Art Blakey - Compact Jazz: Art Blakey (1993)

The Art Blakey volume in Verve's Compact Jazz reissue series covers the years 1954-1966, skimming through six different episodes in Blakey's involvement with the Mercury/Emarcy/Limelight record labels. Tracks 1-4 were drawn from the Emarcy album Blakey, a stash of recordings dating from 1954 that featured trumpeter Joe Gordon. "Blues March" and "A Night in Tunisia" trace back to two Parisian sessions that took place in 1958 and 1959; the rest of the material reproduced here comes from the Limelight catalog of the early to mid-'60s. "'S Make It" was the title track of an LP recorded in 1964; tracks 8-11 originally appeared in 1965 on the album Soul Finger while tracks 12 and 13 trace back to Limelight's 1966 release Buttercorn Lady. The collective personnel on this compilation is an awe-inspiring glimpse of Blakey's ever-changing roster of brilliant improvisers. This sampling includes trumpeters Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Chuck Mangione; trombonist Curtis Fuller; saxophonists Wayne Shorter, Lucky Thompson, John Gilmore, Benny Golson, Gigi Gryce, and Gary Bartz; and pianists Bobby Timmons, Walter Bishop, Jr., John Hicks, and Keith Jarrett. What you get here is authentic hard bop, played by the very individuals who helped to define and refine it.
This album covers the years 1954-1966 with material from Mercury, Limelight and Emarcy labels. Tracks 1-4 from the Emarcy album "Blakey" dating from 1954. "Blues March" and "A Night In Tunisia" date from Paris sessions in 1958 and 1959. "S Make It" was the title track of an album on Limelight in 1964, tracks 8-11 are from a 1965 album called "Soul Finger". 12 & 13 came from a 1966 album "Buttercorn Lady" Collective personnel are listed.