Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in saxophone and piano playing.
William Franklin Hardman Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist who chiefly played hard bop. He was married to Roseline and they had a daughter Nadege.
Douglas Watkins was an American jazz double bassist. He was best known for being an accompanist to various hard bop artists in the Detroit area, including Donald Byrd and Jackie McLean.
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk is a studio album released in 1958 by Atlantic Records. It is a collaboration between the Jazz Messengers, the group led by drummer Art Blakey, and Thelonious Monk on piano.
The Jazz Messengers is the first studio album by the Jazz Messengers, released in 1956 by Columbia Records. It was their fourth overall album, and also their last recording to feature the group's co-founder, Horace Silver, on piano.
Originally is an album by drummer Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers recorded in 1956, but not released on the Columbia label until 1982. The album features unreleased tracks from the sessions that produced The Jazz Messengers and Hard Bop which have since been released as bonus tracks on those albums and Drum Suite.
A Night in Tunisia is a 1958 jazz album by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, released by the RCA Victor subsidiary label Vik. It features the only recorded instances of saxophonists Jackie McLean and Johnny Griffin playing together.
Ritual is a studio album by the Jazz Messengers featuring Art Blakey. Three years after being recorded, it was first released on the Pacific Jazz Records label as PJM-402, and reissued by them in 1962, with an Elmo Hope session, as Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers/The Elmo Hope Quintet* Featuring Harold Land as PJ-33. It has been reissued on CD.
My Conception is an album by jazz pianist Sonny Clark, recorded for the Blue Note label and performed by Clark with Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Paul Chambers, and Art Blakey. It was originally released in 1979 in Japan, as GXF 3056, featuring six tracks recorded in 1959 including an alternate take of "Royal Flush", a track that had appeared on the album Cool Struttin'. The 2000 limited CD reissue also comprised the three additional tracks originally recorded for Sonny Clark Quintets, an album which never saw the light of the day until being released later only in Japan.
Taylor's Wailers is the debut album by drummer Art Taylor, released in 1957 on Prestige. It features tracks recorded mainly on February 25, 1957 plus a track from a different session featuring John Coltrane on saxophone.
Byrd's Eye View is an album by trumpeter Donald Byrd recorded in 1955 and originally released on Tom Wilson's Transition label. The album was later re-released as part of the compilation CD set The Transition Sessions on the Blue Note label.
Selections from Lerner and Loewe's... is an album by drummer Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers recorded in 1957 and released on the RCA Victor subsidiary label Vik. The album features jazz interpretations of show tunes from Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's musicals My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, and Paint Your Wagon.
Hard Bop is an album by drummer Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers recorded in 1956 and originally released on the Columbia label. It was performed by the Jazz Messengers and recorded in CBS Street Studio.
Drum Suite is an album by drummer Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and the Art Blakey Percussion Ensemble, recorded in late 1956 and early 1957 and originally released on Columbia in April 1957. It was the first of several albums recorded by Blakey in the 1950s and 1960s that explored percussion-oriented jazz. It was followed by Orgy in Rhythm, Holiday for Skins, and The African Beat.
Art Blakey Big Band is an album by drummer Art Blakey recorded in late 1957 and originally released on the Bethlehem label. It differs from typical Art Blakey releases as his regular quintet was expanded to form a big band for these arrangements.
Blue Night is an album by drummer Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers recorded in 1985 in the Netherlands and released on the Dutch Timeless label.
Cu-Bop is an album by drummer Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers with conguero Sabu recorded in 1957 and originally released on the Jubilee label.
The Cool Voice of Rita Reys is the debut album by Dutch jazz singer Rita Reys which features sessions recorded with bands led by drummers Art Blakey and her husband Wessel Ilcken. The sessions are divided over each side of the original LP which was released on the Dutch Philips and US Columbia labels.
The Jazz Messengers were a jazz combo that existed for over thirty-five years beginning in the early 1950s as a collective, and ending when long-time leader and founding drummer Art Blakey died in 1990. Blakey led or co-led the group from the outset. "Art Blakey" and "Jazz Messengers" became synonymous over the years, though Blakey did lead non-Messenger recording sessions and played as a sideman for other groups throughout his career.
"Yes sir, I'm gonna to stay with the youngsters. When these get too old, I'm gonna get some younger ones. Keeps the mind active."
A Midnight Session with the Jazz Messengers is a live album by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers originally released on the Elektra label in 1957. The album masters were sold to Savoy and re-released as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in 1960 and Mirage in 1977.
