Saturday, May 7, 2011

Moanin'

One of the better meetings of the Jazz Messengers caught on tape, and there's that cover, a tight close up of a deathly serious Art Blakey perhaps deep in contemplation over who he would fire next, how to get out of paying that skinflint Jymie Merritt, or copping some sweet red chicken heroin after the session. But all that dumb shit aside for the ultra-crucial task of laying down some deep tracks for Moanin'. At this point the Messengers were Blakey, Lee Morgan, Jymie Merritt, Benny Golson, and Bobby Timmons. These adepts dealt strictly in straight hard bop, with an emphasis on the craft, no real experimentation or deviation from the formula of riff/solo/solo/solo/riff, but Moanin' delivers the smokey goods with a force and confidence like no other.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank you sir.

aron.

The Mule said...

I went to a Bill Bruford talk/clinic once. In between answering the usual questions about Yes/Crimson, he told everyone to check out Art Blakey. I picked up Moanin' shortly afterwards. Good move.

said...

I picked this up myself recently as part of a 25-CD Blue Note box set... it was one of my preferred albums from the whole set.

Said purchase, along with numerous other jazz records I've recently acquired, was influenced almost entirely by your wonderful blog. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Aesop! Missed you :)

haricotvert

Anonymous said...

sort of reminds me of the ydi cover. uhh. yes. good observation. *pats self on back*

ben said...

great flippin record

Anonymous said...

The Hearse still has the best variety of any blog out there. Do you have any Django Reinhardt or Charlie Christian?

fakedada said...

yes yes & more yes

francis jones said...

although theres lots ive already got, keep the jazz coming man. thanks a lot.

Dallas said...

Welcome Back!!, Thank you!!

Justin said...

incredible record. sensational blog here, I have to say. feel free to visit my vastly inferior blog.. sonictranscendence.blogspot.com