Art Blakey Quintet – A Night At Birdland, Vol. 3 (Japanese Pressing)

Rare Japanese Pressing of this Jazz Classic.

While technically not the Jazz Messengers, this ensemble contains one of my favorite line-ups. For the sake of argument I consider this to be “proto-Jazz Messengers” because the music is not fully formed hard bop.

The music first. Each of the three Horace Silver compositions – Split Kick, Quicksilver, and Mayreh – establish this performance as an emergent hard bop. However, Dizzy Gillespie’s A Night in Tunisia and Charlie Parker’s/J.J. Johnson’s Wee Dot is clearly more traditional bop (and the bop tunes add to the intense energy of the performance.) My personal favorite track is Once in a While. Clifford Brown’s tone and phrasing were so beautiful they have, on occasion, brought tears to my eyes. And the blues improvisation that closes the album adds a touch of diversity to the music that established the roots of Jazz Messenger music to come.

What makes this album special to me is Clifford Brown. I cannot seem to get enough of him. However, this album also introduced me to Lou Donaldson who quickly became of of my favorite alto saxophonists. His rich tone seems to fill the room and his aggressive playing sets each track on fire. The rhythm section is rock solid. Silver as both a composer and virtuoso pianist makes a significant contribution to making this album a classic. Curly Russel’s bass provides a grooving bottom. Blakey’s incorporation of African drumming techniques (sliding timbre on toms by using his elbow on drum heads and bells and clicks) adds yet another dimension to the music.