Search - Art Blakey & Jazz Messengers :: At the Cafe Bohemia

Blakey's Best

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 06/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I started with Vol. 2 of this session and finally relented. A good move, because like Art Blakey's two-set "Live at Birdland," Vol. 1 definitely has an edge over Vol. 2--both in programming and performance. And as indispensable as the earlier Birdland recording is because of the presence of Clifford Brown, "At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1" will get more playing from me, if for no other than two reasons: Hank Mobley and Doug Watkins. But then there's K. D., who in his own way satisfies every bit as much as Clifford.



Introduced as a "new, rising tenor star" by Blakey, Hank is at his inventive, unforced best, that smoky, butterscotch sound coming through without the spiked, overly "hot" miking and mixing it receives on the later "At the Jazz Corner of the World." Watkins is superior to his predecessor, Curly Russell, as well as his successor, Jymmie Merritt. He receives a rare solo feature, "What's New," but his real strength is his tone (smaller but richer and more focused than Paul Chambers' during this period) and time (an absolutely unflappable walker with unflagging concentration).



Kenny Dorham is the thinking man's trumpet player, never wasting breath or technique merely to impress, yet capable of being as lyrical and fluid as his frontline partner, Mobley. He belongs on a short list with Clifford and Diz and maybe no one else. The logic, the harmonic adventurousness, the allusiveness, the "curing" of each individual note, the elimination of anything extraneous to the pure substance of musical form itself--he's simply in a category unto himself. Silver's comping is, as usual, perfectly in synch with Blakey's drums, and his soloing is more connected here than on other live sessions.



Finally, the program is representative of what an effective jazz set should be--an engaging blues, followed by an "I Got Rhythm" set of changes, followed by "All the Things You Are" changes. Blakey, as usual, cuts the ballad feature, "Alone Together," far too short, but Tad Dameron's "Lady Bird" and Mobley's "Deciphering the Message" are huge bonuses--bebop that's accessible and winsome. The sound on this monaural disk from 1956 is Van Gelder at his very best (contrary to some assumptions, "RVG" is no guarantee of perfection).



In sum, of the nearly 50 Messengers albums in my collection, this is my favorite, most-played, on-location recording, rivaled only by Art's "The Jazz Messengers" (not the popular Blue Note "Moanin'" date but the Columbia studio session, an album that, along with magnificent Mobley, features inspired Donald Byrd and quintessential ensemble cohesiveness)."