 |
| Grab a vinyl copy of Free For All |
Power! That's the best way to describe Free For All. A fantastic driving hard bop session from Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Jazz with a pair of brass balls.
In fact, listening to this music, one can hear a few times where the recording equipment can barely handle what's being played, some slight distortion here and there.
The title track "Free for All" is the hard driving back bone of the album, a track that comes as close as Blakey ever got to free jazz, the nearly 10 minute "The Core" almost captures the same power.
Tenor Saxophonist Wayne Shorter composed the title track, and the second track "Hammer Head", a nice straight ahead blues groove number that evens out the enormous power of the album.
The sets closer "Pensativa", a Clare Fischer number that brings the session to a mellow close with a rhythmic style reminiscent of Benny Golson's "Whispser Not".
As great as Blakey's drumming and Shorter's compositions are, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard really stands out here.
Free For All is easily one of the best Art Blakey albums, and should be in every jazz collection. Here's 24 more Blue Note albums you need in your collection.
No comments:
Post a Comment