Search - Jazz Messengers :: Hard Drive

Collectors take notice.

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 02/15/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Any recording featuring Bill Hardman's trumpet with Blakey's Messengers is a worthy find. And on this one, he's joined on the front-line by the "Little Giant," Johnny Griffin. The tunes are somewhat dated blues and bebop heads, but the inventiveness of the soloists surpasses that of many more heralded musicians from this or any later period. My only disappointment is that another Blakey-Hardman recording from this period (with Jackie McLean replacing Griffin)--"Tough"--has apparently never been reissued on CD. A pity, because Hardman is simply brilliant, more than compensating for the unavoidably sour after-taste of Jackie's alto."

Among the best for Art in 1957

Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 03/20/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I count 10 albums recorded by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in 1957 alone, a prodigious year by any standard. A few ("Tough" on Cadet, "Cu-bop" on Jubilee) are fairly routine outings, but others ("Lerner & Loewe" on Victor, "With Monk" on Atlantic) are very good. This Bethlehem album goes into the latter group; in fact, only the somewhat dull tune "Late spring" keeps it from being perhaps the best album of the year for Blakey. Bill Hardman is on trumpet and Johnny Griffin on tenor in the front line, and both play superbly. Hard bop at its best."