YES BENNY GREEN, i love you irockjazz. great interviews even better musicians

this is a gem

beautiful story

It's got to be a great feeling to get the seat that bobby timmons sat it in. Deep stuff

BG!!

Art was way ahead of his time. He used the traditional grip to play and sometimes he would use the 2 hand grip. Out of all the jazz standards played at that time, my favorites were from Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers.

Bout to blow your mind, homie. It's "Ecaroh" not "Ecarole" because its Horace spelled backwards. Horace Silver, my friend.

Art Blakey "tribute" and "alumni" concerts are invariably disappointing, a pale reflection of the original. Regardless of the drummer, none comes close to the explosive force of nature that was Art Blakey. The image Ithat comes to mind while heaaring Blakey is that of a chariot driver racing downhill, snapping his whip over the heads of his young charges. Without Art, the ground is flattened and the music loses its urgency in working toward a common goal. Before 1978, Art was stirring up a lot of excitement with just 2 guys in the front-line--old pro Bill Hardman (with Art in 3 decades) and young tiger David Schnitter (with Art longer than any other tenor player). The compositions were unique and, in my mind, still unequaled, all by Walter Davis, Jr.: "Jody," "Gypsy Folk Tales," Uranus", etc. Art was always savvy about talent and how to use it. There were times he'd stop the entire band with the exception of Hardman, who would blow several sizzling choruses of unaccompanied trumpet at blazing speed. Schnitter became Art's first occasional "soul singer." And at a Newport in NYC concert, after Horace's group had played the frist half (with Michael Brecker's playing subservient to the rigid, formulaic arrangements), Schnitter was cut loose by Art. This unknown kid (Art could not get a single American record contract during the '70s) proceeded to blow the roof off of Carnegie Hall, bringing the audience to its feet, cheering him on. Art was stimulated by challenges like that of selling a mainstream, acoustic group during the days of Return to Forever, Weather Report, Head-Hunters, Yellow Jackets, Mahavishnu, the G Man, etc. But he met the challenge, until, like Dexter, he came home with iconic status, playing for more receptive audiences who had come to understand the meaning of the words "Keeper of the Flame." Perhaps Art helped youngsters like Schnitter, Green and Keezer discover that they had "a" voice, from which they could proceed to discover other dimensions away from the Messengers.