Art Blakey - The Jazz Messengers, Later career

Jazz musician, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,USA. An influential drummer, he performed with Billy Eckstine's big band (1944–7) and freelanced on many recordings. From 1954 until his death he led the Jazz Messengers, a combo he consistently renewed with outstanding young players. He was a leading exponent for jazz and also ‘hard bop’, an explosive style characterized by a strong backbeat and bluesy lyricism.

Art Blakey
A promo picture of Art Blakey. © Francis Wolff
Background information
Birth name	Arthur Blakey
Also known as	Abdullah Ibn Buhaina
Born	October 11, 1919
Origin	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Died	October 16, 1990
Genre(s)	hard bop jazz
Occupation(s)	drummer
Instrument(s)	drum
Years active	1940's - 1990's
Label(s)	Blue Note Records
Associated acts	Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers Art Blakey Quartet Art Blakey Quintet Art Blakey & the Afrocuban Boys
Website	http://www.artblakey.com/

Arthur (Art) Blakey (October 11, 1919–October 16, 1990), also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader.

The Jazz Messengers

The origins of the Messengers are in a series of groups led or co-led by Blakey and pianist Horace Silver, though the name was not used on the earliest of their recordings. The most celebrated of these early records (credited to "The Art Blakey Quintet"), is A Night at Birdland from February 1954, one of the earliest commercially released "live" jazz records. The "Jazz Messengers" name was first used on a 1954 recording nominally led by Silver, with Blakey, Hank Mobley, Kenny Dorham and Doug Watkins — the same quintet would record The Jazz Messengers at the Cafe Bohemia the following year, still as a collective. Blakey took over the group name when Silver left after the band's first year (taking Mobley, Byrd and Watkins with him to form a new quintet with a variety of drummers), and the band was known as "Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers" from then onwards.

Later career

Blakey went on to record dozens of albums with a constantly changing group of Jazz Messengers — he had a policy of encouraging young musicians: as he remarked on-mike on A Night at Birdland (1954): "I'm gonna stay with the youngsters.

Up to the 1960s Blakey also recorded as a sideman with many other musicians: Jimmy Smith, Herbie Nichols, Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis, Grant Green, and Jazz Messengers graduates Lee Morgan and Hank Mobley, amongst many others. 2 (live, billed as "The Jazz Messengers") (Blue Note) 1956: The Jazz Messengers (Columbia) 1957: Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk (Atlantic/Rhino) 1957: Orgy in Rhythm (Blue Note) 1958: Moanin' (Blue Note) 1958: 1958 Paris Olympia (Fontana) 1958: Des Femmes Disparaissent/Les Tricheurs (Fontana) 1959: At the Jazz Corner of the World (live) (Blue Note) 1959: Live in Stockholm 1959 (DIW) 1959: Live in Stockholm 1959 (Dragon) — recorded on the same day as the previous disc 1960: Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 (Fontana) 1960: The Big Beat (Blue Note) 1960: Unforgettable Lee! (Fresh Sound) 1960: A Night in Tunisia (Blue Note) 1960: More Birdland Sessions (Fresh Sound) 1960: Live in Stockholm 1960 (Dragon) 1960: Lausanne 1960 First Set (TCB) 1960: Lausanne 1960 Second Set (TCB) 1961: Roots and Herbs (Blue Note) 1961: Jazz Messengers (Impulse!) 1961: Mosaic (Blue Note) 1961: The Freedom Rider (Blue Note) 1961: The Witch Doctor (Blue Note) 1961: Buhaina's Delight (Blue Note) 1962: Three Blind Mice volumes 1 and 2 (Blue Note) 1962: Caravan (Original Jazz Classics) 1962: The African Beat (Blue Note) 1963: Ugetsu (Original Jazz Classics) 1963: A Jazz message (Impulse!) 1964: Free for All (Blue Note) 1964: Kyoto (Original Jazz Classics) 1964: Indestructible 1973: Child's Dance (Prstige) 1973: Mission Eternal (Prstige) 1973: Buhaina (Prestige) 1977: In My Prime volume 1 (Timeless) 1978: In This Korner (Concord) 1981: In Sweden (Evidence) 1981: Straight Ahead (Concord) 1982: Keystone 3 (Concord) 1984: New York Scene (Concord) 1985: Live at Kimball's (Concord) 1988: Not Yet (Soul Note) 1988: I Get a Kick out of Bu (Soul Note) 1990: Chippin' In (Timeless)