Art Blakey - Free For All [Blue Note, 180g Black Vinyl LP]

When the Jazz Messengers returned to Blue Note after a two-year absence, they arrived with fury. Recorded February 10, 1964 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio, Free For All marked Art Blakey in a more galvanized state than any previous Blue Note session. The album featured a powerful sextet with Blakey joined by Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, and Reggie Workman. The music bristled with the charged energy of the civil rights movement, creating what many consider the Jazz Messengers' most potent album.

The 11-minute title track opens with explosive force as Shorter's solo reaches otherworldly intensity over Blakey's astonishing polyrhythms. "Hammer Head" and Hubbard's "The Core" were dedicated to the Congress of Racial Equality, channeling the urgency of February 1964 into hard bop perfection. Clare Fischer's "Pensativa" closes the album with a bossa nova-influenced masterpiece, featuring Hubbard's lyrical solo over Blakey's loose, swinging Latin groove. Each musician delivers standout performances, with Shorter, Hubbard, and Fuller displaying technical brilliance throughout.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition features audiophile 180g vinyl mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original master tapes and pressed at Optimal in Germany. Gray mastered over 130 Blue Note reissues and has cut lacquers for everyone from Miles Davis to Pink Floyd. The all-analog stereo mastering captures the raw power that made Free For All a hard bop landmark and one of the most influential jazz albums of the 1960s.

• Format: 180g LP
• Standout tracks: "Free For All," "Hammer Head," "The Core," "Pensativa"
• Pressing details: Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition, audiophile, all-analog mastering by Kevin Gray from original master tapes, pressed at Optimal
• Genre/style: Hard Bop, Post-Bop, Jazz
• UPC: 602475225065

Art Blakey's most explosive album captures the Jazz Messengers at peak intensity on 180g vinyl mastered by Kevin Gray.

* The Spotify track list may not exactly represent the tracks and audio of this LP edition.

Track List:

Side A:

1. Free For All
2. Hammer Head

Side B:

1. The Core
2. Pensativa