Jazz Messengers '70

Jazz Messengers '70 is a live album by drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers recorded in Tokyo in 1970 and originally released on the Catalyst label.

Reception

Scott Yanow of Allmusic stated, "the quintet casts new light on these tunes, making them sound fresh and flexible. This unusual set is recommended to longtime followers of Art Blakey".

Track listing

Personnel

References

The Jazz Messengers

The Jazz Messengers were an influential 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.

The group evolved into a proving ground for young jazz talent. While veterans occasionally re-appeared in the group, by and large, each iteration of the Messengers included a lineup of new young players. Having the Messengers on one's resume was a rite of passage in the jazz world, and conveyed immediate bona fides.

Many Messenger alumni went on to become jazz stars in their own right, such as: Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Timmons, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Chuck Mangione, Keith Jarrett, Joanne Brackeen, Woody Shaw, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison and Mulgrew Miller. A more complete list of alumni can be found on the right column. Some members such as bassist Clarence Seay and then 16-year-old trombonist Gregory Charles Royal are documented to have played in the Jazz Messengers but did not record with the group.

The Jazz Messengers (1956 album)

The Jazz Messengers is a 1956 album by the Jazz Messengers, released by Columbia Records. It was the last recording by the Jazz Messengers lineup featuring pianist Horace Silver.

In 1968 Columbia reissued the LP in their Jazz Odyssey Series with a new cover under the title Art Blakey with the Original Jazz Messengers. In 1997 the album was digitally remastered and released on CD, again with its original title and cover, featuring all the tracks from the original LP along with five additional tracks drawn from the same recording sessions but previously released only on foreign imports.

Track listing

This is the track listing for the current Columbia CD release. Tracks 1−7 are from the original LP and in the same order. The adjacent tracks 8−10 and 12 were first released on Originally (Columbia CL 897, 1956). Track 11 was previously unreleased.

Stella by Starlight

"Stella by Starlight" is a jazz standard written by Victor Young and featured in The Uninvited, a 1944 film released by Paramount Pictures. Originally played in the film as an instrumental theme song without lyrics, it was turned over to Ned Washington, who wrote the lyrics for it in 1946. The title had to be incorporated into the lyrics, which resulted in its unusual placement: the phrase appears about three quarters of the way through the song, rather than at the beginning or the end.

Recording history

"Stella by Starlight" is one of the most popular standards, ranked number 10 by the website jazzstandards.com. Its May 1947 recording by Harry James and his orchestra reached the 21st place in the pop charts. Two months later, the recording by Frank Sinatra with Axel Stordahl and his orchestra also rose to the 21st position.

Charlie Parker, playing alto saxophone, made the first jazz recording of the song in January 1952, which was shortly followed by a tenor sax version by Stan Getz (December 1952), a piano version by Bud Powell, and a rendition by the big band of Stan Kenton, which featured bass trombonist George Roberts. Nat King Cole recorded an instrumental version for his 1955 album The Piano Style of Nat King Cole. Other instrumental versions were played by Miles Davis, which first appeared on 1958 Miles, Earl Grant, Joe Pass, Royce Campbell, and Dexter Gordon and vocal versions sung by Billy Eckstine, Dick Haymes, Ray Charles, Anita O'Day, Helen Reddy, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others. Al Hirt released a version on his 1961 album, The Greatest Horn in the World and was also featured on his greatest hits album, The Best of Al Hirt. In 1993, guitarist Larry Coryell covered the song on his album Fallen Angel.

Stella by Starlight (band)

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Stella by Starlight is an American electropop band, formed in 2006 in Durham, North Carolina. As of 2012, the band is composed of Nathan Fowler (songwriting, production, synths, and vocals) Stella by Starlight has collaborated with Mike Posner and Eric Holljes (guitar, songwriting, and additional vocals). The band won mtvU's 2007 Woodie Award for Best Music on Campus. Fowler is a 2008 graduate of Duke University.

Past performers include Katie Peterson, Chris Prolowski, Steve Wilson, Sonny Byrd, Greg Laird, and Shuhei Yamamoto.

Stella by Starlight is currently based out of Los Angeles, California, and has played with OK Go, Mutemath, Paper Route, 3OH!3, Innerpartysystem, Jason Mraz, Common, Ke$ha and The Anix.

Discography

References