BLAKEY, Art; Cecil Taylor; Slugs' in the Far East.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Vintage handbill for residencies by Blakey, Taylor, and Walter Bishop, Jr., and Monday night appearances by Sun Ra. Attractive record of a superb series of residencies for January 1968 at notorious New York jazz club Slugs' in the Far East, featuring Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, pianist Walter Bishop Jr's quartet, and the Cecil Taylor Unit - with Sun Ra and His Solar-Nature Orchestra holding down the Monday night spot.This was a period of flux for the Messengers, with various musicians passing through the revolving door of Blakey's academy. The band that recorded a live album at Slugs' in 1968 included Billy Harper on tenor and Bill Hardman on trumpet. Walter Bishop's group was fronted by tough-toned tenorist Harold Vick, whose debut album as leader, Steppin' Out, was issued by Blue Note in 1963. At this time, Cecil Taylor's iconoclastic Unit most likely comprised Jimmy Lyons (alto), Henry Grimes or Alan Silva (bass) and Andrew Cyrille or Sunny Murray (drums); this was the group, with Bill Dixon (trumpet), which recorded Conquistador! for Blue Note in October '66, an album described by Cook and Morton as "all but flawless... Dark, difficult, unique... this is Taylor at his most devious".Opening its doors at 242 East 3rd Street in 1964, the club began as a neighbourhood bar known as Slugs' Saloon, the location having previously been home to a Ukrainian restaurant and bar. By early 1965, despite having a capacity of just around 100 people, it began to morph into one of t

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