Jazz Messengers’ fan, bassist, and author Alan Goldsher has studied the anatomy of the revered jazz group led by Art Blakey by tracing the contributions of its members over the years. The drummer served as mentor to over 150 musicians who came through the Messengers during the group’s forty-year history. Blakey was a natural talent scout and teacher. He hired inexperienced, young players and turned them into professional musicians and gentlemen. Because of Art’s teaching proclivities, the group is often referred to as the “Hard Bop Academy.” Blakey’s charisma is best explained by alto saxophonist Bobby Watson who says, “Whenever Art would enter a room, the ions in the air would change.”

Goldsher traces the lineage of the group through the instrumentalists who played with Blakey. The remarkable thing about the drummer was his ability to deal with a wide variety of stylists, who, of course, added new dimensions to the group. Yet the Jazz Messengers always maintained their inimical sound and groove. Live interviews with many of the younger Messengers and Blakey himself offer readers rare insights into a successful, working jazz group. Art expected a lot from his musicians and didn’t coddle them. He encouraged them to compose and arrange and he gave them responsibilities. Once they became proficient, he kicked them out of the nest and took on a greenhorn as a replacement.

A partial list of former Messengers reads like a Who’s Who of jazz: trumpeters Kenny Dorham, Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Wynton Marsalis; saxophonists Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean, Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter; pianists Horace Silver, Bobby Timmons, Cedar Walton, Mulgrew Miller, Benny Green; bassists Doug Watkins, Jymie Merritt, Reggie Workman, Lonnie Plaxico; and trombonists Curtis Fuller, Robin Eubanks, Steve Davis.

Goldsher brings his expertise to bear in analyzing the various configurations of the Jazz Messengers without letting his appreciation of the group get in the way. The book also includes a complete list of all the Messengers, Chapter References, and an Index.

Alan Goldsher is the author of the jazz novel Jam and a regular contributor to Bass Player and Basketbull: The Official Magazine of the Chicago Bulls. He is also the owner of almost 100 recordings of The Jazz Messengers.