- September 18 - Jazz Talk: Tall Tales of the Big Bu
- September 20 & 21 - The Big Beat - The Music of Art Blakey by LCJO
- September 21 - Jazz for Young People: Who is Art Blakey?
Jazz at Lincoln Center (J@LC) will open its 2002-03 season, titled “The Year of the Drum," with three events celebrating the music of the legendary drummer and bandleader Art Blakey. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with J@LC Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis (who toured with Blakey in the early 1980s) will perform a concert of his music joined by several other Jazz Messengers alumni, on September 20 & 21. These alumni will also join Mr. Marsalis in sharing memories of working with Blakey in a special Jazz Talk program on September 18. In addition, Mr. Marsalis will host an entertaining Jazz for Young PeopleSM concert illuminating Blakey's life and music on September 21.
As a first-call bebop drummer, Art Blakey played with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, and others. In the early 1950s, he helped usher in the style of hardbop - a funky and bluesy updating of bop - with his band the Jazz Messengers. He continued to lead this band through the late 1980s, keeping the flame of hardbop alive with a lineup that always featured top-notch young musicians.
Mr. Marsalis said, “Our entire 'Year of the Drum' season is dedicated to the great Art Blakey, who was largely responsible for the modern flowering of real jazz around the world. With his drum set he could evoke the spirit of ancient thunders and the wonderment of a newborn's cry. He exemplified the truth that the drums are the heartbeat, the engine, and the life force of jazz music."
Jazz Talk: Tall Tales of the Big Bu
On a trip to Africa in the late 1940s, Blakey adopted the Arabic name Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, from which came his enduring nickname “Bu." On Wednesday, September 18, J@LC Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis and other Jazz Messengers alumni - including saxophonist Bobby Watson, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist James Williams, saxophonist Bill Pierce, bassist Charles Fambrough, trumpeter Valery Ponomarev and others - will share memories of working with the great drummer, who had a penchant for telling well-crafted, elaborate, and sometimes far-fetched, stories.
LCJO: The Big Beat - The Music of Art Blakey
Named after Blakey's classic 1960 Blue Note recording, The Big Beat will feature the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis performing tunes from Blakey's swinging songbook with musicians hailing from different incarnations of the Jazz Messengers, including saxophonist Bobby Watson, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist James Williams, saxophonist Bill Pierce, bassist Charles Fambrough, drummer Ralph Peterson, and others. For the concert, taking place on Friday and Saturday, September 20 & 21, several musicians will also provide arrangements written expressly for the occasion.
Jazz for Young PeopleSM: Who is Art Blakey?
J@LC will open the 2002-03 season of its popular family concert series, Jazz for Young People, with Who is Art Blakey? on Saturday, September 20, 2002 at 11am and 1pm in Alice Tully Hall. Wynton Marsalis will host the program through narration, anecdotes, and musical performances with members of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and special guests.
Tickets
Tickets to the Jazz Talk ($20), LCJO concerts ($60, 55), and the Jazz for Young People ($10 ages 18 & under; $15 adults) are all available at the Alice Tully Hall box office, by calling CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500, or via www.jazzatlincolncenter.org. For group sales, please call (212) 258-9817.
Art Blakey was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1919, and at a young age, he started playing the piano as his first instrument. He began performing professionally at age 14, and shortly thereafter, he started teaching himself how to play the drums, using the hard-swinging style of Chick Webb as an example. His first professional appearance as a drummer was with Mary Lou Williams in 1942. Afterwards, he played for Fletcher Henderson's band in 1943-44. He left Henderson's big band in 1944 to start his own big band in Boston, but soon joined Billy Eckstine's Orchestra in St. Louis in that same year. He stayed with Eckstine until 1947, playing with many great talents in the band, such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Fats Navarro.
After Blakey left Eckstine, he formed his own rehearsal band called the Seventeen Messengers. In 1948, he traveled to Africa to study Islam and African culture, and he adopted the Arabic name Abdullah Ibn Buhaina. In 1955, Blakey co-founded his most famous group, the Jazz Messengers, along with pianist Horace Silver. Silver left the group in 1956 and Blakey assumed sole leadership. Deeply influenced by swing, bop and the blues, the Jazz Messengers played an earthy, soulful style known as hardbop.
The Jazz Messengers served as a launching pad for many musicians who later became influential jazz musicians in their own right, including Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Johnny Griffin, Jackie McLean, Donald Byrd, Bobby Timmons, Cedar Walton, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, Joanne Brackeen, Billy Harper, Valery Ponomarev, Bill Pierce, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, James Williams, Keith Jarrett, Chuck Mangione, and many others. In addition, Blakey toured with other artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Kai Winding, Thelonious Monk, and many of his own sidemen. He also took part in the acclaimed drum battle at Radio City Music Hall in 1974 with Elvin Jones, Buddy Rich, and Max Roach. Blakey continued to lead the Jazz Messengers right up until his passing in 1990.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
