ART BLAKEY & THE JAZZ MESSENGERS
Indestructable (Blue Note)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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This 1964 session has plenty to recommend it. For starters, and indeed all you really need, the music is superb and played with the respect and intensity it deserves. This album featured the return of trumpeter Lee Morgan to The Jazz Messengers after a three year, heroin-prompted absence, and while the contributions of all the musicians are excellent here, it's Morgan and saxophonist Wayne Shorter who make the most lasting and dazzling impressions.

Morgan and Shorter's styles were very different, but it was definitely a case of two great tastes that taste great together. Morgan fires off powerful blasts of bop just ripping with an energy that the entire band rides, and Shorter comes out the other end of the pipeline with something innovative, explorative, just barely hinting at the avant garde without forcing the others out of the pasture, and seemingly also born from the energy generated by Morgan. During the truly swinging tune "Sortie," the playing field is leveled and everyone gets a chance to get in some dynamic chops over some challenging rhythmic shifts, and while it's not necessarily as ear-popping as the other material, it's at least as fascinating.

Pianist Cedar Walton's contributions are easy to overlook in the face of all the stellar playing from Shorter and Morgan, but turn it up and pay attention to that piano and if you're not already a Walton fan, you will be. His keyboarding is extremely complex and often exotic, yet the notes always work without distracting from the tone of the piece. Reggie Workman (bass), Curtis Fuller (trombone) and, of course, Art Blakey nicely round out this band on one sweet, hot or swingin' note after another. A no-brainer addition to any respectable jazz collection.

Track List:

The Egyptian * Sortie * Calling Miss Khadija * When Love Is New * Mr. Jin * It's A Long Way Down

© 2003 - DJ Johnson