Art Blakey's 'Africaine' Going OOP

[street singer]

'Africaine' just added to True Blue's Running Low/Last Chance section...

[Uncle Skid]

Looks like Tina Brooks' "Minor Move" is also still available -- if I wasn't done buying CDs this month, I'd be all over that "Add to Shopping Cart" thing. Maybe next month...

street singer: you may not be aware of this, but The Complete Blue Mitchell Blue Note Sessions is on the "Last Chance" list at Mosaic.

[street singer]

street singer: you may not be aware of this, but The Complete Blue Mitchell Blue Note Sessions is on the "Last Chance" list at Mosaic.

Yep - that's the reason I bought it when I did. Otherwise, it would still be on my "I really wanna get that, and will someday, but..." list.

[John B]

Thanks for the warning! This is a disc I've been meaning to get for a while and have never gotten around to.

[SEK]

'Africaine' is a personal favorite of mine, but I enjoy most of Blakey's music from that period.

[Muskrat Ramble]

Africaine is a wonderful Blakey disc. Snap it up if you have any interest in the principals or just good hard bop.

[Jazzmoose]

I just picked this one up myself last month, and I think it fits in well with the other Blakey discs of the period. Okay, it's not essential, but then what is? Good stuff and quite enjoyable.

By the way, it's damned good to see you here, Muskrat!

[Muskrat Ramble]

Hey Jazzmoose, good to be here. Btw, for those who dig the great Art Blakey, I strongly recommend searching out the unjustly obscure Hard Drive. Here's part of what I wrote about it elsewhere:

If someone ever asks you what "hard bop" is, just hand them this album. This captures it all: soulful, bluesy, just a bit unpredictable, and seriously hard swinging. This one features the second major edition of the Jazz Messengers with Bill Hardman (t), Johnny Griffin (ts), Spanky de Brest (B), and Sam Dockery (p), though Junior Mance (known for his work with the Adderley brothers around that time--check out their awesome Sophisticated Swing double CD) sits in for Dockery on all but one tune.

This disc boasts some cool tunes by Jimmy Heath, Griffin, and Hardman and features great sound quality, to boot. Hardman has some really nice moments, but Griffin steals the show. This is the first time I've really listened carefully to him--man, that cat can flat-out play. In nearly every solo, he does something interesting and imaginative. The dude has some wicked chops--he can blast through the changes as fast as the rocket on the cover of the album--and possesses the soul to match them.

Another really neat thing about this album is the reprint of the original liner notes, which include Blakey's surprisingly frank comments about his bandmates, noting Dockery and de Brest's shortcomings (it really is a good thing that Mance sits in for most of the album) and the way so many jazzers can't or won't play the blues, which Art sees as the root and heart of jazz. Because of the simple changes, the blues really expose a player and show what he's made of, says Art. "It's the same thing over and over again, so you have to think to make them come alive. And the guys hate to think; they'd rather just run changes on their horns."

Edited January 23, 2004 by Muskrat Ramble

[Jazzmoose]

Sounds like one to look for. Flipping through the Blakey pages of the All Music Guide to Jazz, I see there's a lot of stuff out there from that period that I don't have. There's nothing on my shelves between At the Cafe Bohemia and Ritual. A pretty big hole!