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Art Blakey, 1919-1990
An influential musician and bandleader for forty years, Art Blakey was primarily a drummer in the late-swing mode when Dizzy Gillespie recruited him for Billy Eckstine's innovative band in 1944. Blakey's drumming style evolved as he absorbed the bebop aesthetics of his bandmates, including Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Dexter Gordon. After Eckstine's band dissolved in 1947, Blakey recorded with Thelonious Monk, formed a short-lived octet, and played with a host of leading bop musicians. In 1955 he joined forces with pianist and composer Horace Silver to co-direct the Jazz Messengers, a cooperative quintet. Following Silver's departure a year later, Blakey assumed sole leadership of the ensemble, which emerged as the quintessential hard-bop band of the late 1950s. He remained at the helm well into the 1980s, presiding over the Messengers' many iterations and ensuring that the band remained an incubator for talented young musicians such as Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, and Wynton Marsalis. |