Customer Reviews

Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers

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This concert date by Blakey, filmed during the summer of 1976 in Umbria, Italy, is visually stunning. The setting is a make-shift stage in the street, nestled among stucco houses in a space so confined as to suggest an intimate night club. The crowd is attentive and receptive, though not especially enthusiastic. Some listeners are simply peering out from open casa windows. Sartorially, this edition of the Messengers fits in particularly well. They look less like jazz musicians than a band of gypsies or street performers--unkempt, ungroomed urchins dressed as much for slumming as concertizing (what a contrast to the formal Marsalises, who in 5 years would be putting in their time with Blakey).

More importantly, the TDK crew manages to put the viewer right in the center of the ensemble, a privileged position compared to any in attendance that day. The shots are sharp and revealing, the cutting is judicious and completely in synch with the music, camera placement is varied, providing long shots as well as close-ups but never losing primary focus on the music. The audio engineering isn't up to this level, as the ensemble balance occasionally suffers, and the toning down of Blakey's usually dominant percussion seems overdone. Fortunately, the soloists are captured with sterling sonic clarity.

Apart from the quality of the production, a primary reason to own this disc is the music, which I've been unable to find on any audio recording by the Messengers. First is the personnel, largely overlooked and unheralded--but not forgotten by some of us. The veteran Bill Hardman may be the one trumpet player in Blakey's groups (which included Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis) who rivals another former Messenger star, Clifford Brown. Yet it's becoming ever harder to locate recordings by him. Same with the diminutive but high-powered Dave Schnitter, none of whose four LP's has ever been issued on CD. Notwithstanding some sloppy execution on the ensemble passages, the bigness of his sound and daring, passionate fire of his playing are simply unmatched by any other Blakey tenor player, from Mobley and Golson to Shorter and Branford Marsalis. He showed up out of the blue, traveled with Blakey for five years, then suddenly and mysteriously evaporated.

Finally, there's the challenging, inspiring and utterly original music of Walter Davis Jr., responsible for three compositions on this date: "Backgammon," "Uranus," and "Gipsy Folk Tales." I've been unable to locate a CD with this frontline, and no LP, moreover, includes the three Davis compositions, which are in danger of being lost and forgotten. The music on this DVD refutes the myth that all jazz in the '70's was inferior, electric fusion music and that the Messengers were mere purveyors of mainstream, formulaic "hard bop."

I never thought I would see the day that this particular edition of the Messengers would be seen on DVD. Great soloing and playing all around. I love David Schnitter, he played with Art Blakey (1974-1979) during a very difficult period when gigs and record dates were hard to come by for jazz artists. Art would usually scale back to a quintet from a sextet during most of the 70's. Bill Hardman seems to struggle a little here and there technically but other than that the band is in fine form with Art of course, laying down that beat, and a driving pulse that cannot be duplicated. Two awesome Walter Davis Jr.'s tunes, Gypsy Folk Tales, and Uranus, on this DVD, we're orignally recorded in the studio around this time, 1976-1977, for Roulette. The out of print albums, if you can find them are, Backgammon, and Gypsy Folk Tales. This band like many of the Messengers editions in the 70's was short-lived. Soon after, Walter Davis Jr. and later James Williams replaced Mickey Tucker. Dennis Irwin replaced Cameron Brown, and Valery Ponomarev replaced Bill Hardman. However, the next year, 1977, Blakey reformed the band into a sextet adding Bobby Watson w/David Schnitter to the mix and to this day, I think one of the best and somewhat underated edition of the Jazz Messengers. This is must purchase for any jazz fan or in particular, a big Jazz Messengers fan.

I have seen the previous Art Blakey DVD and I have to say that this is the best of lot. Lots of fire, however Bill Hardman the trumpet player seems to be missing his cord changes on a couple of the begining tunes. I guess he was excited.

The intimate setting in the center courtyard of an Italian villa is great. You even see villagers hanging out of their courtyard windows. Mysteriously this is the only available DVD with the exceptional players Bill Hardman on trumpet and Dave Schnitter on tenor sax. They only stayed with Art Blakey for a short time and might have been his strongest trumpet and tenor sax players. This is a very enjoyable jazz bop performance.

as the previous reviewer Samuel Chell has explained in detail, this DVD has excellent audio/video quality and tasteful production - considering the era it has also been especially well preserved. According to the credits it was directed by Gianni Paggi and captured on video by a 3-camera team.

The evening concert was held July 20th, 1976 at Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy - on a stage which appears to have been set up in the center of a historical district public square. As the other review indicates, this setting only adds to the communal, relaxed and bohemian atmosphere of the performance (along with the musicians' hip Euro/Afro threads; bassist Brown wears a longsleeve T-shirt emblazoned with the letters J I M M Y G A R R I S O N).

the compositions performed by the Jazz Messengers are:

1. Backgammon
2. Along Came Betty
3. Uranus
4. Blues March
5. All The Things You Are
6. Gipsy Folk Tales

Musical highlights - tenor saxophonist Dave Schnitter's powerful playing will indeed send you in search of his out-of-print 1976-81 albums on the Muse label. The full range of veteran trumpeter Bill Hardman's solo technique and vibrant sound is also beautifully spotlighted on every song. Cameron Brown on bass and pianist Mickey Tucker weave the band's groove while each contributing their own eloquent, passionate narratives (e.g. Tucker on "All The Things You Are" and Brown's energetic focus throughout). Maestro Blakey propels and challenges his sidemen - the video begins with his drum solo.

the audience at Umbria Jazz '76 was given a swinging jazz treat here.

playable Art for your DVD library.

[incidentally, two other jazz performances - videotaped the exact same day and venue of the Umbria 1976 festival - by the Cedar Walton Quartet (with George Coleman, Sam Jones, and Billy Higgins) and the Horace Silver Quintet Live at the Umbria Jazz Festival (with Bob Berg, Tom Harrell, and Eddie Gladden) are also available on TDK DVDs.]