JAZZ ICONS: ART BLAKEY AND THE JAZZ MESSENGERS: LIVE IN '58

Series 1; Featuring Lee Morgan

Art Blakey

Jazz Icons: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers features what many consider to be one of the finest line-ups in the history of jazz: Art Blakey (Drums), Bobby Timmons (Piano), Jymie Merritt (Bass), Benny Golson (Sax) and the legendary trumpet player, Lee Morgan. Lost for nearly 50 years, this historic 55-minute concert, filmed in Belgium in 1958, one month to the day after they recorded their masterpiece Moanin', is the only known visual document of this influential band who were together for only six months. 20 page booklet featuring: liner notes by Michael Cuscuna; foreword by Art's son, Takashi; rare photographs; memorabilia collage.

"Amazing! To see the Art Blakey band playing "Moanin'" a month after I recorded them--it's like watching my own birth."
Rudy Van Gelder (engineer of the original Moanin' LP)

The 9 volume Jazz Icons series features classic performances from some of the greatest legends of the past 50 years, captured in their prime in various locations from the 1950s through the 1970s. The DVDs are transferred from the original masters, and each DVD features a 16-page booklet with an essay written by an authoritative jazz historian as well as rare and unseen photos. The series is produced with the full support and cooperation of the artists or their estates, many of whom are contributing rare personal photographs, memorabilia, and forewords. These concerts have never been officially released on home video, and in many cases, the material was never broadcast. We are very proud to present all nine of these DVDs.

"This is like the discovery of a bonanza of previously unknown manuscripts of plays by William Shakespeare." Nat Hentoff, Wall Street Journal.

"These nine historic DVDs are among the most important visual/aural documents to be mined from the ever-yielding, seemingly hidden jazz treasury. Now, most importantly, they are available to the entire world."
Ira Gitler, co-author, The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz (Oxford)

"Considering the almost alarming proliferation of jazz DVDs on the market today, and their extremely variable quality, it is good to know that Reelin In The Years can be trusted to bring viewers nothing but the best in content and presentation."
Dan Morgenstern, Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University; author, Living With Jazz (Pantheon Books)

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