What is Jazz? A great deal of ink has been spilt and printed answering that question. It probably takes a poet to answer that question. Or maybe the answer is a Zen Koan. Maybe it’s a concept like “democracy,” where you can’t ever really actually SEE it, but you know what it looks like. What is Jazz? I’m not sure I have the words to say what it is, but I know it looks like Art Blakey.
Most modern roads in jazz lead back to Miles Davis or to Art Blakey. And these roads do cross as well. I diaried about Blakey a few weeks ago, taking us through the Horace Silver years. Today I wanted to go through the next six years of so of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers; featuring Benny Golson, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter and Freddie Hubbard. On the one hand, I want to point out that today we’re listening to some of the finest jazz ever recorded, and on the other hand, I do find it interesting that this is all going on during the rock and roll era, not before.
If you’re finding me for the first time, I do my best to publish a diary about Jazz every Sunday night. Welcome. If you’ve read some of these before, thank you for your support! Onward through the orange squiggle.
Let’s meet two gentlemen from Philadelphia. The first is still with us on this Earth.
Benny Golson was born January 25, 1929
Wikipedia
While in high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Golson played with several other promising young musicians, including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, and Red Rodney. After graduating from Howard University Golson joined Bull Moose Jackson's rhythm and blues band; Tadd Dameron, whom Golson came to consider the most important influence on his writing, was Jackson's pianist at the time.
From 1953 to 1959 Golson played with Dameron's band and then with the bands of Lionel Hampton, Johnny Hodges, Earl Bostic, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers with whom he recorded the classic Moanin' in 1958.
Golson was working with the Lionel Hampton band at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in 1956 when he learned that Clifford Brown, a noted and well-liked jazz trumpeter who had done a stint with him in Dameron's band, had died in a car accident. Golson was so moved by the event that he composed the threnody "I Remember Clifford", as a tribute to a fellow musician and friend
Dizzy’s Big Band 1957 Birk’s works
Golson is another great composer in Jazz. From mid 60 through the 1970s he wrote for television, including shows such as MASH and Mission Impossible.
Thursday’s theme from 1958’s Benny Golson and the Philadelphians
Benny Golson (ts), Lee Morgan (tp), Ray Bryant (pf), Percy Heath (b), Philly Joe Jones (ds)
And then there is Lee Morgan
Edward Lee Morgan, July 10, 1938 – February 19, 1972 Unofficial Website.
Wikipedia--
Edward Lee Morgan was born in Philadelphia…A leading trumpeter and composer, he recorded prolifically from 1956 until a day before his death in February 1972. Originally interested in the vibraphone, he soon showed a growing enthusiasm for the trumpet. Morgan also knew how to play the alto saxophone. On his thirteenth birthday, his sister Ernestine gave him his first trumpet. His primary stylistic influence was Clifford Brown, who gave the teenager a few lessons before he joined the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band at 18, and remained a member for a year and a half, until the economic situation forced Dizzy to disband the unit in 1958. He began recording for Blue Note Records in 1956, eventually recording 25 albums as a leader for the company, with more than 250 musicians….
