Search - Art Blakey :: In This Korner

Smoking hard bop

01/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was the incarnation of the Jazz Messengers that hooked me on jazz in the late-1970's. We saw their initial shows at Keystone Korner that led to a return engagement for this amazing recording. The band was on-fire! On this live CD Bobby Watson blazes new trails on alto while tenor saxophonist David Schnitter plays with such a big voice that one can only think it is a crying shame that he soon disappeared from the scene. The Russian trumpeter, Valery Ponomarev was another rare Blakey find of a smoking soloist who also could write and contributed a song to the set. James Williams is a great pianist and wrote three of the titles. This is classic hard bop with tight ensemble playing at the begining and end of each performance and a series of intense solos by each band member in between. The Song is You and Dark Side Light Side are highlights of the disk as is 1977 A.D. which did not appear on the original LP. I own some of the classic Blakey albums and consider this one to be among the best. I just wish it included as a track one of the sermons that Art delivered from the front of the stage between songs. This CD documents the guys that kept the spark of real jazz alive during the dark days of the 1970's."

One of a Kind

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 05/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Blakey's neglected seventies' groups were not necessarily underrecorded, but "In This Korner" is virtually the only recording from this period that made it to CD ("Reflections in Blue," a good but lesser date, would be another). Trust the previous reviewer's comments about the unusual chemistry and potent power of this ensemble as well as the ample solo strength (I've never heard any tenor player blow the roof off like Schnitter did when I caught the group live). The mix of tunes will demonstrate the group's versatility--from intense, modal melodies like "Pamela" to straightahead, mainstream Basie grooves like the title tune contributed by pianist James Williams.



My only regret, since this is one of the few remaining documentations of a Messengers group between Shorter and the Marsalises, is that at least one of the Walter Davis Jr. tunes in the book was not included and that the trumpet player on the date was not the redoubtable, yet always surprising and exciting, Bill Hardman, who was so vital to Blakey in both the mid-fifties and mid-seventies. (Look for a currently available DVD of the group, with Schnitter and Hardman, shot at the Umbria Jazz Festival.)"