The epitome of hard bop's hard pulse was
drummer Art Blakey (1919), who already had impeccable credentials
(Mary Lou Williams, Fletcher Henderson, Billy Eckstine from 1944 till 1947)
when in 1954 he and pianist Horace Silver decided to form the Jazz Messengers,
destined to become the premiere incubator of hard bop musicians.
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers (february 1955) featured the quintet of
Blakey on drums, Silver on piano, Kenny Dorham on trumpet,
Hank Mobley on tenor and Doug Watkins on bass,
and contained seven Silver compositions: due to its popularity,
the hard-driving, funky, gospel-y The Preacher was the piece that started the hard bop revolution.
Nica's Dream (april 1956), with Donald Byrd replacing Dorham on trumpet, was highlighted by Silver's twelve-minute Nica's Dream.
When Silver left, Blakey became the sole owner of the band and further
increased the rhythmic intensity of his performances.
By the time Hard Bop (february 1957) was recorded, all the other members had changed as well, with Jackie McLean joining on alto (and contributing the best piece, Little Melonae).
Blakey's emphasis on rhythm increased dramatically through
Drum Suite (february 1957), one of the earliest recordings that focused on drumming (two drummers and three percussionists performed on a couple of pieces),
Ritual (february 1957), containing the ten-minute solo-drum piece Ritual,
Orgy In Rhythm (march 1957), an African-sounding album (de facto a "world-music" album ante litteram) that featured several percussionists,
Herbie Mann on African flutes, shamanic chanting and a program of
captivating Blakey originals (Buhaina Chant, Toffi, Abdullah's Delight),
and Cu-bop (may 1957), a Latin album featuring a congo player
(as well as a new recruit, tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin).
Blakey's third quintet, with tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, pianist Bobby
Timmons and trumpeter Lee Morgan, the stereotypical trumpet of hard bop,
debuted on Moanin' (october 1958), with
Timmons' nine-minute Moanin' (perhaps their
most popular number) and Blakey's seven-minute The Drum Thunder Suite.
Drums Around the Corner (november 1958) drowned trumpet and saxophone into
percussions (drummers Philly Joe Jones and Roy Haynes, conga player Ray Barretto)
for performances of Blakey's originals Blakey's Blues and
Drums in the Rain.
After scoring the film soundtrack Les Liaisons Dangereuses (july 1959),
Blakey introduced his fourth trumpet-sax-piano-bass-drums quintet with
The Big Beat (march 1960). The only change was in the tenor saxophone,
but it was a change that dramatically altered the sound:
Wayne Shorter not only introduced a different approach (slicker, less
oriented towards rhythm'n'blues) but also provided
compositions such as Cheese Players and Lester Left Town
that better suited the dynamics of the quintet.
After Freedom Rider (may 1961), Blakey changed the line-up one more time
keeping Shorter and introducing trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, trombonist Curtis
Fuller and pianist Cedar Walton.
Jazz Messengers (june 1961) was recorded by the same lineup one month after
Freedom Rider.
Blakey's sextet for Mosaic (october 1961)
and Buhaina's Delight (december 1961)
now featured four formidable composers, who contributed
Walton's Mosaic,
Shorter's Children of the Night,
Fuller's Arabia and
Hubbard's Crisis to the former, and
Walton's Shaky Jake,
Fuller's Bu's Delight and
Shorter's Reincarnation Blues to the latter.
Three Blind Mice (march 1962) added
Freddie Hubbard's Up Jumped Spring to the repertory.
With Reggie Workman on bass they recorded Caravan (october 1962), highlighted
by Shorter's This Is For Albert and Sweet 'N' Sour,
Ugetsu (june 1963), containing
Shorter's One by One, Ping-Pong and On the Ginza, as well
as Walton's Ugetsu,
and Free For All (february 1964), that included
Shorter's memorable Free For All and Hubbard's The Core
A Jazz Message (july 1963) was a detour featuring Art Davis on bass, McCoy Tyner on piano, and Sonny Stitt on tenor and alto saxes.
Lee Morgan replaced Hubbard on Indestructible (may 1964), but real news was
Fuller's promotion to main composer (The Egyptian and Sortie,
both substantially more "modal" than the average of the group), although
still balanced by the more traditional
Walton (When Love Is New) and Shorter (Mr Jin, another gem)
material.
But it was the beginning of the instability that slowly marginalized the
group, despite the torrential flow of recordings and the numerous talents
that Blakey kept discovering, such as
Wynton Marsalis on Album of the Year (april 1981) and
Terence Blanchard on Oh By The Way (may 1982).
Blakey died in 1990.
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