''Art Blakey Big Band'' (also called ''Art Blakey's Big Band'' and ''Art Blakey and his Drivin' Big Band'') is an album by drummer

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

recorded in late 1957 and originally released on the

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

label.Art Blakey chronology
accessed June 5, 2013 It differs from typical Art Blakey releases as his regular quintet was expanded to form a big band for these arrangements. In the mid-1990s, and again in the 2000s, the album was repackaged and released under

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

's name, combining it with several songs from ''

Winner's Circle Winner's Circle is a 1958 album by jazz musicians who came first or second in ''Down Beat''s critics' poll of 1957. Track listing #"Lazy Afternoon" #"Not So Sleepy" #"Seabreeze" #"Love and the Weather" #"She Didn't Say Yes" #"If I'm Lucky (I' ...

'', another album featuring Coltrane and recorded for the Bethlehem label in 1957. This edition features several alternate takes which were released here for the first time.

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

awarded the album 2½ stars stating "Throughout his long career as a bandleader, drummer Art Blakey very rarely played with big bands. This Bethlehem date was a one-shot affair, an opportunity for his powerful drumming to be heard propelling a 15-piece orchestra through a set of mostly new material".Yanow, S
Allmusic Review
accessed June 5, 2013

Track listing

# "Midriff" (Gerald Valentine) – 3:17 # "Ain't Life Grand" (Al Cohn) – 3:21 # "Tippin'" (Donald Byrd) – 6:23 # "Pristine" (John Coltrane) – 5:35 # "El Toro Valiente" (Charles Gambel, Chiefy Salaam) – 2:43 # "The Kiss of No Return" (Gambel, Salaam) – 5:37 # "Late Date" (Melba Liston) – 3:33 # "The Outer World" (Cohn) – 4:06

Personnel

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Ray Copeland Ray or RAY may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), the bony or horny spine on ray-finned fish Science and mathematics * Half-line (geometry) or ray, half of a line split at an ...

(tracks 1, 2 & 5–8),

Bill Hardman William Franklin Hardman Jr. (April 6, 1933 – December 6, 1990) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist who chiefly played hard bop. He was married to Roseline and they had a daughter Nadege. Career Hardman was born and grew ...

(tracks 1, 2 & 5–8),

Idrees Sulieman Idrees Sulieman, born Leonard Graham (August 7, 1923 – July 23, 2002), was an American bop and hard bop trumpeter. Biography Graham was born in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, later changing his name to Idrees Sulieman, after conve ...

(tracks 1, 2 & 5–8),

Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter, composer and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few h ...

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

Frank Rehak Frank Rehak (July 6, 1926, in New York City, New York – June 22, 1987, in Badger, California) was an American jazz trombonist. He began on piano and cello before switching to trombone. He worked with Gil Evans and Miles Davis. He also appeared ...

Jimmy Cleveland James Milton Cleveland (May 3, 1926 – August 23, 2008) was an American jazz trombonist born in Wartrace, Tennessee.

Melba Liston Melba Doretta Liston (January 13, 1926 – April 23, 1999) was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and composer. Other than those playing in all-female bands, she was the first woman trombonist to play in big bands during the 1940s and 1960s, ...

–

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

(tracks 1, 2 & 5–8) * Bill Graham,

Sahib Shihab Sahib Shihab (born Edmund Gregory; June 23, 1925 – October 24, 1989) was an American jazz and hard bop saxophonist (baritone, alto, and soprano) and flautist. He variously worked with Luther Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Fletcher Henderson, Tad ...

–

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

(tracks 1, 2 & 5–8) (feature: track 6) *

Al Cohn Al Cohn (November 24, 1925 – February 15, 1988) was an American jazz saxophonist, arranger and composer. He came to prominence in the band of clarinetist Woody Herman and was known for his longtime musical partnership with fellow saxophonist ...

(tracks 1, 2 & 5–8),

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

* Bill Slapin –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

(tracks 1, 2 & 5–8) * Walter Bishop, Jr. –

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Wendell Marshall Wendell Marshall (October 24, 1920 – February 6, 2002) was an American jazz double-bassist. Marshall was Jimmy Blanton's cousin. He studied at Lincoln University, then served in the Army during World War II. Following his discharge, he perfo ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* “Tippin” & “Pristine” feature a quintet of

Walter Bishop Jr. Walter Bishop Jr. (October 4, 1927 – January 24, 1998) was an American jazz pianist. Early life Bishop was born in New York City on October 4, 1927.Greene, Philip; Kernfeld, Barr"Bishop, Walter Jr." ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'' (2nd ed ...

, and Blakey.

References

{{Authority control Art Blakey albums 1959 albums Bethlehem Records albums