At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1

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At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1
At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 cover
Live album by Art Blakey
Released 1955
Recorded November 23, 1955
Genre Hard bop
Length 61:44
Label Blue Note Records (1955)
Producer Michael Cuscuna
Alfred Lion
Professional reviews
Art Blakey chronology
Jazz Messages (album)
(1954)
At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1
(1955)
At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2
(1955)

At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 is a 1955 live album release by jazz drummer Art Blakey for Blue Note Records. It featured the first incarnation of the Jazz Messengers, Blakey's career-spanning band, and is the first of two volumes recorded on November 23, 1955 at Cafe Bohemia, a famous night club in Greenwich Village in New York.

With the July 31, 2001 CD re-issue, three additional tracks from this night were added: "Lady Bird,"Deciphering the Message," and "What's New?"

Contents

[edit] Track listing

Track Song Title Originally By Time
1. Announcement by Art Blakey Art Blakey 1:32
2. "Soft Winds" Fletcher Henderson 12:34
3. "The Theme" Kenny Dorham 6:11
4. "Minor's Holiday" Kenny Dorham 9:11
5. "Alone Together" Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz 4:15
6. "Prince Albert" Kenny Dorham 8:51
7. "Lady Bird" Tadd Dameron 7:30
8. "What's New?" Johnny Burke and Bob Haggart 4:31
9. "Deciphering the Message" Hank Mobley 10:13

[edit] Personnel

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers:

Production:

  • Bob Bluementhal, Leonard Feather - liner notes
  • Michael Cuscuna - reissue producer
  • John Hermansader - cover design
  • Alfred Lion - producer
  • Rudy Van Gelder - digital remastering
  • Francis Wolff - photography

[edit] Reception

This album, which sees the first version of The Jazz Messengers on record, was noted as not "match[ing] the intensity which the quintet secured at Birdland."[1] Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, in particular, is noted as "a somewhat unfocused stylist."[1] However, trumpeter Kenny Dorham is seen as an "elusive brillance [that] was seldom so extensively captured" and the playing in general "is just as absorbing" as the Birdland albums and is "still timeless music."[1][2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Cook, Richard; & Brian Morton (2004). The Penguin Guide to Jazz (7th Edition). Penguin Books, 153. ISBN 0-14-101416-4. 
  2. ^ Scott Yanow. At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1. Retrieved on 2006-11-26.