At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1

At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1
Live album by The Jazz Messengers
Released	1955
Recorded	November 23, 1955
Genre	Hardbop
Length	41:54 (1955)
Label	Blue Note Records (1955)
Producer	Michael Cuscuna Alfred Lion
The Jazz Messengers chronology
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers (1955) 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 the Jazz Messengers for Blue Note Records. It featured the original incarnation of the Jazz Messengers, Art Blakey's career-spanning band, and is the first of two volumes recorded on November 23, 1955 at Café 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?".

Track listing

1. Announcement by Art Blakey 1:32
2. "Soft Winds" 12:34
3. "The Theme" 6:11
4. "Minor's Holiday" 9:11
5. "Alone Together" 4:15
6. "Prince Albert" 8:51
7. "Lady Bird" (reissue bonus track) 7:30
8. "What's New?" (reissue bonus track) 4:31
9. "Deciphering the Message" (reissue bonus track) 10:13

Personnel

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers

• Art Blakey — drums
• Horace Silver — piano
• Kenny Dorham — trumpet
• Hank Mobley — saxophone (tenor)
• Doug Watkins — bass

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

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Penguin Guide to Jazz

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."^[2] Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, in particular, is noted as "a somewhat unfocused stylist."^[2] However, trumpeter Kenny Dorham is seen as an "elusive brilliance [that] was seldom so extensively captured" and the playing in general "is just as absorbing" as the Birdland albums and is "still timeless music."^[2][3]

References

1. ↑ Nastos, Michael G.. At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 at AllMusic
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2004). The Penguin Guide to Jazz (7th Edition). Penguin Books. p. 153. ISBN 0-14-101416-4. 
3. ↑ Scott Yanow. "At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1". Retrieved 2006-11-26.