Jazz Articles about Art Blakey

About Art Blakey

Album Review

Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins: Thelonious Monk with Sonny Rollins 1953 to 1957 Revisited

Read "Thelonious Monk with Sonny Rollins 1953 to 1957 Revisited" reviewed by Stefano Merighi

by Stefano Merighi
April 28, 2026

Negli anni Cinquanta il jazz era assai potente e si rafforzava anche in virtù di un'attrazione magnetica che ne avvicinava i protagonisti, individualisti sì ma anche sedotti dalle possibilità di avventure comuni. Tale magnetismo si è spesso concretizzato tra le figure torreggianti di Thelonious Monk e di Sonny Rollins. Questo CD della ezz-thetics ricostruisce la loro frequentazione nel periodo di un lustro, da quando Monk era ancora una sorta di reietto per il music business, e Rollins un ...

Album Review

Art Blakey And His Jazz Messengers: Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers Strasbourg 82

Read "Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers Strasbourg 82" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
December 6, 2025

This album captures a special concert and a pivotal moment in the history of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. It documents the re--formation of the band following the departure of trumpet player Wynton Marsalisand saxophonist Branford Marsalis. The new recruits--trumpeter Terence Blanchard and alto saxophonist Donald Harrison--were eager to prove their abilities, injecting the band with palpable energy. As was his custom, Blakey, the veteran bandleader, played with the fire and intensity of a musician just starting out. The ...

Album Review

Charlie Parker: At Birdland 1950 Revisited

Read "At Birdland 1950 Revisited" reviewed by Stefano Merighi

by Stefano Merighi
August 28, 2025

Il 1950 per Charlie Parker è un anno di cambiamenti. Dopo lo scioglimento del quintetto aureo con Miles Davis e Max Roach, le formazioni diventano più effimere, occasionali, almeno fino al sodalizio con Red Rodney. Norman Granz sta per trascinare Parker nella fortunata formula con gli archi, nel frattempo c'è l'impegno di una lunga e tormentata tournèe nel sud del paese. In questo contesto, le registrazioni preservate al Birdland di New York del giugno di quell'anno, possiedono un'aura ...

Reassessing

Trio and Quintet

by C. Michael Bailey
August 23, 2025

Pianist and composer Elmo Hope has more in common with Tadd Dameron than most of his other jazz peers. Both men were primarily composers and arrangers who concentrated on their own music rather than standards. Both men spent their professional lives in New York City during the twilight of bebop and the flourishing of hard bop. Neither man boasted large discographies as leaders, but appeared on a significant number of recordings as sidemen. Their careers were both shortened dramatically by ...

Club Profile

Dug and Jazz Spot Intro in Tokyo

by Sanford Josephson
August 2, 2025

I owe my love of jazz to the time I spent in Japan in the mid-1960s when I was working as a writer in the public information office of the American Red Cross' Far Eastern Area headquarters, located on a U.S. Army base about 45 minutes from Tokyo. While there, I saw Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Mann, Oscar Peterson, and many other well-known jazz artists at concerts or in clubs. But, I also hung out at the ...

Album Review

Lee Morgan: Here's Lee Morgan

Read "Here's Lee Morgan" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
July 5, 2025

While Craft Recordings' new OJC reissue series has largely drawn from its treasure trove of Prestige and Riverside titles, the label recently expanded its scope to include two standout jazz albums from Chicago's historic Vee-Jay Records. Founded in 1953 by husband-and-wife team James Bracken and Vivian Carter, Vee-Jay was not only one of the earliest Black-owned and woman-owned labels but also a remarkably eclectic imprint. Known for its blues releases--and even some early Beatles records--Vee-Jay also documented top-tier ...

Album Review

Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane: Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane 1957. Revisited.

Read "Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane 1957. Revisited." reviewed by Stefano Merighi

by Stefano Merighi
May 16, 2025

Ci sono sodalizi artistici che segnano in maniera indelebile la ricchezza creativa dei protagonisti. Tra questi, di sicuro quello tra Thelonious Monk e John Coltrane, anno di grazia 1957. L'estroso pianista e compositore, ancora lontano dal ricevere i riconoscimenti meritati, trova finalmente qualcuno che interpreta le sue partiture con rara dialettica esecutiva: leggerezza e profondità, acume sottile e abbandono istintivo. L'apollineo sassofonista, all'epoca ancora turbato dalla tossicodipendenza, passa dalla frustrazione di un licenziamento da parte di ...