends of jazz music and because for the sake of these articles I'm trying to limit them to bebop only. Some notable Davis bandmates include: Sonny Rollins, Red Garland, John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, Cannonball Adderley, Jimmy Cobb, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and the list continues. Miles' influence can be heard in all of these players and everybody else who has been associated or has been touched by his music.

Here is a list of what I consider essential Davis recordings:

Seven Steps To Heaven - 1963 Columbia Records
Miles Ahead - 1957 Columbia Records
Kind Of Blue - 1959 Columbia Records
Sketches Of Spain - 1960 Columbia Records
Porgy And Bess - 1958 Columbia Records
Relaxin' With The Miles Davis Quintet - 1956 Prestige Records
Steamin' With The Miles Davis Quintet - 1956 Prestige Records
Cookin' With The Miles Davis Quintet - 1956 Prestige Records
Workin' With The Miles Davis Quintet - 1956 Prestige Records
Bag's' Groove - 1954 Prestige Records

Birth Of The Cool - 1949 Blue Note Records

Thelonious Monk - A True Innovator Of Jazz

Thelonious Sphere Monk was one of jazz music's greatest composers and improvisers. What he did for jazz music was bring a unique harmonic vocabulary to the piano and a new understanding of single-note syncopation. 

Monk was also composer of the greatest jazz tunes ever written which are standards today like "Straight, No Chaser," "Ruby, My Dear," "Round Midnight," "Rhythm-a-ning," "Epistrophy," "Pannonica," "Well You Needn't," "Bemsha Swing," and many others.

Monk's own playing was also something that was very unique and no one could emulate. He had a very strange way of playing, many times he had a very hard touch and had kind of a percussive type of attack on the keys. This type of sound was very strong and his own harmonic sensibility was very dominate in a group. Many times horn players didn't know what to play over Monk's chords because they were unlike anything they have heard.

Monk has also played with some of the greatest jazz musicians to ever step a foot on the bandstand: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, Clark Terry, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Philly Joe Jones, Art Taylor, Phil Woods, Johnny Griffin, among others. Monk's own groups, and in particular, his long running quartet of Charlie Rouse, Ben Riley, and Larry Gales were also fine musicians that have been involved with his music. Tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse was really one of the only saxophonists who got inside of his music and turned it inside out. Rouse had a firm grasp of Monk's musical concepts. Check out this interesting partnership in action on the documentary "Straight, No Chaser."

I would like to end this small article with some recommendations for both people new to his music and for people who are already fans but may not know what to buy next. Here is a list of recordings that I have found in my own opinion to be some of his best:

Straight, No Chaser - 1967 Columbia Records
Underground - 1968 Columbia Records
Monk's Music - 1957 Riverside Records
With John Coltrane At Carnegie Hall - 1957, 2005 Blue Note Records
Misterioso - 1958 Riverside Records
Genius Of Modern Music Vols. 1 & 2 - 1947-1952 Blue Note Records
The Complete Prestige Recordings - 1952-1954 Prestige Records
Monk's Dream - 1962 Columbia Records
Thelonious Monk Orchestra At Town Hall - 1959 Riverside Records