If You Like Moanin’ by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messsengers, Listen to These 4 Albums

Recommendations based on

Moanin’

By Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers

This recommendation by Orial Aparicio, Owner of Barcelona City Records in Barcelona, Spain

Although there were quite a few contenders to be chosen as the title that represents our shop, there was no doubt Moanin’ should be our pick. Despite our very different backgrounds (Latin grooves, early Detroit and Chicago stuff, African music), we at Barcelona City Records are all drawn together by a love of jazz. Originally an unnamed session and released as a self-titled record, the album soon gained its current title due to the quintet’s stellar performance of the Bobby Timmons-penned “Moanin’,” a tune that would become not only a well-known jazz standard but also one of the first examples of what would become soul-jazz. Moanin’ is a crucial title that paved the way for many kinds of music to come.

Recommendation #1

Chega De Saudade

By João Gilberto

Another seminal title released the very same year (1959), Chega De Saudade was Gilberto’s long-play debut and the album that started a quiet revolution that echoes up to this day. Taking its cues from both samba-cançao and jazz, it created a new paradigm in Brazilian music, inspiring many young artists to follow Gilberto’s path into what ended up becoming a big musical craze during the 1960s and a bonafide musical genre, bossa nova. Recorded live in the studio with no playback or overdubs, the album features the arrangements and musical direction of a young Tom Jobim. A timeless piece.

Recommendation #2

Now!

By Bobby Hutcherson

Following the Blue Note and jazz thread, this title showcases the evolution of the label in the late 1960s and the new artistic expressions springing up in the jazz world. Now! is an outstanding piece of soulful, spiritual, late-1960s jazz featuring the talents of saxophonist Harold Land. The album is most notable for the appearance of singer-songwriter Eugene McDaniels with both vocal and composing duties. An established R&B and soul artist, McDaniels suddenly shifted to a more conscious, Afro-centered discourse that would further crystallize in his early 70s albums such as Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse. This record shows the first steps of the artistic shift.

Recommendation #3

Virgo Vibes

Roy Ayers

Another vibraphonist makes it to our small list of recommendations (on another album that includes Harold Land on sax). Better known for his soul-jazz and funk output spanning almost three decades, Virgo Vibes is perhaps Ayers’ jazziest release and one to be discovered by the listeners more familiarized with his groovier side. This album would not be complete without a mention of a little-known fact: Herbie Hancock makes an appearance on the first three tracks under the name Ronnie Clark.

Recommendation #4

The Har-You Percussion Group

The Har-You Percussion Group

No BCR selection could be complete with an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz album. This nice piece of percussive action was released on another legendary New York City label, ESP-Disk. Founded in 1963 by lawyer Bernard Stollman (after hearing Albert Ayler play at the Cellar Cafe), the label became an essential outlet for the early New York free-jazz scene before venturing into other musical areas (folk, psychedelic rock, and Latin), thus expanding its catalog with classic titles from The Fugs, The Godz, Patty Waters, and Tom Rapp’s Pearls Before Swine. In line with much of the label’s activism, this album was born out of the efforts of the Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited Center. They asked Jamaican-born percussionist Montego Joe to teach young African Americans, thus giving birth to the Harlem Youth Percussion Group, also known as Har-You. While original pressings of this title sell for a lot of money, both Luv N’ Haight and CuBop have released nice, solid reissues.