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In conjunction with pianist Michael Arnowitt’s Tribute to Art Blakey and the Jazz messengers concert – click here to see program description
“Dynamics, guys, dynamics ... When you get to the bridge of the tune I want y’all to play so soft that you can hear a rat pissin’ on cotton.”
“Art was very into dynamics. He would start your solo with brushes, then move to a flat cymbal for two choruses. Then he’d gradually build ... By the time he got to the big cymbal you’d better be peaking, and even if you thought you were going to take another chorus, he had a thing where he’d get to the top and press roll you in, he’d think you’d peaked out and he’s back there just rockin’. And then he’d give a bombastic five-note drum riff and bam - that would be it! And the whole thing would come down, and you can keep playing if you want to - but you know you ain’t going to get no more from him.” - Bobby Watson
“Art says, ‘who’s got something?’ and looks straight at me. So I pulled out two tunes, Hawkman and Time Will Tell. I gave him a drum part, and he looked at it, crumpled it up, threw it on the floor, and yelled ‘Stomp it off!’ So he played it and put his own Blakey signature drum style on it. Lesson number 5: you don’t write Blakey drum parts.”
“We’d come to the rehearsal and start just going through the charts ... and Art Blakey, he comes later. He comes in and sits behind the drums and just starts playing ... and all of a sudden, everything we played before comes into focus, becomes a masterpiece. He would never look at the music: he would always create his own part, and that would be phenomenal, the way he would create his own part. … by the way the melody goes, he would already know what his part should be, and it was always great.” - Valery Ponomarev
“Did you guys get the message?”
“Our music is a collective product.”
“Art had this speech he used to always go through. ‘You guys aren’t swinging! You sound like you’re playing out of an exercise book! I want to hear some mistakes!’”
When Art wants to sit in, he grabs the ride cymbal stick and he rides while the drummer is still playing. Then the other player slides over and Art shifts in without missing a beat.
“If you know the truth, don’t be afraid to say it. Truth is stranger than fiction.”
Back to Michael Arnowitt Jazz and other Improvisational Music Performance Programs info page