Lee Morgan - Hank Mobley Quintet 1956 Nostalgia
With Hank Jones – Piano, Doug Watkins – Bass, Art Taylor – Drums
Lee Morgan Sextet - Whisper Not (1956)
With Kenny Rodgers (alto sax), Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Horace Silver (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Charlie Persip (drums)
Lee Morgan Sextet - I Remember Clifford (1957)
with Gigi Gryce (alto sax), Benny Golson (tenor sax, arrange), Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Charlie Persip (drums)
from "Dizzy Gillespie at Newport" (1957)
Notice the “not yet All-star” Personnel :
Dizzy Gillespie – trumpet, Benny Golson - arranger, tenor saxophone,Tadd Dameron – arranger, Quincy Jones,Ernie Wilkins, Paul E. West - double bass, Charlie Persip – drums, Wynton Kelly – piano, Mary Lou Williams, Jimmy Powell - alto saxophone, Ernie Henry, Pee Wee Moore - baritone saxophone, Billy Mitchell - tenor saxophone, Chuck Conner – trombone, Al Grey, Melba Liston, Talib Dawud – trumpet, Lee Morgan, E.V. Perry, Ermet Perry, Carl Warwick
and also notice that not only is Mary Lou Williams involved, so is Melba Liston
Lee is also on the early Coltrane Classic, Blue Train. Here is Moment’s Notice
Lee Morgan Quintet - Heavy Dipper (1957)
with Pepper Adams (baritone sax), Bobby Timmons (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums)
C.T.A
So back to Arthur "Art" Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990. Last time we went through 1957. 1958 saw some work as a sideman
Cannon Ball Adderley's Something Else w/Miles Hank Jones & Sam Jones
Love for sale
Cannonball Adderley and Milt Jackson Quintet - The Sidewalks of New York (1958)
October 28 1958
I like that tune, but what really gets me is how it is recorded 2 days before one of the most classic Blakey and the Jazz Messengers albums. And the first with Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Bobby Timmons, and Jymie Merritt
Moanin' (October 30, 1958)
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, in "Whisper Not", Live, 1958.
This live band is the same personal as on Moanin’
Golson is out by 1959. He would start the Jazztet with Art Farmer. We'll do them another day. Hank Mobley is in for another recording with the Messengers, though its hard to find the one 1959 on youtube. And by the end of 1959, Newark’s own Wayne Shorter joins the group.
Wayne Shorter was born on August 25, 1933. He is still alive. I always check out the websites for the people I focus in on and Wayne’s website, along with Carla Bley’s, is by far one the best I’ve seen.
from the bio pages of Wayne’s Site
Just as he was beginning making his mark, Shorter was drafted into the Army. “A week before I went into the Army I went to the Cafe Bohemia to hear music, I said, for the last time in my life. I was standing at the bar having a cognac and I had my draft notice in my back pocket. That’s when I met Max Roach. He said, ‘You’re the kid from Newark, huh? You’re The Flash.’ And he asked me to sit in. They were changing drummers throughout the night, so Max played drums, then Art Taylor, then Art Blakey. Oscar Pettiford was on cello. Jimmy Smith came in the door with his organ. He drove to the club with his organ in a hearse. And outside we heard that Miles was looking for somebody named Cannonball. And I’m saying to myself, ‘All this stuff is going on and I gotta go to the Army in about five days!’”
BTW, Jimmy Smith’s converted hearse with which he used to move around his Hammond organ is somewhat legendary.
Some of Wayne’s earliest recordings...
Wynton Kelly Wrinkles 1959
With Lee Morgan (trumpet); Paul Chambers (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums)
from the Vee Jay Album "Introducing Wayne Shorter", Recorded November 9, 1959; with Lee Morgan - trumpet, Wynton Kelly -- piano, Paul Chambers - bass, Jimmy Cobb – drums
Down in the depths
The first major album with Art was called The Big Beat.
The Chess players
Lester Left Town
Meanwhile, Wayne records with some young guys
Seeds of Sin by Wayne Shorter
The Young Lions
Lee Morgan – Trumpet, Wayne Shorter - Tenor Sax, Frank Strozier - Alto Sax, Bob Cranshaw – Bass, Bobby Timmons – Piano, Louis Hayes and Albert "Tootie" Heath – Drums
And back with Blakey, the bands records another classic : A Night in Tunisia
There are recordings with Lee and Blakey through June 61, but no more major Jazz Messengers albums. Many are live things. Blakey will record on some Lee's records in the early 60s and Lee will return to the messengers for a short bit in a few years.
Freddie Hubbard takes the trumpet chair in 61, Lee Will return in 1965.
