Customer Reviews

Moanin'

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is Blakey's best Record. Try it. Bobby Timmons, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson formed the Messengers's best line up. I do not have words. Go and get the record, then we will talk.

You know how when you buy speakers, the number one rule is "how does it sound?"

I don't know anything about Jazz, really. I surf the Amazon recommendations & reviews, get friends' top tens. And then the bottom line is simply "how does it sound?"

This record is certainly one the absolute best. I just smile and groove on it from start to finish.

Great tunes. Pure pleasure. Hope to find more like this.

Blakey used a rotating line-up for his Jazz Messengers band, and this overlooked crew produced a soul-jazz classic with "Moanin'." Benny Golson wrote and arranged most of the songs. Check out Blakey's tour de force in the "Drum Thunder Suite."

A cornerstone of jazz music! There should be an option to give 6 stars. 50's blue-note super record! Energy, power, talent, fun! A pure listening pleasure. I could listen to Moanin' once, twice..., 100 times without getting stuffed. So, buy that great album today - I promise - you will enjoy listening it for the rest of your live!

Art Blakey is an almost legendary jazz drummer, and this CD starts off with one of his classics: Moanin'. I have heard several different versions of this song, and I think the two on this album are the best. Also, the subtle complexities of his "Drum Thunder Suite" give us a glimpse into a level of apendage independance most drummers can only dream about. A great and worthwhile CD if you like 50's style jazz.

This record is one the jazz albums I have most played. The music is just incredible and absolutely flawless. The musicians who contributed to this are all the better as Art Blakey knew how to lead them. The "Blues March" became the music of generations of jazz-lovers.

Straight Ahead Jazz! If you enjoy 1950s and early 60s jazz, just buy it.

My favorite tracks are:
Moanin' - both versions are good
Come Rain or Come Shine - an old standby, well executed
Drum Thunder Suite - in case you'd forgotten this was an Art Blakey disc; Drum Thunder is the best IMHO.

The others are all good, but these are especially good. I didn't think that the Warm-Up and Dialogue added too much, but some may enjoy the versimilitude. Since this is a Rudy Van Gelder re-issue, I guess it's appropriate. And, while I haven't listened to all of them, I think the sound quality on this is better than some of the RVG Blue Note re-issues.

I have no qualms about giving this one Five Stars!

He truly was a "Messenger" for the music. He loved, taught and "sold" jazz music. Many a young mind has been turned onto jazz after listening to Art Blakey's great ensembles...and this grouping was his best (in my opinion). If you are a person who loves jazz and you don't own this album, shame on you.

Bobby Timmons classic "Moanin'" starts the set, and timeless other great numbers like Benny Golson's great triage "Along Came Betty", "Blues March" & the incredible "Drum Thunder Suite" have been known to mesmerize and sway even the most devout anti-jazz critic. The unbelievable front line of jazz giants Golson, Timmons and Lee Morgan, and their nimble interplay, set the mood for the the vital rhythms of drummer Blakey and bassist Jymie Merritt.

This WILL be one of your favorite all time albums...it is high on my list....and has been since I bought the monophonic LP version in 1959. Yes, I do have the Stereo CD too.

By the way, Leonard Feather's liner notes alone, are worth the price of of this gem.

This was my introduction to Bu in my college days, and in retrospect it barely scratches the surface. For a follow-up, pick up the eponymous collection on Columbia with Hank Mobley and Donald Byrd. Also, be certain your Blakey collection generously represents, among trumpet players, Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham, Freddie Hubbard, and Bill Hardman (not to mention Valery Ponomarev, Wynton Marsalis, and Terrence Blanchard). As for saxophonists, Golson, despite his compositional talents, is one of the lesser players to occupy that spot in a Blakey ensemble. Even when it comes to composers, if there's a "genius" among the Blakey contributors, it's Walter Davis, Jr. "Jodie," "Ronnie's a Dynamite Lady," "Backgammon," "Uranus," "Gypsy Folk Tales," "Scorpio Rises"--these are all Davis compositions that Blakey saw fit to record--challenging, adventurous material that places Blakey in the forefront of modern, progressive music, a musicmaker beyond category as opposed to being simply leader of jazz' foremost "hard bop" ensemble.

It's not easy to find, but look for another "Moanin'" on Laserlight. Recorded live, it features Hardman playing the title song like there was no tomorrow along with a cadenza on "Blue Moon" that Freddie, who introduced the tune on "3 Blind Mice," could have played only in his dreams. Another good introduction to Hardman's trumpet artistry is the Italian LP, "Art's Break," on which Art stops the band while Bill plays for half a dozen choruses unaccompanied.

That's jazz. That's the inexhaustible world of Art Blakey.

(Lee Morgan, trumpet, Benny Golson, tenor sax, Bobby Timmons, piano, Jymie Merrit, bass, Art Blakey, Drums Blue Note 40030

This session introduces the great Lee Morgan to the recording world and is digitized from Blue Note recording session 40030 It has the wide open tenor of Benny Golson. Both he and Morgan seem especially suited for the religiosity of this session especially the title cut "Moaning," which is pure funk with a capital "F".

The rest of the session is rather mundane but still of very high quality. My favorite is Blues March, which is a return to funk with a march tempo and a explosive blues kick. A drum launches Golson into one of his unimaginable solos. God, how under rated can a tenor player be? Morgan stretches out on this piece also.

Blakey just kept getting better after this album. But I must say that Golson's playing with the pre-Coltrane flavoring to it, stood out and just made me want more. Amen and Five Stars