Drum Suite

Performer: Art Blakey
Artist: Donald Byrd; Jackie McLean; Oscar Pettiford; Jo Jones; Kenny Drew; Ray Bryant; Candido
Producer: Cal Lampley; George Avakian
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Art Blakey (drums); Candido (vocals, acoustic bass, congas, percussion); Specs Wright (vocals, drums, timpani, gong); Sabu (vocals, congas, bongos, percussion); Oscar Pettiford (cello, acoustic bass); Jackie McLean (alto saxophone); Ira Sullivan (tenor saxophone, trumpet); Donald Byrd, Bill Hardman (trumpet); Kenny Drew, Ray Bryant, Sam Dockery (piano); Spanky DeBrest, Wilbur Ware (acoustic bass); Jo Jones (drums). Liner Note Authors: Cal Lampley; Kenny Washington. Recorded in 1956, Art Blakey's Drum Suite is a wonderful hybrid of African, Latin, and hard bop rhythms that prefigures the concept of Afro-beat by at least a decade, and the sheer energy, not to mention its very special and fresh-sounding intimacy, make it especially astounding. Even more amazing is that the three parts of the suite -- Blakey's "The Sacrifice," Ray Bryant's "Cubano Chant," and Oscar Pettiford's "Oscalypso" -- were recorded straight through live, and were only intended to be a pre-take run-through, but as is obvious here, Blakey and company nailed the whole thing right out of the box. The original LP was issued by Columbia with the drum suite on one side, and three tracks recorded by a 1956 version of the Jazz Messengers (Bill Hardman, Jackie McLean, Sam Dockery, and Spanky DeBrest) for Blakey's first Columbia album, Hard Bop, on the other side. Groundbreaking for its time, and still sounding vital, powerful, and visionary, the Drum Suite album is somewhat of a lost masterpiece that deserves a fresh audience. ~ Steve Leggett

JazzTimes (p.96) - "Side one's meticulous drum explosions on 'The Sacrifice' and 'Oscalypso' are exciting, and so is the charter version of Ray Bryant's impossibly infectious 'Cubano Chant."

Pittsburgh, PA-born bop drum king Art Blakey spent the 1940s working with everyone from swing king Fletcher Henderson to bebop pianist Mary Lou Williams. He is best known, however, as the founder/leader of the Jazz Messengers, one of jazz's most venerable institutions. For nearly four decades, his hard-bop sanctuary was a training ground for some of the best young musicians in jazz, including Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Timmons, and Wynton Marsalis. Blakey passed away in 1990.

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