Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Vol. 2: Mission Eternal (1995)

The second of two CDs that reissue the music from three Art Blakey LPs plus additional material (reshuffling the order to make it more logical), this set features trumpeter Woody Shaw, Carter Jefferson on tenor and soprano, Cedar Walton on keyboards, bassist Mickey Bass, Tony Waters on congas and the drummer/leader plus three guests: guitarist Michael Howell, trombonist Steve Turre and (on "Moanin"' and "Along Came Betty"), singer Jon Hendricks. Shaw is in excellent form and Blakey propels and inspires his sidemen as usual. In addition to the two vocals, the nine instrumentals (which had originally been divided between the LPs Buhaina and Athenagin) are consistently swinging and well worth hearing.