Art Blakey

Art Blakey was one of my first true loves in jazz. Maybe it was his driving rhythmic command that captured my ears at such a young age, but whatever the case, I can still pinpoint the moment I grasped what it meant to really swing while listening to a Blakey record. Add to that the ability to trace so many great careers that got their start or made their way through the Blakey band, and you have a fascination with the Jazz Messengers and their incredible catalog of music.

Leaving questions of producer fetishism aside for the moment, this Keepnews Collection reissue of the Riverside release Caravan finds Blakey flanked by Curtis Fuller on trombone, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Cedar Walton on piano, and Reggie Workman on bass.  Arguably the best Messengers lineup, and if not, certainly up there with any other. It's also noteworthy for being the first Riverside release for Blakey, after his impressive run with Blue Note.

There is no question of the instrumental prowess of the band; Fuller provides some particularly impressive trombone fireworks and Hubbard is in fine form throughout. Wayne Shorter provides two excellent compositions, Sweet N' Sour and This Is For Albert (dedicated to Bud Powell) in addition to his fine playing.

The remastering of the album seems to have spread the stereo image more wide than the LP copy I was bequeathed by a relative many moons ago. That copy has seen a few too many plays so this was a welcome reissue/remaster for my collection.

The album starts off with a solid reading of Caravan that is most noteworthy for featuring Mr. Blakey's drums the most heavily of any track on the album. It's as if he gets his word in early on and then lets his band take it from there.

Hot N' Sour's head features some wonderfully subtle yet effective use of dynamics, followed by wonderful solos by Shorter, Hubbard, Fuller, and Walton, each of them playing a chorus and then out. The Blakey rhythm section is so supportive that it's easy to see how it could prove to be such a fertile training ground for so many young greats over the years.

In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning features Fuller playing the melody in a manner reminiscent of Duke's use of the trombone in a range not normally associated with the instrument, with Hubbard and Shorter providing backing accompaniment.  It turns into a real feature for Fuller who takes the first solo and then is featured a capella after the final reading of the head, before the band comes back in to finish it off.

This Is For Albert is a Shorter tune that's dedicated to Bud Powell, which according to the liner notes is because contemporaries of Powell insist that Albert was his first name. It's the most intriguing piece on the album to my ears, opening with Reggie Workman's bass, soon joined by Cedar Walton and Art Blakey's rim-heavy drum accompaniment. Blakey punctuates the phrase of the melody in unison with the horns in a way that really brings the rhythmic emphasis to the forefront. Shorter is the first featured soloist, his tone resplendent and gorgeous, immediately setting the bar very high for Curtis Fuller and Freddie Hubbard, neither of whom disappoint. During this track in particular I wished Cedar Walton's piano was higher the mix so I could hear the harmonic accompaniment more present behind the soloists.

A beautiful if uneventful version of Skylark, featuring Freddie Hubbard, is followed by the album closer, Thermo, a Hubbard minor-key original. It's the kind of tune that might not be particularly remarkable for its compositional framework but still manages to produce incendiary playing by the Messengers.

On the reissue there's two bonus tracks: the second take of Thermo and another take of Sweet N' Sour, both of which I was happy to hear again by the end of the disc. I haven't really taken the time to compare the versions but both readings of each tune are excellent.