''Ugetsu: Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers at Birdland'' is a live

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers The Jazz Messengers were a jazz combo that existed for over thirty-five years beginning in the early 1950s as a collective, and ending when long-time leader and founding drummer Art Blakey died in 1990. Blakey led or co-led the group from the o ...

released on

Riverside Records Riverside Records was an American jazz record company and label. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Jr, under his firm Bill Grauer Productions in 1953, the label played an important role in the jazz record industry for a decade. Riverside ...

in October 1963. The album was recorded at Birdland in New York City. The original LP had six tracks and producer

Orrin Keepnews Orrin Keepnews (March 2, 1923 – March 1, 2015) was an American jazz writer and record producer known for founding Riverside Records and Milestone Records, for freelance work, and for his work at other labels. Biography Early life Keepnews ...

stated in the liner notes that "there were other performances taped that night that couldn't be fitted into the resulting album". When the album was released on CD, Keepnews added three new tracks that were recorded that night. The Jazz Messengers' tour in Japan had ended a few months before this live performance; then the band decided to play two tracks as a homage to Japan: the Cedar Walton composition "Ugetsu" (which Walton also released under the title "Fantasy in D" on his solo albums) and Wayne Shorter's "On the Ginza".Original liner notes It was reissued in 2011, once more in the

Original Jazz Classics Original Jazz Classics (or OJC) is a record label that founded in 1983 as an imprint of Fantasy Records. Under this name original editions of jazz LPs have been reissued on CD and LP, and formerly on cassette as well. The recordings in the seri ...

series, with a previously unissued track, "Conception".

Track listing

Original LP release

Side A #"One By One" (Wayne Shorter) – 6:18 #"Ugetsu" (Cedar Walton) – 11:03 #"Time Off" (Curtis Fuller) – 4:56 Side B #"Ping-Pong" (Shorter) – 8:09 #"

I Didn't Know What Time It Was "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" is a popular song composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the 1939 musical '' Too Many Girls''. Introduced by Richard Kollmar and Marcy Westcott in the stage musical, early hit versions were rec ...

" (

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most ...

Lorenz Hart Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include " Blue Moon", " The Lady Is a Tramp", "Manhattan", "Bewitched, Both ...

) – 6:32 #"On the Ginza" (Shorter) – 7:04

2011 CD reissue

#"One By One" (Wayne Shorter) – 6:22 #"Ugetsu" (Cedar Walton) – 11:03 #"Time Off" (Curtis Fuller) – 4:58 #"Ping-Pong" (Shorter) – 8:10 #"

" (

) – 6:31 #"On the Ginza" (Shorter) – 7:07 Bonus Tracks #"Eva" (Shorter) – 5:55 #"The High Priest" (Fuller) – 5:32 #"Conception" (

George Shearing Sir George Albert Shearing, (13 August 1919 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 t ...

) – 5:15 #"The Theme" (Miles Davis) – 1:43

Personnel

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 ...

– drums *

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...

– trumpet *

Curtis Fuller Curtis DuBois Fuller (December 15, 1932May 8, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist. He was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and contributed to many classic jazz recordings. Early life Fuller was born in Detroit on December 15, 1932. ...

– trombone *

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Davi ...

– tenor sax *

Cedar Walton Cedar Anthony Walton Jr. (January 17, 1934 – August 19, 2013) was an American hard bop jazz pianist. He came to prominence as a member of drummer Art Blakey's band, The Jazz Messengers, before establishing a long career as a bandleader and com ...

– piano *

Reggie Workman Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey. Career Early in his career, Workman worke ...

– double bass

References

{{Authority control Art Blakey live albums The Jazz Messengers live albums Albums produced by Orrin Keepnews 1963 albums 1963 live albums Riverside Records live albums