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By Ben Mattison
05 Oct 2004
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| Art Blakey |
Alumni of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers perform at the New York club Iridium this week, paying tribute to the drummer and bandleader on what would have been his 85th birthday.
The group, appearing through Sunday, October 10, features trumpeter Valery Ponomarev, tenor saxophonist David Schnitter, alto saxophonist Bobby Watson, and bassist Lonnie Plaxico. Pianists John Hicks and Mulgrew Miller share the keyboard duties; saxophonists Donald Harrison, Javon Jackson, and Gary Bartz make guest appearances. Three drummers with stylistic or formal connections to Blakey sit in for him on the drums: Ralph Peterson, Ben Riley, and Louis Hayes.
The Jazz Messengers, formed in 1955, served as a jazz training ground for several generations of musicians, and helped launch the careers of Chuck Mangione, Wynton Marsalis, Terrence Blanchard, and others.
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