Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers -

Date: February 10, 1964
Release: Blue Note # 7841702
Cover Art: view / download
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Ever seen the movie, "Bullitt?" The 1968 movie in which Steve McQueen chases the bad guys through San Francisco’s streets in a Ford Mustang at over 110 mph? How about the beneath-the-subway car chase in "The French Connection," the chase sequences in "Ronin," or the final truck chase in "The Road Warrior," in which Mad Max guns an 18-wheel tanker full throttle as hundreds of post-apocalyptic street trash pursue it, bounce off it, and finally bring it spiralling to the ground? If you haven’t seen these movies, it will be impossible to fully comprehend Wayne Shorter‘s tenor sax solo on the title track of the Jazz Messengers Free For All. In fact, the music on Art Blakey‘s seemingly run-of-the-mill 1964 Blue Note reissue will not only knock you out of your seat, but put you up on two wheels, flip you eleven times and drop you off the Golden Gate Bridge.

The must-be-heard-to-be-believed rhythmic ferocity and unraveling chaotic grace of tracks one and three outpace both McQueen’s Mustang and Blakey’s reputation. In pianist Cedar Walton‘s ascending introduction of the opener "Free For All," you hear the sound of something outrageous about to happen. It does. The opening theme, tensely dramatic, doesn’t so much end as surrender to the radiator-blowing solos that follow. Art Blakey was known to inspire greatness in his players, but here, that compliment is insufficient–Shorter, Hubbard and Fuller explode forth, each horn interlocking with bassist Reggie Workman, Walton and Blakey to create a galloping, viciously elegant melee that could only accompany a drive through four lanes of oncoming traffic and a storefront window. Blakey’s solo on "Free For All" has all the terror and beauty of a twenty-seven car pile-up in the rain in slow motion. You can feel gas tanks popping and windshields imploding in the fury of his sticks, in the running of his sweat.

Listen to him holler. Blakey can be heard growling and shouting as the pace mounts and the solos split open – he’s as slack-jawed as we are. And then, after the big, ballsy, immensely satisfying walking groove of "Hammer Head," comes "The Core," a raging, howling sonic rumble at times even more bone-rattling than Free For All.

This session would be Freddie Hubbard‘s last jam with the Messengers and "The Core" is his car chase climax. Inspired by a mix of spiritual and political themes, Hubbard’s "Core" is intensely original hard bop, the rhythm section unrelenting as the fiercely flowing solos bounce and roll off the well-woven theme. Hubbard’s creativity here is astonishing.

Blakey, one of the great bandleaders and most passionate drummers in jazz history, is truly in top form throughout. Hubbard from Nat Hentoff’s liner notes: "There are times when Art is so much on fire that he almost drives you off the stand." This session is full of those times – it feels as if the cliche "on fire" was invented for Blakey. Yet it’s during the relaxed summer stroll of the closing standard "Pensativa," a strangely perfect finale, that one has the breath to reckon with the unanswerable passion and musicianship of this historic sextet.

The huge, erupting, relentless melodies of Free For All should be the soundtrack to your ultimate car chase. Hold on tight.

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