Every record they created for the label is worthy of having in your collection.
Artists like Donald Byrd, Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, and Stanley Turrentine were as prolific recording albums, and house arrangers like Ike Quebec and Duke Pearson meant a lot.
When I think about Blue Note, and even hard bop music for that matter, I think BLAKEY.
The title track to the album below, Free For All, it was a real game changer for me when I discovered jazz.
"Free For All" kicks ass! (See video below) No delicate way around it, nearly 20 years ago, the title track changed my concept of what jazz was.
I came to jazz music through the jazz rock door, Miles 70's fusion work, Corea's Return to Forever, McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, I was a rock guy, plain and simple.
Free for All made me realize my notions about jazz were all wrong, I had this old fashioned vision in my head of Louis Armstrong singing "Hello Dolly".
I never liked instrumental jazz either, could not stand scat singing at all, still don't much care for it, but after Free For All, and Blakey's Night in Tunisia album, I was off to discover Miles' Prestige and Columbia output.
I was blown away at the variety of jazz, and the complexity of it, a real thinking person's music. Don't get me wrong, there is still a pulse, or a beat there to tap your toe to for those that need that subtle swing.
Well, thankfully Blakey and this band did punch me in the face, because it did the trick, I never looked back. I couldn't imagine my life without modern jazz. Blue Note jazz is the foundation of what jazz is for me.
Free For All is That Good
Art Blakey's best album outside of Moanin' in my opinion is Free For All. Heavy metal jazz, POWER is the word! It's one of my favorites, but Moanin' really should be the first Blakey you get.
The title track on Free For All is an absolute freight train of a piece, in fact if you listen close, the microphones used for the date barely hold up to the power.
Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, and Cedar Walton ride this mother like their lives depended on it.
Of course these guys weren't exactly raking in the dough back then, they did have to earn their survival. Free For All is one of those bop albums that lives up to the moniker "hard" bop.
Moanin'
Boy do I love Benny Golson, no doubt he is the star of the show on this self titled Jazz Messengers album nicknamed Moanin'. Benny gets forgotten sometimes when mentioning the best jazz composers and saxophonists.
His compositions "Blues March", "Along Came Betty", "Are You Real", and "Drum Thunder Suit", easily make this well rounded album not your ordinary hard bop album.
The most famous tune, "Moanin'" for which the nickname comes from, is easily one of the greatest themes of post WWII jazz,"Moanin'" is pianist Bobby Timmons' composition.
My favorite track on the album is "Along Came Betty" I just love the soft strut, and lilting theme.
Betty must have been one fine lookin' lady that's for sure. The other Golson tracks are also very good, "Blues March" and "Drum Thunder Suite" really had some hard bop power to balance out the softer standards.
Benny Golson is the man, and I think he his underrated as a player and composer. If you like Moanin', you must check out Lee Morgan's Volume 3 as well.
Note: The Blue Note 4003 LP Cover was my own, one of my better record shop finds. You can read the story about that great find, and what ultimately happened to it here.
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