Art Blakey

4 STARS ALL MUSIC GUIDE (HARD BOP)

24-BIT DIGITALLY REMASTERED
 

This release contains the complete original album Tough ! (Cadet LP-4049) by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, which has only previously appeared on CD on a long out of print British edition which didn’t contain the original cover art or the original liner notes. This album presents Blakey’s second formation of his Jazz Messengers, with Bill Hardman, Jackie McLean, Sam Dockery, and Spanky DeBrest. As a bonus, the complete LP Hard Bop (Columbia CL 1040), as well as the group’s first version of the Gershwin Medley they later included on Tought ! This earlier reading of the medley was taped during the same sessions that produced Hard Bop and first appeared on a compilation LP.

PERSONNEL:

ART BLAKEY, drums
BILL HARDMAN, trumpet
JACKIE McLean, alto sax
SAM DOCKERYERY, piano
SPANKY DeBREST, bass

Swedien Recording Studio, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Spring of 1957.

* [6-10] BONUS ALBUM:
Same personnel as above. New York, December 12 (tracks 6 & 9) & December 13 (tracks 1o), 1956.

**[11]: BONUS TRACK:
Same personnel as above. New York, December 13, 1956.

INCLUDES 16-PAGE BOOKLET

TRACKS:

01. Scotch Blues
02. Flight To Jordu
03. Transfiguration
04. Exhibit A
05. Gershwin Medley
06. Cranky Spanky*
07. Stella By Starlight*
08. My Heart Stood Still*
09. Little Melonae*
10. Stanley’s Stiff Chickens*
11. Gershwin Medley [First Version] **

Total Time: 77:13