优秀音乐家藉作品传递讯息，只有亚特．布雷基愿意放下身段，用生命和听者沟通。某次演出当中，面对不满而喧嚣的听众，布雷基恳切请求他们静静聆听，这虽有损大师面子，却也展现出他坚持理想的人格风范。正如团名所言，「爵士使者」（The Jazz Messengers）确实成功地将现代爵士福音传遍世界。此外，「爵士使者」更是爵士乐坛的行动大学，在布雷基手中不知培训出多少大师悍将！ 在「爵士使者」超过四十种的Blue Note专辑，这张「Moanin’」是其中最有名的一张，不论阵容、编曲、演奏，甚至录音工程，均属上乘杰作！标题曲「Moanin’」是钢琴手提蒙的作品，导奏部份由略带放克（Funk）风味的钢琴和管乐器之间的Call and Response带出，接著李摩根的小号以慢板吹出极具张力热情的旋律，然后高森吹出他一贯明快流畅的独奏，最后再由钢琴转回主旋律，完成这首「爵士使者」最著名的曲目。专辑上其他曲子，也都是具有同等赤质的杰作，难怪这张辑会是「爵士使者」最著名的作品。 Full performer name: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. The Rudy Van Gelder Edition of MOANIN' includes an essay by Bob Blumenthal. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers: Art Blakey (drums); Benny Golson (tenor saxophone); Lee Morgan (trumpet); Bobby Timmons (piano); Jymie Merritt (bass). Producer: Alfred Lion. Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey on October 30, 1958. Originally released on Blue Note (4003). Includes liner notes by Leonard Feather and Bob Blumenthal. Digitally remastered using 24-bit technology by Rudy Van Gelder (Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey). This is part of the Blue Note Rudy Van Gelder Editions series. If you simply can only have one Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers disc (and why would you stop there?), it absolutely must be MOANIN'. This 1958 Blue Note date is the cream of the early Messengers' studio sessions. The group of this period featured the wailing Lee Morgan (trumpet), the swinging Benny Golson (sax) and the soulful Bobby Timmons (piano) with longtime bassist Jymie Merritt by Blakey's side. All of the pieces fell into place here to create one of the most hard-swinging, blues-inflected records in jazz history. Timmons' classic title cut sets the pace as it's laid-back call-and-response chorus and swinging bridge will get in your soul and start your head bobbing. Golson's bouncing "Are You Real" and the subtle "Along Came Betty" feature that golden Messengers ensemble sound that can't be matched as Blakey drives his men mercilessly. The most dynamic tracks, of course, are the drum feature "The Drum Thunder Suite," a Blakey tour-de-force, and the powerful "Blues March" featuring Art's signature shuffle groove. A delightful reading of the standard "Come Rain Or Come Shine" caps it all off. This is the one to get first.