the Jazz Messengers

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the Jazz Messengers

American musical group

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The Jazz Messengers was an American musical group founded in 1954 by drummer and bandleader Art Blakey and pianist Horace Silver. The group was a renowned and respected "traveling conservatory" for jazz musicians, providing valuable experience to many emerging talents over its three-decade existence.12

The Jazz Messengers were instrumental in defining the "hard bop" style, an offshoot of bebop characterized by Blakey's energetic drumming. Over the years, the ensemble featured numerous notable jazz artists, including Clifford Brown, Benny Golson, Jackie McLean, Lee Morgan, and Wayne Shorter. The group's influence extended through various eras of jazz, with later members including Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, and Wynton Marsalis.12

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Art Blakey
…Horace Silver, Blakey founded the Jazz Messengers (1954), toured Europe, and recorded (1955–61) a brilliant string of records for the Blue Note label. By encouraging young musicians to become members of the Jazz Messengers, Blakey gave them valuable experience as jazz performers; over the years the ensemble included such notable…
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…Horace Silver, Blakey founded the Jazz Messengers (1954), toured Europe, and recorded (1955–61) a brilliant string of records for the Blue Note label. By encouraging young musicians to become members of the Jazz Messengers, Blakey gave them valuable experience as jazz performers; over the years the ensemble included such notable…
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Hank Mobley
…founding member of the original Jazz Messengers, he had become a distinctive personal stylist. He worked in two more major hard-bop groups, Horace Silver’s quintet (1956–57) and, again, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers (1959), and also began leading his own recordings, including the highly creative Hank Mobley Quintet (1957) and Hank…
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…founding member of the original Jazz Messengers, he had become a distinctive personal stylist. He worked in two more major hard-bop groups, Horace Silver’s quintet (1956–57) and, again, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers (1959), and also began leading his own recordings, including the highly creative Hank Mobley Quintet (1957) and Hank…
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Lee Morgan
…with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He recorded his hit song “The Sidewinder” before returning to Blakey (1964–65), after which he led his own groups for the rest of his career. He suffered periods of decline during which he struggled with heroin addiction, and he was murdered at a…
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…with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He recorded his hit song “The Sidewinder” before returning to Blakey (1964–65), after which he led his own groups for the rest of his career. He suffered periods of decline during which he struggled with heroin addiction, and he was murdered at a…
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Wayne Shorter
association, with Art Blakey’s hard-bop Jazz Messengers (1959–63). He joined Miles Davis’s modal jazz quintet as a tenor saxophonist in 1964 and stayed with him during Davis’s early fusion music experiments, leaving in 1970 as a soprano saxophonist.
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association, with Art Blakey’s hard-bop Jazz Messengers (1959–63). He joined Miles Davis’s modal jazz quintet as a tenor saxophonist in 1964 and stayed with him during Davis’s early fusion music experiments, leaving in 1970 as a soprano saxophonist.
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Horace Silver
…bop group of the 1950s—the Jazz Messengers—with the latter. Silver then formed his own series of excellent quintets. Instead of having ensemble statements only at the beginning and end of a piece, the middle being simply a container for improvised solos, Silver wrote ensemble passages positioned within and between improvised…
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…bop group of the 1950s—the Jazz Messengers—with the latter. Silver then formed his own series of excellent quintets. Instead of having ensemble statements only at the beginning and end of a piece, the middle being simply a container for improvised solos, Silver wrote ensemble passages positioned within and between improvised…
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