Art Blakey - Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk (1957) [2012 Japan 24-bit Remaster]

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Angular Monk meets hard-driving Art Blakey – in a session that's quite unique, and which has gone onto become one of the best-remembered Atlantic jazz sessions of the late 50s! The album features Blakey in that key non-Blue Note year of 1957 – a time when he was working with a variety of players, at a variety of labels, and taking some real chances with his music before settling into his more established hit Jazz Messengers sound.

The group here is Art's own – with Johnny Griffin on tenor, Bill Hardman on trumpet, and Spanky DeBrest on bass – augmented by the piano of Thelonious Monk – a match that might seem unlikely at first, but not so much so after you consider the great work that Monk and Griffin did together at Riverside during the late 50s. There's a nice match between Johnny's sharp-edged tenor and Monk's imaginative playing – and if anything, the record has Blakey, Hardman, and DeBrest moving dynamically to keep up with the flurry of modern ideas coming from Griffin and Monk! Tracks are almost all originals by Thelonious too – a fact that definitely helps keep up the "Monk-ish" sound of the record – titles that include "Evidence", "Blue Monk", "I Mean You", and "Rhythm A Ning" – alongside Griffin's "Purple Shades".


Tracks:

01 - Evidence
02 - In Walked Bud
03 - Blue Monk
04 - I Mean You
05 - Rhythm-A-Ning
06 - Purple Shades
07 - Evidence (Alternate Take)
08 - Blue Monk (Alternate Take)
09 - I Mean You (Alternate Take)

Personnel:

Art Blakey – drums
Bill Hardman – trumpet
Johnny Griffin – tenor saxophone
Thelonious Monk – piano
Spanky DeBrest – bass