“These recordings by Art Blakey (whose birthday and deathaversary month fall on October) come from the period of classic dates such as A Night in Tunisia and Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World, when the Jazz Messengers lineup featured Lee Morgan (trumpet) and Wayne Shorter (tenor) on the front line, with Bobby Timmons (piano) and Jymie Merritt (bass) joining Blakey (drums) in the rhythm section. Unlike the other Godfather of hard bop, Horace Silver, Blakey’s Jazz Messengers had a pretty constant turnover of great sidemen, and this particular unit was together for about 16 months. It was a busy time, with the drummer and all his sidemen (save Merritt) leading multiple recording dates in addition to the 15 or so Jazz Messengers records that are mostly live. The music on this 3-CD set was originally released in the ’90s on Trema, but has apparently not been reissued since.
By now, even casual jazz fans may be aware that Morgan and Shorter are both considered bright stars in the jazz firmament, as with Blakey, but the reputation of Timmons needs burnishing. He was a brilliant and soulful soloist and an outstanding composer, and his approach to comping behind the horns bears close listening: the way he and Blakey interact with each other, while also reacting to the soloists, is special. His best-known tunes, such as “Moanin’” and “This Here”, were standards of the hard bop/soul jazz repertory, perfect gems whose simplicity and directness appealed to a wide audience—and such pieces are not easy to write.
The band was in electric form at L’Olympia on May 13, 1961, with both horn players going for broke on every track and the pianist contributing fireworks of his own, with Blakey and Merritt driving the rhythm along relentlessly. Shorter was still working his way through the influence of John Coltrane, an almost unavoidable rite of passage for his generation of tenor players, and one which very few navigated as successfully as he. Not everything he was trying worked out, but most of it did, and it’s a gas to hear him reaching for the stars. As for the “veteran” Morgan, he seems to have figured out his own way of building on Clifford Brown’s legacy before he even needed to shave; he was just 22 years old on this date, having led his first recording session over 5 years earlier. Morgan is typically brilliant here, and the excitement he and Shorter build is tremendous.
The Jazz Messengers’ extensive output places this release into the specialist category, but for Blakey, Morgan and Shorter collectors, it’s a must. Recording quality is imperfect but acceptable, and that caveat is more than balanced by Fremeaux’s high production standards and reasonable pricing.”
By Duck BAKER – THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
