June 24, 2020
July 17 will see the release of Just Coolin’, a never-before-released studio album by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers that was recorded on March 8, 1959 in Rudy Van Gelder’s Hackensack, New Jersey studio. The session featured a short-lived line-up of The Jazz Messengers with drummer Art Blakey, trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt. Hear the album’s opening track “Hipsippy Blues,” which is available today to stream or download. Just Coolin’ can be pre-ordered now in several formats: CD, digital download, and an all-analog 180g vinyl pressing that was mastered by Kevin Gray.
Five weeks after the studio session Blue Note founder and producer Alfred Lion decided to record the band again at the legendary club Birdland in New York City on April 15, 1959, capturing an assured live recording that included four of the six titles that had been recorded in March. The Birdland sessions ended up superseding the studio date when Lion instead released the two-volume live album Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers At The Jazz Corner Of The World later that year.
“In 2020, it’s great to find more Morgan, Mobley and Timmons in their prime,” writes Bob Blumenthal in the liner notes for Just Coolin’. “The music had clearly settled in during the month that separated studio and live versions, but the fire of these six tracks has an appeal of its own.”
Now, 61 years later jazz fans all over the world will have the chance to listen for themselves.
The track listing for Just Coolin’ is as follows:
SIDE 1
- Hipsippy Blues (Hank Mobley)
- Close Your Eyes (Bernice Petkere)
- Jimerick (unknown)
SIDE 2
- Quick Trick (Bobby Timmons)
- M&M (Hank Mobley)
- Just Coolin’ (Hank Mobley)
* * *
October 11, 2019 marked the 100th Anniversary of Art Blakey’s birth. The legendary drummer and Jazz Messengers bandleader was the beating heart of Blue Note Records throughout an important era of the label’s development. He first recorded for Blue Note in 1947 and over the next 2 decades made more than 20 albums for the label as a leader, appearing on nearly 40 more as a sideman. In honor of Blakey’s Centennial Blue Note is celebrating his legacy with previously unreleased recordings, vinyl reissues, and the spotlight playlist Art Blakey: The Finest featuring highlights from his remarkable Blue Note catalog.
- Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers Indestructible (Blue Note 80 Vinyl Edition) – An all-analog 180g vinyl pressing of the 1964 album featuring Art Blakey with Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, and Reggie Workman. Part of the Great Reid Miles Covers theme. (out now)
- Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World, Vol. 1 and Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World, Vol. 2 (Blue Note 80 Vinyl Editions) – All-analog 180g vinyl pressings of the 1960 live recordings from Birdland in NYC featuring Art Blakey with Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, and Jymie Merritt. Part of the Blue Note Live theme. (out now)
- Art Blakey & The Jazz MessengersBuhaina’s Delight (Blue Note 80 Vinyl Edition) – An all-analog 180g vinyl pressing of the 1961 album featuring Art Blakey with Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton, and Jymie Merritt. Part of the Drummer Leaders theme. (out now)
- Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers The Freedom Rider (Vinyl Me, Please Exclusive) – An all-analog 180g vinyl pressing of the 1961 album featuring Art Blakey with Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, and Jymie Merritt. (sold out)
- Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers Roots & Herbs (Tone Poet Vinyl Edition) – An all-analog 180g vinyl pressing in deluxe gatefold packaging of the 1961 album featuring Art Blakey with Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, Walter Davis Jr., and Jymie Merrit, that was first released in 1970. (out Oct. 30)
