Art Blakey (October 11, 1919 — October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader from Pittsburgh. For 35 years, he led the Jazz Messengers, a revolving-door band with some of the leading names in post-bop. Blakey co-founded the Jazz Messengers in 1954 with pianist Horace Silver, trumpeter Kenny Dorham, saxophonist Hank Mobley, and […]
Freddie Hubbard (1938–2008) was an American jazz trumpeter who released seven post-bop albums on Blue Note (1960–67), followed by stints on Atlantic (1967–70), CTI (1970–74), and Columbia (1974–77). He went electric on the 1970–71 albums The Black Angel, Red Clay, and Straight Life and embraced jazz-funk on the 1974–76 titles High Energy, Liquid Love, and […]
Lee Morgan (July 10, 1938 — February 19, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter of the hard bop era and a central figure on the Blue Note label. By his late teens, he recorded with John Coltrane, Curtis Fuller, and Dizzy Gillespie, then became a regular in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. His work as sideman […]
Cedar Walton (Jan. 17, 1934 — Aug. 19, 2013) was an American jazz pianist from Dallas. He played with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers from 1961 to 1964 and recorded extensively as a sideman for Blue Note, Prestige, Atlantic, and other jazz labels. Walton launched his recording career as a leader with Cedar! in 1967 and […]
