ART BLAKEY AND THE JAZZ MESSENGERS - SALOU, Michel (photo.).

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Group of six original carbon prints of the band in concert, Paris 1962. An evocative sequence: one focusing on Blakey at the kit (a particularly luminous shot), another showing the front men playing percussion, two of Freddie Hubbard soloing, one of Curtis Fuller, and another of Cedar Walton.Blakey (1919-1920) was a master percussionist, and the Jazz Messengers, which he led for over 30 years, was "the most famous academy in jazz" (Cook & Morton). The lineup here is Blakey (drums), Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Cedar Walton (piano), and Jymie Merritt (bass). When Lee Morgan left the band, Blakey brought in Hubbard and Fuller, with Cedar Walton coming in for Bobby Timmons. The new agglomeration formed perhaps "the most adventurous of Messenger lineups... The band's expanded voicings added orchestral sonority to rhythmic power".The photographer, Michel Salou, worked as a music executive, producing albums by, among others, Sun Ra (Live in Paris at the "Gibus", 1973), the Mal Waldron Trio (Ursula, 1978), and the French pianists George Arvanitas and Rene Urtreger. He also appears in the annals of the Art Ensemble of Chicago as their "first booking agent... who helped them secure concert dates across France and elsewhere in Europe" (Steinbeck, p. 130). His excellent work as a lensman appears to have gone virtually unnoticed, except that the National Portrait Gallery holds a single print of Ray Charles in performance.

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