GXF-3060

Art Blakey And the Jazz Messengers - Pisces

Released - 1979

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, February 12, 1961
Lee Morgan, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor sax; Bobby Timmons, piano; Jymie Merritt, bass; Art Blakey, drums.

tk.8 United
tk.15 Ping Pong
tk.27 Blue Ching
tk.28 Pisces

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, May 27, 1961
Lee Morgan, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor sax; Bobby Timmons, piano; Jymie Merritt, bass; Art Blakey, drums.

tk.25 Uptight

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, April 15, 1964
Lee Morgan, trumpet; Curtis Fuller, trombone; Wayne Shorter, tenor sax; Cedar Walton, piano; Reggie Workman, bass; Art Blakey, drums.

tk.7 It's A Long Way Down

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
United	Wayne Shorter	February 12 1961
Ping Pong	Wayne Shorter	February 12 1961
Pisces	Lee Morgan	February 12 1961
Side Two
Uptight	Lee Morgan	May 27 1961
Blue Ching	Kenny Dorham	February 12 1961
It´s A Long Way Down	Wayne Shorter	April 15 1964

Liner Notes

A student of the piano, Art Blakey went pro in 1939 as the drummer for Fletcher Henderson's big band and later for Mary Lou Williams' big band. He became a charter member of the be-bop revolution with the Billy Eckstine band of 1944 that also included Charlie Parker, Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, Leo Parker, Fats Navarro and Dizzy Gillespie to name but a few. From the beginning, he had his own unmistakable giant sound, a sound that later made him famous, but usually lost him jobs in those early days when drummers were expected to be polite and remain in the background. In fact, when Gene Ammons was asked in interviews how he got such a big tone out of the tenor, he invariably replied that he had no choice sitting in front of Blakey's bass drum in the Eckstine band.

By the '50s, Blakey was clearly the hardest swinging and yet most musical drummer of the day. He formed the Jazz Messengers in 1955 and redefined the role of the drums in jazz and helped define the group music known as hard bop. Ever since, he has been one of the most resilient, consistent and active band leaders in the music. The Jazz Messengers are virtually a university in this music, having graduated more high caliber talent over the past two and one half decades than any other group.

With Blakey, you learn to sculpt and arrange your tunes, to come to the bandstand ready to play cleanly and brilliantly, to survive the physical and mental hazards of the road and to pace yourself through a solo. As Woody Shaw once told me, "I learned how to be a leader by my experience with Buhaina. And I remember my first gig with him. I played hard and good on the first set. He told me I would blow my chops before the night was out and that I should pace myself to build a solo properly and save my lip. He told me to follow him and not open up until he gave me the press roll. He was right and he has an amazing sense of musical construction."

Art Blakey has had an unbelievable succession of magnificent line-ups in the Jazz Messengers, but one of the finest had to be the quintet with Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, Wayne Shorter and Jymie Merritt, the personnel heard on five of the six tracks on this album.

That group had its earliest origins in the autumn of 1958 when the group had Benny Golson, Morgan, Timmons and Merritt. Several months later, Hank Mobley returned to the fold replacing Golson. Eventually in the autumn of 1959, Shorter came into the group, although Timmons was temporarily replaced by Walter Davis for those first months. By the beginning of 1960, the quintet mentioned above was intact and remained a working band for more than a year and a half.

They went into the studio on seven occasions and were recorded live once at Birdland to produce a total output of nine albums, including this one.

"Uptight" and "Pisces" are two never before heard Lee Morgan originals of contrasting moods. "Uptight" comes from the May 27, 1961 session that gave us "The Back Sliders" from the Roots and Herbs album and all of the tunes from The Freedom Rider except "Petty "Pisces", "Blue Ching", probably written by Bobby Timmons and alternate takes of "Ping Pong" and "United" come from a February 12, 1961 session. The original takes of "Ping Pong" and "United" were recorded on February 18 and appeared on Roots and Herbs. This alternate take of "Ping Pong" is a fine one, and Wayne Shorter's quietly maniacal, swaggering entrance to his solo makes it a masterpiece.

For some strange reason, Walter Davis sat in on the February 18 session for the last two tunes, "United" and "Roots and Herbs". So this alternate of February 12 gives us the chance to hear the approach of the band with Timmons at his regular post. In June 1961, this band with Curtis Fuller added as guest artist made an album for Impulse Records. By that autumn, the Jazz Messengers were a sextet with Fuller as a regular member, Freddie Hubbard replacing Lee Morgan and Cedar Walton replacing Timmons. A few months later, Reggie Workman would replace Jymie Merritt.

In April and May of 1964, that particular edition of the group, with Lee Morgan returning for the recently departing Hubbard, made their first album for Blue Note, Indestructible. Wayne Shorter's "It's a Long Way Down", included here, was the one remaining unissued track from those sessions.

Curtis Fuller explains the title, "Those quotes from Eisenhower used to drive me crazy. What an orator! He used to come out with the simplest things as if they were profound. A lot of those sayings became standard jokes in the band. There was one that he said, something like "from the bottom of the mountain, it's a long way up and from the top, it's a long way down". So Wayne titled this tune after that!'

The music on this album, like the entire output of the various Jazz Messengers throughout the years, is subtle, artful, imaginative and yet incessantly driving and exciting. Whatever the arrangement, the composition or the personnel, Blakey is always in control, directing his sweet thunder with calculating grace and gusto. This album is yet another documentation of one of Jazz Messengers.

MICHAEL CUSCUNA