The Night Beat — Art Blakey Live in Tokyo

Next time on the Wednesday Night Beat, we’ll highlight the recently issued Blue Note album “ART BLAKEY & THE JAZZ MESSENGERS – FIRST FLIGHT TO TOKYO: THE LOST 1961 RECORDINGS”.

The May 11, 1961 issue of DownBeat Magazine said this about the tour: “Art Friends Association, the only cultural exchange group recognized by the Japanese government, according to Blakey, was responsible for the Jazz Messengers’ touring Japan. The organization took a survey of Japanese jazz fans, and Blakey’s group proved most popular. The Messengers’ records consistently head the lists of the most popular jazz albums in the Far Eastern country.”

Unlike tours by other American jazz musicians at the time, this tour was done without any supervision and oversight by the US State Department. And given the state of US/Japan relations at the time due to tense negotiations and public protests over a revised US-Japan Security Treaty in 1959 and 1960, probably all for the best.

As a band, the Jazz Messengers’ had remained intact since the time “Moanin’” was recorded for Blue Note in 1958 save for tenor saxophonist Benny Golson. That album was the musical anchor for the tour with two of its songs performed extensively: Bobby Timmons’ “Moanin’” and Benny Golson’s “Blues March”.
By the time of the tour, Benny Golson had departed the Messengers as had his replacement Hank Mobley. Wayne Shorter joined the Messengers in late 1959 first appearing on the LP “Africaine”. The rest of the ensemble included leader Art Blakey on drums, Lee Morgan on trumpet, Bobby Timmons on piano, and Jymie Merritt on bass.
This edition of the band would continue to record and tour through May of 1961.
While a bootleg recording of a January 2, 1961 performance on the tour exists and Toshiba-EMI issued both a video and CD of a January 11, 1961 appearance on Japanese TV, this newly-released Blue Note recording is not only a fascinating historical document but also an aural treasure.

The only reservation one might have is about the absence of any Wayne Shorter compositions. But this was likely by design and a possible concession made to the audience of Japanese jazz fans who might have been more familiar with the Timmons and Golson compositions.

Regardless, the recording quality is top-notch, especially for one from sixty years ago. Most significantly we get an opportunity to hear Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in peak performance before an audience of Japanese jazz lovers.

Note: the DownBeat story I cited above is well worth reading in its entirety as it helps place the newly issued recordings at that moment in time. Find it here: https://downbeat.com/archives/detail/message-received

Tune in for Art Blakey and more next on Wednesday, December 29, beginning at 8 pm. Only on KUVO JAZZ!

Stay connected to KUVO’s programs and our community’s activities: Sign up for the station’s Oasis Online E-newsletter today!