5.0 out of 5 stars
Invaluable, January 21, 2007
This review is from: In My Prime (Audio CD)
Blakey's scarcest and in many respects most exciting group, the last to feature David Schnitter's tenor sax and Walter Davis Jr.'s incredible compositions. Look for both Parts I and II of this Dutch recording. Otherwise, if you can't find the single volume editions, this may have to do. At least it has the aria-like Davis tune, "Jody." Soon after this recording, the Marsalises held court in the Messengers groups, and the Blakey fire and magic was no longer there.
A couple of other Blakey essentials--"Backgammon" and "Gipsy Folk Tales"--have yet to be reissued on CD. Both are well worth hunting down in their original LP format (don't hold your breath for a digital version of either--if Van Gelder didn't record the session, it probably won't appear. Hence, the overkill with the Morgan-Shorter-Fuller groups and shameful scarcity of later Blakey editions with musicians like Schnitter, Bill Hardman, Mickey Tucker, Vladimir Ponomarev).
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