ST-64201

Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers -  Just Coolin'

Released - 2020

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, March 8, 1959
Lee Morgan, trumpet; Hank Mobley, tenor sax; Bobby Timmons, piano; Jymie Merritt, bass; Art Blakey, drums.

tk.5 Jimerick
tk.10 Quick Trick
tk.14 Hipsippy Blues
tk.15 M And M
tk.19 Close Your Eyes
tk.21 Just Foolin'

Full Session Information

tk.1 Jimerick
tk.2+3 Jimerick
tk.4 Jimerick
tk.5 Jimerick (master)
tk.6 Quick Trick
tk.7 Quick Trick
tk.8 Quick Trick
tk.9 Quick Trick
tk.10 Quick Trick (master)
tk.11 Hipsippy Blues
tk.12 Hipsippy Blues
tk.13 Hipsippy Blues
tk.14 Hippsippy Blues (master)
tk.15 M+M
tk.16 Close Your Eyes
tk.16.1 Close Your Eyes
tk.17 Close Your Eyes
tk.18 Close Your Eyes
tk.19 Close Your Eyes (master)
tk.20 Just Coolin'
tk.21 Just Coolin' (master)
tk.22 Just Coolin' (inserts)

Session Photos

Photos: Francis Wolff

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Hipsippy Blues	Hank Mobley	March 8 1959
Close Your Eyes	Bernice Petkere	March 8 1959
Jimerick	Unknown	March 8 1959
Side Two
Quick Trick	Bobby Timmons	March 8 1959
M&M	Hank Mobley	March 8 1959
Just Coolin'	Hank Mobley	March 8 1959

Liner Notes

Stability can be elusive for even the most successful jazz Personal ambition, personality clashes, "personal problems," and financial differences can pose challenges, even when a bandleader is blessed with artistically compatible personnel. Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers of the late '50s, a band that enjoyed wide popularity and steady work, is a case in point. During the nearly three years of Lee Morgan's most extended stay (1958-61), the trumpeter was a part of two Messengers units that have come to be considered "classic" - the quintets where Morgan was paired in the front line with Benny Golson (1958) and Wayne Shorter (1959-61). The edition heard in this recording, with Hank Mobley in the tenor chair, is more of an interlude, though no less impressive.

Benny Golson made historic contributions to the Messenger legacy. He recruited fellow Philadelphians Morgan, Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt for a new edition of Blakey's band in the summer of 1958, and was musical director when the group recorded two compositions, Timmons' "Moanin"' and his own "Blues March," that solidified the band's standing at the forefront of the growing soul jazz movement. Yet Golson's tenure lasted only a few months, ending after a successful and copiously documented European tour. He left to pursue a more structured small group environment that he realized a year later in the Jazztet. Suddenly Blakey needed not just another horn player but also someone who could take responsibility for the band's musical direction.

Enter Hank Mobley, a Messenger alumnus (1954-6) who had spent the intervening years in the employ of Horace Silver and Max Roach, and who had built his own library of memorable Blue Note recordings. Known for his writing as well as his playing, Mobley was familiar with Morgan (the pair had worked with each other on several albums and Monday night Birdland sessions) and Timmons (featured on Mobley's self-titled Blue Note LP) as well as the drummer-leader. When the early-'59 Messengers entered Rudy Van Gelder's studio on March 8 to document the present program, half of the tracks were Mobley originals.

Yet the results of that session remained unissued for 60 years. They were superseded by two albums of performances recorded at Birdland a month later and released as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers at the Jazz Corner of the World. Blue Note had enjoyed great success with multi-volume location recordings, an approach that began with A Night at Birdland with the Art Blakey Quintet in 1954 and The Jazz Messengers at the Café Bohemia in 1955. The label may also have been cognizant of the live European recordings that were already appearing with extended versions of the band's previously recorded hits. In any event, the resulting Birdland tracks included four of the six titles recorded in March and consigned the present performances to the vaults.

In 2020, it's great to find more Morgan, Mobley and Timmons in their prime, even in performances that tend to be shorter than the live versions and played at an increased tempo. The music had clearly settled in during the month that separated studio and live versions, but the fire of these six tracks has an appeal of its own.

Mobley's contributions cover "Rhythm" and blues, as well as one of his more unique creations. "Hipsippy Blues" is in Blakey's meat-and-potatoes shuffle groove, with the composer leaping out of an ensemble figure that resurfaces as Timmons concludes his solo. The saxophonist is soulful here, unintimidated by Blakey's commentary. Morgan begins in a more contemplative vein, and then builds steadily with some beautiful turnarounds. Timmons follows with the more sanctified touches that emerged in his playing with the success of "Moanin'."

"M&M," named for the two front line players, is slightly slower than the Birdland version, which also featured exchange choruses of eight bars and four bars after the solos as opposed to the two choruses of fours heard here. Each of the three soloists does an admirable job of finding fresh ideas in the familiar harmonic terrain.

The haunting "Just Coolin"' was originally recorded on Mobley's too little heard debut album as a leader, a 1955 Blue Note ten-inch LP that featured Blakey on drums. This is as close to a medium tempo as the present performances get - Blakey referred to the tune as a "fox trot" in his Birdland intro - though the atmosphere remains heated thanks to the bristling drum support. Morgan is particularly inventive, Merritt gets a chorus to display his invention and bold sound, and Blakey follows with one of his more structurally aligned solos.

Morgan takes the lead and the opening bridge on "Close Your Eyes" and wastes no time heating up in his opening solo. Blakey converses more than accompanies behind the trumpeter and Mobley, then switches to brushes behind Timmons, who shows more of his Bud Powell roots as well as a few personal licks. The catchy opening riff returns behind Merritt's strong chorus and after the theme is reprised. "Close Your Eyes" became a fixture in subsequent Jazz Messengers performances, and both it and "M&M" were included when this edition performed at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival.

Of the two tracks not reprised on the Birdland recordings, "Jimerick" is a fast blues line of unknown origin that emerges after Timmons' opening choruses. Morgan is appropriately incendiary, Timmons digs into the blues without his usual church touches, and Mobley displays a familiar mix of lightning-fast execution and blunter phrases. Blakey's solo balances subtle stretches with passages of more typical fire.

Timmons wrote "Quick Trick," which appears here in its only known version. The melody is a straightforward eight-bar line, repeated to form a 16 bar chorus, but the underlying harmonies are adjusted to create a more challenging blowing structure. Timmons (supported midway by a shout chorus from the horns), Morgan and Mobley each contribute bold solos, and Blakey takes an opportunity to explode briefly when the theme returns.

If the Birdland recordings overshadowed this studio session, a mid-summer personnel change had a similar impact on this Messengers unit. When Mobley failed to appear at a Canadian jazz festival, Morgan pulled Wayne Shorter out of the Maynard Ferguson big band to take his place and Blakey liked what he heard. Shorter remained in the tenor chair and would ultimately become the group's musical director, where his writing gave a more visionary yet still grooving edge to the music. Mobley remained on good terms with Blakey, and contributed three new compositions for the group's next live at Birdland albums, Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World; but his days as a Messenger were at an end.

- BOB BLUMENTHAL

Original Session Produced by ALFRED LION
Recorded on March 8, 1959, Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ
Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER
Photography by FRANCIS WOLFF - Mosaic Images, LLC
Cover Design by TODD GALLOPO at Meat and Potatoes, Inc.
Produced for release by ZEV FELDMAN
Mastered for Vinyl by KEVIN GRAY