Released Early April 1956 Artist The Jazz Messengers Producer Alfred Lion Genres Bebop, Hard bop | Recorded November 23, 1955 Release date 1955 Label Blue Note Records | |
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Venue Cafe Bohemia, New York City Length 41:54 (original LP)
64:48 (CD reissue) At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1
(1955) At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2
(1955) Similar The Jazz Messengers albums, Hard bop albums, Other albums | ||
At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 is a live album by the Jazz Messengers for Blue Note Records. It featured the original incarnation of the Jazz Messengers, Art Blakey's career-spanning band, and is the first of two volumes recorded on November 23, 1955 at Café Bohemia, a famous night club in Greenwich Village in New York.
Contents
With the July 31, 2001 CD re-issue, three additional tracks from this night were added: "Lady Bird", "Deciphering the Message", and "What's New?".
Reception
This album, which sees the first version of The Jazz Messengers on record, was noted as not "match[ing] the intensity which the quintet secured at Birdland." Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, in particular, is noted as "a somewhat unfocused stylist." However, trumpeter Kenny Dorham is seen as an "elusive brilliance [that] was seldom so extensively captured" and the playing in general "is just as absorbing" as the Birdland albums and is "still timeless music."
Track listing
- Announcement by Art Blakey 1:32
- "Soft Winds" 12:34
- "The Theme" 6:11
- "Minor's Holiday" 9:11
- "Alone Together" 4:15
- "Prince Albert" 8:51
- "Lady Bird" (reissue bonus track) 7:30
- "What's New?" (reissue bonus track) 4:31
- "Deciphering the Message" (reissue bonus track) 10:13
Personnel
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
Production
Songs
1Announcement by Art Blakey1:32
2Soft Winds12:34
3The Theme6:11