![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Free For All [Blue Note] (LP) Vinyl](https://images.quantumav.co.uk/productimages/media/VIN-0602537712533/front.jpg?w=800)
Free For All captures Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers at a creative peak, recorded on 10 February 1964 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and released by Blue Note in July 1965. The session pairs Blakey's driving hard bop drumming with one of the most celebrated Jazz Messengers line-ups.
The Line-Up
The band brings together Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Cedar Walton on piano and Reggie Workman on double bass, with Art Blakey on drums. Produced by Blue Note founder Alfred Lion, the album was originally to be titled Free Fall.
The Music
Wayne Shorter contributes the explosive title track and the hard-swinging "Hammer Head". Freddie Hubbard's "The Core" is dedicated to the Congress of Racial Equality, while the closing "Pensativa", written by Clare Fischer and arranged by Hubbard, brings a reflective, Latin-tinged mood to the set.
This Reissue
This edition is part of Blue Note Records' 75th Anniversary Vinyl Initiative, pressed on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl and carrying the original catalogue number BST 84170. The sleeve includes a voucher to download an MP3 version of the album.