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008
from his website
Hubbard was born on April 7, 1938, In Indianapolis, Indiana. As a student and band member at Arsenal Technical High School, he demonstrated early talents on the tuba, French horn, and mellophone before eventually settling on the trumpet and flugelhorn. He was first introduced to jazz by his brother, Earmon, Jr., a piano player and a devotee of Bud Powell.
Hubbard’s budding musical talents caught the attention of Lee Katzman, a former sideman of Stan Kenton. Katzman convinced the young trumpeter to study at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music with Max Woodbury, the principal trumpeter of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
As a teenager, Hubbard worked and recorded with the Montgomery Brothers – Wes, Monk and Buddy. His first recording session was for an album called The Montgomery Brothers and Five Others. ….
In 1958, Hubbard moved to New York at age 20 and quickly established himself as one of the bright young trumpeters on the scene, astonishing critics and fans alike with the depth and maturity of his playing….
Opening title track from Hubbard's "Open Sesame" album. Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Englwood Cliffs, NJ (06/19/1960). Freddie Hubbard (trumpet); Tina Brooks (tenor saxophone); McCoy Tyner (piano); Sam Jones (bass); Clifford Jarvis (drums)
Plexus from Hubbard's "Hub Cap" album. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on April 9, 1961. This is a Cedar Walton composition.
Freddie Hubbard (trumpet); Jimmy Heath (tenor saxophone); Julian Priester (trombone); Cedar Walton (piano); Larry Ridley (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums)
The Messengers also add Curtis Fuller at this point
1961 Mosaic
Cedar Walton now is on piano
Same band, Shorter’s “backstage Sally” from Buhania’s delight
The three blind mice album, which is a collection of live recordings. Released in 62, recorded in 61
Freddie’s own “Up Jumped Spring”
In 1962, Blakey leaves Blue Note Records and begins to record on Riverside lable
His first record is called “Caravan”. Reggie Workman now plays bass n the group
1963’s Ugetsu
Freddie and Wayne work as sidemen with others during this time. Freddie perhaps more so, appearing on a few Coltrane recordings, a 1960 outing with Ornette, Benny Golson, Dolphy, Bill Evans, Curtis Fuller’s releases as a leader, early Hebire Hancock, and others. Lee Morgan records his own albums extensively (more on those later). And the messengers continue on.
Nihon Bash from 1964, written by Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe
And they are back on blue note in 64 as well
The CORE written by Freddie
Wikipedia
Freddie Hubbard's composition "The Core" is dedicated to the CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and expresses "Hubbard's admiration of that organization persistence and resourcefulness in its work for total, meaningful equality." "They're getting", he explains, "at the core, at the center of the kinds of change that have to take place before this society is really open to everyone. And more than any other group, CORE is getting to youth, and that's where the center of change is." The piece was called that way also because Hubbard thought that the musicians "got at some of the core of jazz - the basic feelings and rhythms that are at the foundation of music."
Freddie appears on a few other Messenger’s albums and Lee will return in 1965. 1965 sees another major change when Wayne leaves Art for Miles’ group. But that’s a story for another day.
Art had done some other things on the side away from the messengers. My favorite is his record on impulse with Sonny Stitt, McCoy Tyner and Art Davis
Summertime
The Song is You
The above is merely an overview. Jazz isn’t played much better than what’s in this diary today, at least no better in this style of post WWII and Pre-Fusion Jazz. If you don’t like this stuff, you may love music, but you don’t like Jazz. All of these artist record much more music, but here is how Wayne and Lee and Benny and Freddie start. Many roads lead to Art Blakey. And to Miles.
Thanks for listening everyone! Next week is July 4th weekend and there is a Jazz artist that every American should listen to on July 4th. We’ll do it together on the 6th and 7th. I’ll get to Wayne with Miles soon, but I think Miles between Coltrane and Wayne deserves a little more attention first.
Please support your local jazz musicians and please support all live music! Until next time…