Art Blakey - Moanin’ (Blue Note Classic)

More than any other album in the canon of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, 1958’s Moanin’, which features the great drummer playing alongside trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt. It was the perfect crystallization of the band’s bluesy, soulful sound, and it still stands today as perhaps the most quintessential hard bop recording of all-time.

Originally self-titled, the album was later renamed Moanin’ due to the popularity of Timmons’ unforgettable opening track. The album also introduced several indelible Golson compositions that would become standards of the jazz songbook including “Along Came Betty” and “Blues March". This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes.

Heavyweight vinyl produced by Blue Note Classic in 2024.

TRACKLISTING:

A1: Moanin’
A2: Are You Real
A3: Along Came Betty

B1: The Drum Thunder Suite
B2: Blues March
B3: Come Rain Or Come Shine