Flexing, in 1965, with Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Harold Vick (tenor sax), Grant Green (guitar), John Patton (organ) and Ben Dixon (drums) — not to mention Fat Judy.

Rodders meets Wrongtom, re-running original raps like Chin High and Juggle Tings Proper, this time with reggae in their jeggae. Spirited but a bit Trojan.

Kicking off with a definitive, thunderous, thrilling version of the title track; with Lee Morgan and Wayne Shorter.
‘Classic Vinyl’ series.

Top-notch Messengers, from the same enraged 1961 recording sessions as Freedom Rider.
Six compositions by Wayne Shorter, kicking off with the fierce jazz-dancer Ping Pong.
Bobby Timmons alternates with Walter Davis Jr.

‘Classic vinyl.’

Trying out a more seventies, soulful groove, with the likes of Woody Shaw, Carter Jefferson, Cedar Walton — and Jon Hendricks, who sings on the revival of Moanin’, and Along Came Betty.
Buhaina was Blakey’s name after his conversion to Islam. Of course A Chant For Bu was sampled by A Tribe Called Quest for their almighty Excursions. Altogether now: ‘Back in the days when I was a teenager / Before I had status and before I had a pager…’

A precious glimpse of his undocumented New Jazzmen lineup, with Freddie Hubbard, Jaki Byard, Reggie Workman and Nathan Davis.
“Everywhere we’d go people would say, this is the best Jazz Messengers we’ve heard,” remembers Davis. “And because of the way Jaki would play and Reggie would go, it was like a semi-freedom thing… with Messengers heads, you know… but when we got to soloing…!”
It’s easy to take Freddie Hubbard for granted. One of the very greatest jazz trumpeters of all time; he kills it here. Check him on Blue Moon and the twenty-four-minute rendition of his own composition Crisis.

A never-before-released studio album!
Recorded on March 8 1959 in Rudy Van Gelder’s living-room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, one month before the Birdland shows which produced the killer twin LPs Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers At The Jazz Corner Of The World, this features the same lineup: Blakey, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt. Two tunes only show up here, including Timmons’ Quick Trick; besides three Mobley compositions.
The LP is an all-analogue 180g vinyl pressing.
Cor.

At Hibiya Public Hall on January 14, 1961, with Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Timmons, and Jymie Merritt, during the Mesengers’ first-ever tour of Japan.
Jet-propelled, soaring performances of jazz staples including Bird’s Now’s the Time and Monk’s Round About Midnight, and Messenger bangers like Blues March, Dat Dere, and Moanin’.
Elaborate booklets feature rare photos by Japanese photographers Shunji Okura and Hozumi Nakadaira; an essay by Bob Blumenthal; plus new interviews with Wayne Shorter in conversation with Blue Note president Don Was, celebrated saxophonist Lou Donaldson, Japanese jazz star Sadao Watanabe, renowned Japanese music critic Reiko Yukawa, Blakey’s son Takashi Blakey, and a trio of drum greats in Louis Hayes, Billy Hart, and Cindy Blackman Santana. Audio was newly transferred from the original ¼” tape reels, and the vinyl edition was mastered by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI.

Lee Morgan, Duke Jordan, Bobby Timmons… plus three expert Latin percussionists… and outstanding contributions by Barney Wilen, on both tenor and soprano saxophones.

Mathew Jonson’s improvisatory group with Danuel and Tyger Dhula.

It was intended that one of Hudson’s teenage sons would voice the dubs. In the event the Love Joys, Wayne Jarrett, and most inimitably Hudson himself featured at the microphone. Like Wackies, Hudson was a Studio One devotee — ‘I used to hold Don Drummond’s trombone for him so I can be in the studio’ — and the album follows Coxsone’s recent strategy of overdubbing signature rhythms.
The Studio One sides were aimed at the dancefloor; Hudson’s reworks of tracks like Melody Maker are more psychological. Heavy Barrett Brothers rhythms are pitched down and remixed deeper still with reverb, filters and other distortion, and overlaid with new recordings of guitar, percussion, keyboard, voice, often crazily treated.
Originally released in 1981 on the Joint International label, in NYC.
Legendary, strange, compelling music.