Art Blakey was born 95 years ago today. Known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, Blakey was a jazz drummer and bandleader. Along with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach, he was one of the inventors of the modern bebop style of drumming. He is known as a powerful musician and a vital groover; his brand of bluesy, funky hard bop was and continues to be profoundly influential on mainstream jazz. For more than 30 years his band, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, included many young musicians who went on to become prominent names in jazz. The bands legacy is thus not only known for the music it produced, but as a proving ground for several generations of jazz musicians; Blakeys groups are matched only by those of Miles Davis in this regard. Blakey was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1982. Blakey continued performing and touring with the group into the late 1980s. He died in 1990 at age 71. Here, Blakey joins the Jazz Messengers in a 1963 concert at Sanremo in Italy.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 04:05:07 +0000