Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Live at the Olympia, Paris.

Format:

Video

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jazz.

Hard-Bop.

African American Music.

United States and Canada.

African Americans.

Local Subjects:

Jazz.

Hard-Bop.

African American Music.

United States and Canada.

African Americans.

Genre:

Performance

Physical Description:

1 online resource (29 minutes)

Place of Publication:

Paris, Ile-de-France : Qwest TV, 1963.

Language Note:

In English.

Original language in English.

System Details:

video file

Summary:

In 1956, Art Blakey took over the direction of the Jazz Messengers, an entity launched a few years earlier by the pianist Horace Silver. At the head of this formation for three decades, he would turn it into a kind of conservatory where young instrumentalists in the making could blossom. The musicians who take part in this concert, who remained with Blakey for more than five years, like their musical director Wayne Shorter (who left in 1964 to join Miles Davis), form one of the best formulas that the Jazz Messengers ever knew. Art Blakey, smiling and imperial, reigns behind the drums and directs his little world with an iron fist in a velvet glove. Art Blakey's musical intelligence lies in his ability to strike the right balance between the dynamics of the ensemble and the improvisations of the soloists. The pianist Cedar Walton is very prominent on "That Old Feeling" while Wayne Shorter innervates "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" by blowing that still takes on Coltranian influence along with suggestions of future evolution. "Caravan," in closing, is an ideal theme for everyone to showcase their talents, particularly Blakey, who gratifies us with a powerful solo that only he could have delivered. Philippe Lesage

Notes:

Performed Olympia

Title from resource description page (viewed July 15, 2024).