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Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Free For All (1964) Genre: Jazz

Cduniverse.com:

The classic Messengers lineup with Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton and Reggie Workman are captured by master engineer Rudy Van Gelder on this spirited and energetic platter. From the opening fanfare of Shorter's "Free For All," the band is petal-to-the-metal and swinging with an unrelenting intensity and focus that is consistent from start to finish. It's worth the price of admission alone just for Blakey's drum fills on the 11-minute title track. Someone (presumably Blakey) is in the spirit, and you can hear shouts of excitement, encouraging Shorter during an wonderfully charged solo; the shouts don't stop with this tune, either, as you can hear shouting and chattering throughout each song. "Free For All" sets the tempo for the rest of the album, and the intensity does not wane in the least, as Blakey feeds off the soloists and in turn ratchets up the intensity of his backbeat even more, dispatching his patented press rolls with power and authority. Freddie Hubbard, too, is at the top of his game, blowing with a cock-sure attitude, proving why, along with Lee Morgan, he was such an asset to Blue Note in the 60s. And as usual, the sound quality of this Rudy Van Gelder Series 24-bit remaster is impeccable. This album is a great introduction to Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, or just to jazz in general.

Amazon.com reviewer:

In 1964 Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers stepped into Rudy van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and probably melted the inside of the building. With great material and truly special inspiration, they created a record of the most uncompromising, in-your-face hard bop recorded to date. Musical director Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone contributes two high energy originals and probably the best playing of his five year Messengers tenure, Freddie Hubbard contributes the other two tunes, one original and one arrangement, and also blows his brains out on trumpet, Curtis Fuller adds a rich third voice and some great trombone playing, Cedar Walton plays some great and tasteful piano, both in accompaniment and solo, Reggie Workman really pushes the sound of the band into a more advanced rhythmic feel, and Art Blakey of course plays like a man on fire, creating volcanic energy that kicks the band up to a superhuman level. Fine, this description may sound like Leonard Feather-esque hype, but it's really not. This album is incredible.

The whole album is great but there are two standout tracks. The first is the eleven minute title track. A perfectly formed Wayne Shorter original, it is voiced in rich three part harmony over an insistent rhythmic figure (though not rigid--Reggie Workman's embellishments and displacement of time makes it a very free-flowing feel) and a bridge whose release and buildup of tension sounds a lot like a train getting closer. The solos from the horns and Blakey are very intense and Shorter and Hubbard shred in particular. The high energy level is maintained throughout this tune, then the next two are almost as intense ("Hammerhead" drops the tempo without losing any of the energy) before culminating in the perfectly placed "Pensativa." It is a beautiful Clare Fischer medium-up Latin tune gorgeously arranged by Freddie Hubbard. I took four hours once to transcribe the arrangement and its absolutely brilliant use of tension in the horn voicings. This tune keeps the energy of before but the intensity level backs off and it's the perfect close to a great album.

This album will appeal to those who enjoy "Mosaic," an earlier Messengers outing with similar personnel. This album is in a similar vein but better. In terms of Art Blakey newcomers, "Moanin'" or "The Big Beat" is a better place to start, but once you're ready for this album, it will blow your mind.

Personnel:

Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone)

Freddie Hubbard (trumpet)

Curtis Fuller (trombone)

Cedar Walton (piano)

Reggie Workman (bass instrument)

Art Blakey (drums)

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studios, Englewood, NJ 02 October, 1964.

Tracks:

1. Free For All

2. Hammer Head

3. Core, The

4. Persativa

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Rating:
2.5 out of 5 by Book123