Dr. Prinsky

Humanities 2002

Art Blakey and African Influence on Jazz

            Dr. Prinsky's rating of top jazz drummers with careers from the 1940's through 1970's would be: for number one, Buddy Rich (1917-87) (so great there are books about him, as well as a tribute CD of other drummers); tied for number two: Max Roach (African American, born 1925; inventor of "melodic drumming"), Louis Bellson (popularizer of the double bass drum and jingle sticks; often seen on the old Tonight Show), and Joe Morello (subtle technician of the one-handed single-stroke roll and arcane rhythms, such as 5/4 and 7/4); and tied for number three: Shelley Manne (a founder of West Coast jazz; movie and TV perennial), and Art Blakey (1919-1990), African American drummer who conscientiously imported African influence into jazz. (For the latest drumming stars, see Modern Drummer magazine.)

            Blakey, one of the great "bop" drummers of the 1940's, along with Max Roach, in fact went to Nigeria for what was planned as a brief visit but lasted two years following the 1947 breakup of the Billy Eckstine big band he was part of; his interest in his heritage and culture were magnified by this stay. He says, as reported on the liner notes to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers: A Night in Tunisia (Blue Note CD 84049-2), recorded in 1956: "Oh, we have so much to do. Africa is so far ahead of us in rhythms and we are so far ahead of them in harmony. If we can just hurry the wedding of African rhythms and our harmonies, we would really be able to startle the world."

            The two selections heard are different versions of the same song, A Night in Tunisia, written by great jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993). The first version is on Blakey's A Night at Birdland [a great New York jazz club] (Blue Note CD 46519-2), recorded in 1954 with the Art Blakey Quintet (Clifford Brown, legendary trumpeter; Lou Donaldson, alto sax; Horace Silver, legendary pianist; Curly Russell bass; Blakey, drums). This is the more conservative version, and the influence of Max Roach can be heard in Blakey's solo, along with the distinctive, aggressive "fills" of the new drummers that disturbed some early jazz critics. Humorous allusion to an older, popular song, a sort of "cantus firmus," can be heard in Silver's improvised piano solo, which, traditionally, precedes, with all other instruments, the drum solo. The second version of A Night in Tunisia is on the 1956 album subtitled this, and with Blakey's new group, the legendary Jazz Messengers (Lee Morgan, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor sax; Bobby Timmons, piano; Jymie Merritt, bass; Blakey, drums), who fostered many new talents over the years, including Wynton Marsalis. The second version is distinctively faster, with African roots more in evidence. Blakey's drum solo, with as usual less reliance on the rat-a-tat of snare drum (contributing to a more African sound), includes getting different tones out of the snare or tom by pressing the drum head with an elbow at varying pressures (a trick Dr. Prinsky learned, at sixteen years old, by listening to Art Blakey solos on phonograph record). Humor can be heard in this version, as well.