Track Listing

1. Mosaic - Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, The Jazz Messengers
2. Down Under
3. Children of the Night
4. Arabia
5. Crisis

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17694 in Music
• Brand: Jazz
• Released on: 2006-02-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

Epic Messengers
This is one of the most soulful, driving recordings I have ever heard, bar none. I first owned a copy of Mosaic upon being mercifully turned on to it by a couple of hip peers back in 1981. I went looking for it again recently upon having a jazz revival of sorts, and was thrilled to see it being offered in CD reissue. Folks, this is epic music not only in terms of Art Blakey and his many personnel configurations through time but in terms of the history of jazz music itself in America. Everyone should own a copy of this album at some point to hear the sheer propulsion, emotional penetration, waterfalling chords, bountiful melodic content, utterly towering musical abilities of the sidemen as well as Buhaina (Blakey) himself, and the overall presence of soul in this recording. The first reviewer must have had cotton swabs in his ears. This set of Messengers with the legendary Wayne Shorter of Weather Report, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard (Red Clay), Cedar Walton and Curtis Fuller is as good a jazz group as can be found anywhere in the history of the art and this particular musical session was one of Blakey's finest. Get it and enjoy.

Seeds of a masterpiece by a fantastic group
This is the most recent reissue of "Mosaic," the first album by what is arguably the greatest edition of Art Blakey's jazz messengers. This band features Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Cedar Walton on piano, Jymie Merritt on bass (he had not yet been replaced by Reggie Workman) and Art Blakey on drums. It was recorded in 1961.

The differences between this edition of the Jazz Messengers and its predecessor (the other greatest edition, featuring Lee Morgan on trumpet and Bobby Timmons on piano, in addition to Shorter, Merritt, and Blakey) are evident from the very start of this album. Though the previous group had a lot of energy, this group takes the intensity up a level, both through their fast, advanced playing and their more modern compositions, courtesy of Wayne Shorter's new position as musical director (consequently Shorter would be instrumental in moving jazz forward over the next two decades). Whereas the meat of the older messengers is in groove and deep swing (albeit with sophistication), this group comes out and beats the crap out of you, especially on the turbo-charged title track. They do prove that they can still groove on the medium tempo number, "Down Under," but the energy level is always high and most of the numbers are medium up to way uptempo.

I have been a Messengers fan since I first got into jazz about seven years ago, but I have never been able to warm up to this particular album. The title track amazes me but doesn't move me, and I feel the same way about the other tunes, with the exception of "Crisis." "Children of the Night" is also a good tune but for some reason it's not as memorable as Shorter's other contributions to this band. The musicianship is at a very high level but there is still something rough with this explosive new group, like they haven't quite found a new voice yet. The next album, "Buhaina's Delight," actually took a step back into the medium tempo groove world of the previous group, but this band reached its pinnacle on "Free For All," which gets honors as my favorite album EVER. That album features musicianship and energy every bit as high (and higher) than it is here, but with a much more together musical vision. I believe this album is critical to understanding "Free For All," which is worth understanding, and it is a good album, but not the best this group would record. Get it anyway; it's an important link between the two best editions of the Jazz Messengers.

Hard, hard bop
This album deserves five stars. This is the hardest, meanest hard bop band ever, period. If you enjoyed 'Free for All' arguably the best hard bop album, you will love this one too. The same hard swinging, in your face, hard bop jazz is found here. Blakey' solo on Mosaic is worth the price of admission. Highly recommended.