Moanin'

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Trumpeter Lee Morgan was on fire with his big tone, inventive and melodic improvisation and still retaining the exuberance and brashness of youth. Golson's "Are You Real?" is a more straightforward hard bop tune featuring a 32-bar chorus and a faster tempo. The standard "Come Rain or Come Shine" is performed with the attention to melody and arrangement not typically associated with hard bop, but is convincingly and faithfully represented by the Jazz Messengers. A passionate advocate of the jazz that he loved and believed in, he was always willing to share this passion and message to all who would care to listen. Today’s song is one of the most famous Jazz Messengers tunes, called “Moanin’.” This is the quintessential “hard bop” song. Hard bop was an extension of be bop, which we talked about early, that was more muscular and bluesy. You’ll see what I mean when you listen to this tune, which was written by pianist Bobby Timmons and features Lee Morgan on trumpet, Benny Golson on tenor sax and Jymie Merritt on bass. Through his policy of continually renewing his Jazz Messengersgroup he would constantly be seeking the cream of the rising young players thus giving them a solid grounding and place to hone their craft.

Golson performed with artists such as Tadd Dameron, Lionel Hampton, and Johnny Hodges before joining the Dizzy Gillespie band on a tour of South America from 1956-58, the same years Morgan played for Gillespie. Golson's tunes "Are You Real?," "Along Came Betty," "The Drum Thunder Suite," and "Blues March" lend a notable variety and versatility to Moanin', utilizing varied song forms and musical styles. As an improviser, Golson's smooth tone and fluid lines contrast with and complement the aggressive playing of Lee Morgan. Benny Golson's "Drum Thunder Suite" was composed to satisfy Blakey's desire to record a song using mallets extensively. The suite consists of three contrasting themes. The first theme, "Drum Thunder," is primarily a drum solo with horns playing short melodic ideas in unison (soli writing). The second theme, "Cry a Blue Tear," utilizes a strongly Latin rhythm in the drums. It features a lyrical melody with trumpet and saxophone playing complementary lines. The final theme, "Harlem's Disciples," begins with a funky melody, and then a piano solo sets the stage for the concluding drum solo. "The Drum Thunder Suite" makes interesting use of different stylistic approaches and arranging techniques. In the first theme, ‘Drum Thunder’ Blakey’s mallets create a rolling thunder cloud with punctuations from the horns, and a dramatic solo from Morgan as befits the building of the storm behind him. Another important associate of the hard bop movement, Horace Silver would also play an important part in Blakey’s development, and in fact the Jazz Messengers band was under Silver’s leadership. The Rising Stars of TomorrowLegendary h ard bop drummer Art Blakey may have an extensive discography, but his Jazz Messenger album ‘Moanin’ is regarded by most aficionados as his finest. However, perhaps the most remarkable piece on the album is Golson’s ‘ The Drum Thunder Suite‘, which was written especially at Blakey’s request to have a piece for use of mallets exclusively. As such, the list of musicians who have passed through the Messengers academy is a veritable who’s who of jazz up until his death in 1990. His progress, and indeed that of the modern jazz movement that saw the music move away from big bands and dance orientated orchestra to a serious art form that should be listened to and understood, was rapid. The song "Moanin'" is one of the tunes that helped to generate the "soul jazz" style of the late '50s and early '60s. Influenced by gospel, "Moanin'" makes use of call-and-response technique between the piano and horns. Instead of a walking bass, Merritt plays a rhythmically driving bass line, while Blakey plays a swing rhythm with emphasis on beats two and four. Morgan, Golson, and Timmons all play two-chorus solos followed by one chorus by Jymie Merritt. Morgan's solo makes use of blues inflections and maintains its cohesion through the use of catchy riffs. Golson proceeds into his solo from the end of Morgan's and uses a similar riff-based approach. Timmons continues in a bluesy style, alternating piano runs with chords, and progressing to develop upon a series of formulaic riffs. "Moanin'" concludes with the return of the head and a short piano tag. This song is a prime example of funky or soul jazz.

Blakey had an uncanny sense of bringing fresh-to-town artists who made their marks on the Messengers as rising stars, who then left for greener pastures—which was fine with the leader because that’s how the in-and-out personnel policy of the group worked. School 24/7, grinding tours, playing to top form with no slouching, then graduation and hopefully onward and upward. Blues March ‘ is exactly that, and reminiscent of the old New Orleans marching bands, albeit updated for 1958. Early Jazz Messengers featured trumpeter Kenny Dorham and alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson; and was immediately followed a short while later with a stellar band featuring Clifford Brown and Hank Mobley in the front line. Moanin’ | Art Blakey’s Finest He also played a pivotal role in Thelonious Monk’s music from Monk’s 1940’s recordings for Blue Note and again for the pianist’s marvellous trio albums for the Riverside label in the fifties. Lee’s trumpet solo is a wonderfully singing affair, and elicits an equally positive response from Golson in his solo. Bobby Timmons also offers up an intriguing solo building from sprightly single note lines to a climax with his use of a chordal chorus.

Moanin ' " is a composition by Bobby Timmons, first recorded by Art Blakey's band the Jazz Messengers for the album of the same title [1] that was released by Blue Note Records. [2] Both the single and album are in the Grammy Hall of Fame.