| Artist: | The Jazz Messengers |
| Studio: | 47 |
| Live: | 21 |
| Soundtrack: | 2 |
| Compilation: | 6 |
The Jazz Messengers were a jazz band that existed with varying personnel for 35 years. Their discography consists of 47 studio albums, 21 live albums, 2 soundtracks, 6 compilations, and one boxed set.
Drummer Art Blakey was the leader or co-leader of the group throughout its existence. He is the drummer on all Jazz Messengers recordings and is therefore elided from personnel listings. Members recorded as either a quintet or sextet except for one 11-piece big band appearance and their expansion to a septet at the end.
The earliest recordings of the original Messengers were on Blue Note Records; all of the original Messengers (except bassist Doug Watkins) had released albums under their own name on the label. Blue Note 1518 was a reissue of two previously released 10" LPs credited to The Horace Silver Quintet.
A few recordings on Columbia Records followed with a couple different formations. As the second Messengers lineup stabilized they recorded for the RCA sub-label Vik Records, interspersed with one-off recordings for Cadet Records, Jubilee Records, and Atlantic.
Starting in 1959, a new lineup with Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Bobby Timmons, Jymie Merritt, and later Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, and Curtis Fuller would see the group return to Blue Note for several years. This group also traveled to Europe where a couple albums on Fontana Records appeared. In 1961, there was a single album on Impulse! Records. In 1963 the first of three releases appeared on Riverside Records, while new releases on Blue Note continued to be issued.
After Wayne Shorter departed for Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, the band signed with Quincy Jones' Mercury sub-label Limelight Records for three more releases starting in 1965.
Except for a 1970 release on the obscure Catalyst, and various bootlegs, the band did not release a recording between 1966 and 1972, when they re-appeared on Prestige Records for three more albums. In 1975 the band released an album with guest artist Sonny Stitt on the Swedish Sonet Records, then came two albums on Roulette Records in 1976 and 1978.
Starting in 1978, the band began to release albums on the Dutch Timeless Records and the Concord Jazz subsidiary of Concord Records. These groups included a changing lineup of young jazz musicians such as: Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Wallace Roney, Mulgrew Miller, and Lonnie Plaxico.
Near the end, there were two albums on the Italian Soul Note label, and the final album on A&M Records. The Jazz Messengers came to an end with the death of Blakey in 1990.
Albums are listed in order of earliest recording session. Some albums were not released for many years after their recording. The formats listed are the formats issued at the original release date. Most of the albums have been reissued on compact disc, many with additional tracks. Some albums have also been reissued or repackaged on varying labels and formats. See the specific album articles for reissue information.
| Album | Album Details | Personnel | Notes | |
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| The Jazz Messengers |
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| Hard Bop |
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| Ritual |
| The liner notes state that Pacific Jazz got this record in exchange for Columbia getting a record by Chet Baker. | ||
| Tough! |
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| Selections from Lerner and Loewe's... |
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| A Night in Tunisia |
| Jackie McLean is credited as "Ferris Benda." | ||
| Cu-Bop |
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| Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk |
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| Hard Drive |
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| Moanin' |
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| Though known as Moanin', the album was officially released as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. | |
| The Big Beat |
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| Bobby Timmons returns to the Messengers, after a short engagement with Cannonball Adderley. | |
| Like Someone in Love |
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| A Night in Tunisia |
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| The Freedom Rider |
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| Roots & Herbs |
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| The Witch Doctor |
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| Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers |
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| Mosaic |
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| Buhaina's Delight |
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| Caravan |
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| Golden Boy |
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| Free for All |
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| Kyoto |
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| Indestructible |
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| 'S Make It |
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| Soul Finger |
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| Child's Dance |
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| Buhaina |
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| Anthenagin |
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| Steve Turre is listed as "Steve Turley" on the album. | |
| In Walked Sonny |
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| Backgammon |
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| Gypsy Folk Tales |
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| In My Prime Vol. 1 |
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| In My Prime Vol. 2 |
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| Reflections in Blue |
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| Album of the Year |
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| Oh-By the Way |
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| New York Scene |
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| Blue Night |
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| Feeling Good |
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| Not Yet |
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| I Get a Kick Out of Bu |
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| Chippin' In |
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| One for All |
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| Album | Album Details | Personnel | Venue | |
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| At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 |
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| Café Bohemia, New York City | |
| At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2 |
| Café Bohemia, NYC | ||
| A Midnight Session with the Jazz Messengers |
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| Carl Fischer Concert Hall, NYC | |
| 1958 – Paris Olympia |
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| Olympia, Paris, France | |
| Art Blakey et les Jazz-Messengers au club St. Germain |
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| Club Saint-Germain, Paris, France | |
| At the Jazz Corner of the World, Vols. 1 & 2 |
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| Birdland, NYC | |
| Art Blakey et les Jazz Messengers au Théâtre des Champs-Élysées |
| Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, France | ||
| Paris Jam Session |
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| Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, France | |
| Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World, Vols. 1 and 2 |
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| Birdland, NYC | |
| First Flight to Tokyo |
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| Hibiya Public Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| Three Blind Mice |
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| The Renaissance Club, Hollywood, CA | |
| Ugetsu |
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| Birdland, NYC | |
| Buttercorn Lady |
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| Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, CA | |
| Jazz Messengers '70 |
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| Victor Studio 1, Tokyo, Japan | |
| In This Korner |
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| Keystone Korner, San Francisco | |
| One by One |
| CIAK, Milan, Italy | ||
| Live at Montreux and Northsea |
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| Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland & North Sea Jazz Festival, The Netherlands | |
| Art Blakey in Sweden |
| Södra Teatern, Stockholm, Sweden | ||
| Straight Ahead |
| Keystone Korner, San Francisco | ||
| Keystone 3 |
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| Keystone Korner, San Francisco | |
| Live at Ronnie Scott's 1985 |
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| Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London, UK | |
| Live at Ronnie Scott's |
| Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London, UK | ||
| Live at Sweet Basil |
| Sweet Basil Jazz Club, NYC | ||
| Live at Kimball's |
| Kimball's, San Francisco | ||
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| Leverkusen Jazz Festival, Germany | ||
| Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series, Vol. 6: Lausanne 1960, 2nd Set |
| Théâtre de Beaulieu, Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Album | Album Details | Personnel | Notes | |
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| Des Femmes Disparaissent |
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| Les liaisons dangereuses 1960 |
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| Album | Album Details | Personnel | Notes | |
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| Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers |
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| This album is a reissue of two Blue Note 10" records, numbers 5058 and 5062; Horace Silver Quintet Vols. 1 & 2. | |
| The Cool Voice of Rita Reys |
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| Jazz Messengers back up Rita Reys for half of this record. | |
| The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Art Blakey's 1960 Jazz Messengers[2] |
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| Originally |
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| Drum Suite |
| Side 1 is the Art Blakey Percussion Ensemble, recorded February 22, 1957, side two is the Jazz Messengers, credited separately, in the notes. | ||
| Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers\The Elmo Hope Quintet Featuring Harold Land |
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| Split record with Elmo Hope. Additional tracks from PJM-402. | |
| Just Coolin |
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| Shelved because the content is similar to At the Jazz Corner of the World | |
| Africaine |
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| Pisces |
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| Live Messengers |
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| This 2 record set also contains previously unreleased tracks from the proto-Messengers A Night at Birdland featuring Clifford Brown from February 12, 1954. |