“Blakey’s loud, hard playing, with his accented off-beats and inimitable high-hat snap is one of the core sounds of the music. Even at its unsubtlest, and he could be cheerfully unsubtle when he chose, it is unignorable, too. Moanin’ is the best introduction to his work. Golson wasn’t around long, but he bequeathed two of the band’s greatest themes, ‘Along Came Betty’ and ‘Blues March’, as well as the peerless ‘I Remember Clifford’, performed live in Paris as the group entered its pomp.”

PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ


“Of all the albums recorded by this indispensable formation, Moanin’ is without doubt the most emblematic of a sonority that became the matrix of modern jazz. Because of the themes played in unison by Benny Golson and Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons’ ‘churchy’ piano, Jymie Merritt’s feline bass lines, and Art Blakey’s drums, sounding as big as a whole orchestra and showcasing the constant swing of his cymbals, this is, more than the sound of a great group, the true essence of the golden era of jazz.”

JAZZ MAGAZINE


01 MOANIN’ (Bobby Timmons) 9:34
02 ARE YOU REAL? (Benny Golson) 4:50
03 ALONG CAME BETTY (Benny Golson) 6:11
04 THE DRUM THUNDER SUITE (Benny Golson) 7:35
05 BLUES MARCH (Benny Golson) 6:17
06 COME RAIN OR COME SHINE (Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer) 5:47
07 I REMEMBER CLIFFORD [Live] (Benny Golson) 5:43*
08 ARE YOU REAL? [Live] (Benny Golson) 10:27*
09 MOANIN’ [Live] (Bobby Timmons) 13:38*
10 WHISPER NOT [Live] (Benny Golson) 7:31*
TT: 77:37


ART BLAKEY, drums & leader
LEE MORGAN, trumpet
BENNY GOLSON, tenor sax
BOBBY TIMMONS, piano
JYMIE MERRITT, bass

Hackensack, New Jersey, October 30, 1958.

Original session recorded by Rudy Van Gelder & produced by Alfred Lion.

*BONUS TRACKS (7-10): Same personnel.

Live at the Olympia, Paris, France, November 22 (tracks 7-8) & December 17 (tracks 9-10), 1958.