Art Blakey is powerful signature sound; the quintessential drive of his quintets and sextets; his irrepressible smiling face behind the drums. With these elements, Art Blakey completely defined the classic hard bop unit. His unstoppably propulsive style of play was forged of the most durable raw materials so much so that it' s sometimes forgotten that he had apprenticed in the big bands of the late Thirties had early Forties.
But it was the consolidation of bebop' s advances in New York by the mid-Fifties that enabled Blakey to establish his Jazz Messengers. Once on their way, they never veered from the fiery small-combo format. And one great soloist and composer after another joined the unit, burned at his brightest, and then graduated to form his own group.
