Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blue Note, 1958. If you need a record to get you through a Wednesday, this is the one.
The title track opens the album. Bobby Timmons plays the riff on piano. The horns answer him. Piano, horns, piano, horns. It works like a church call and response. You know exactly where it is going and that is the point. By the second chorus you are awake.
Lee Morgan was 20 when they cut this. Twenty. His trumpet solo on the title track is loose and confident and a little cocky. Benny Golson follows him on tenor and plays it smart instead of flashy, two different players, both great.
Some context on how this band came together. Blakey had just rebuilt the Messengers from scratch. Golson joined in April 1958, took over as musical director, wrote a new book for the band, and with Blakey's blessing recruited Morgan, Timmons and bassist Jymie Merritt, all Philadelphia guys. He wrote Blues March and Along Came Betty for this date, and Timmons wrote Moanin'. One session, October 30, 1958, Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack. They walked out with a classic.
Blues March is the commute track for me. It is exactly what it says, a march. Blakey plays that parade snare underneath and the whole thing moves. If your train is late, put it on. If you are stuck in traffic, put it on. It fixes your pace.
Along Came Betty is the cool down. Golson wrote a melody that just glides. No drama, no showing off. It is the prettiest thing on the record and it never tries too hard. Perfect for the part of the ride where you stop checking the time.
Blakey's drums are the reason all of it works. He plays loud and nobody drove a band harder. You can hear the guys respond to it. Every solo on this album has somewhere to go because Blakey will not let it sit still.
The album was originally released as just Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Everybody called it Moanin' anyway, so eventually Blue Note did too. That tells you everything about what the title track did.
One more thing about this band: it only lasted a couple of years in this exact form. Morgan, Golson, Timmons, Merritt, Blakey behind it all. Catch it while it existed. That is this record.
Forty minutes, one October afternoon in Hackensack, and a band that had only existed about six months. They walked out with a standard.