Free for All (album)
Free for All is a jazz album by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers released on Blue Note. Recorded in February 1964, it was released the following year. It was originally titled Free Fall.[5]
| Free for All | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers | ||||
| Released | July 1965[1] | |||
| Recorded | February 10, 1964 | |||
| Studio | Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 36:47 | |||
| Label | Blue Note BST 84170 | |||
| Producer | Alfred Lion | |||
| Art Blakey chronology | ||||
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| The Jazz Messengers chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [3] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [4] |
The Allmusic review by Al Campbell awards the album 4 stars and states, "This edition of the Jazz Messengers had been together since 1961 with a lineup that would be hard to beat: Freddie Hubbard on trumpet... Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Cedar Walton on piano, and Reggie Workman on bass. Shorter's title track is one of the finest moments in the Jazz Messengers' history."[2]
Composition
Freddie Hubbard's composition "The Core" is dedicated to the CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and expresses "Hubbard's admiration of that organization's persistence and resourcefulness in its work for total, meaningful equality." "They're getting", he explains, "at the core, at the center of the kinds of change that have to take place before this society is really open to everyone. And more than any other group, CORE is getting to youth, and that's where the center of change is." The piece was called that way also because Hubbard thought that the musicians "got at some of the core of jazz – the basic feelings and rhythms that are at the foundation of music."[6]
"Pensativa" was composed by Fischer, but was arranged by Hubbard for the occasion: "I was playing a gig in Long Island", he recalls, "and the pianist started playing it. The mood got me, this feeling of a pensive woman. And the melody was so beautiful that, after I'd gotten home, I couldn't get it out of my mind."[6]
The album was intended to have featured three more tunes, Shorter's "Eva" and two vocals by Wellington Blakey, Blakey's cousin. These were attempted, but no valid takes were recorded. Additionally, the musicians tried a second take of "Free for All", an attempt that producer Lion had to stop because Blakey's drums broke, according to his log. Indeed, said alternate take, first released on the limited 2014 Japanese SHM-CD, is three minutes shorter.[5]
Track listing
Original vinyl
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Free for All" | Wayne Shorter | 11:04 |
| 2. | "Hammer Head" | Wayne Shorter | 7:47 |
| 3. | "The Core" | Freddie Hubbard | 9:24 |
| 4. | "Pensativa" | Clare Fischer | 8:19 |
2014 Blue Note SHM-CD Remaster Edition (Japan Release)
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Free for All" | Wayne Shorter | 11:04 |
| 2. | "Hammer Head" | Wayne Shorter | 7:47 |
| 3. | "The Core" | Freddie Hubbard | 9:24 |
| 4. | "Pensativa" | Clare Fischer | 8:19 |
| 5. | "Free for All" (Alternate Take) | Wayne Shorter | 8:26 |
Personnel
- Art Blakey – drums
- Freddie Hubbard – trumpet
- Curtis Fuller – trombone
- Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone
- Cedar Walton – piano
- Reggie Workman – bass
References
- Billboard July 31, 1965
- Campbell, Al. Free for All at AllMusic
- Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 26. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (9th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-14-103401-0.
- Liner notes to the 2014 SHM-CD by Michael Cuscuna
- Original 1964 liner notes by Nat Hentoff