Mosaic

Cedar WaltonCedar Waltonシダー・ウォルトン made his name with Art BlakeyArt Blakeyアート・ブレイキー & the Jazz Messengers (1961–64). His original compositions — including 'MosaicMosaicArt Blakey · 1961' and 'Firm Roots' — have become modern jazz standards.

Recorded in October 1961, MosaicMosaicArt Blakey · 1961 inaugurated the six-piece Messengers with Freddie HubbardFreddie Hubbardフレディ・ハバード, Curtis FullerCurtis Fullerカーティス・フラー, Wayne ShorterWayne Shorterウェイン・ショーター, Cedar WaltonCedar Waltonシダー・ウォルトン and Jymie Merritt. The three-horn front line opened a new chapter for the band.

Cedar WaltonCedar Waltonシダー・ウォルトン served as pianist and de facto music director for Art BlakeyArt Blakeyアート・ブレイキー's Messengers from 1961 to 1964. His arranging on MosaicMosaicArt Blakey · 1961 and 'Ugetsu' marked a turning point in his career.

Curtis FullerCurtis Fullerカーティス・フラー co-founded the Jazztet with Benny Golson in 1959, then anchored the trombone chair in Art BlakeyArt Blakeyアート・ブレイキー's three-horn Messengers from 1961 to 1965. On MosaicMosaicArt Blakey · 1961 his robust tone was key to the band's density.

Freddie Hubbard, the lyrical hard-bop trumpeter of Hub-Tones, also turns up on Ascension, the 1965 wall-of-sound free-jazz session. The tidy melodist standing inside the most extreme date of the era is the surprise.

Moanin' (1958) first appeared under the plain eponymous title 'Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.' The opening tune, written by pianist Bobby Timmons, caught on so widely that the whole record came to be known by its name — the sideman's song, not the leader's, gave the album its title.

In 1961, pianist Cedar Walton brought his new composition "Mosaic" to a rehearsal with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He later said the horn players—Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, and Wayne Shorter—devoured the tune "like eating cornflakes," playing it better than he could himself.

The 1961 album Mosaic is filed under Art Blakey's name, but the title tune was written by the pianist, Cedar Walton. The record everyone remembers as the bandleader's takes its name from the small print.