African Beat, The
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Art Blakey's fascination with drums went beyond his own playing behind the vaunted Jazz Messengers. He began enlisting multiple drummers, first to chair the Messengers with him (as on the fantasticDrums Around the Corner) and then as stand-alone ensemble like the one that plays onThe African Beat. Blakey's nine-drummer wall of rhythm is fronted byYusef Lateefon horns--and occasionally percussion--and bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik. They play tunes that stand on thick carpets of cymbals, congas, log drums, maracas, and more. As a result, they produce massive soundscapes with floating horn lines over the top, something that conjures Egypt and Manhattan at once. The only downers with the session are the fade-outs that close off the rich dialogues happening across continents, but these come after such a wealth of melody and energy that it's easily forgivable. And while Blakey could easily have powered this band to ungodly speeds, he keeps things midtempo so that everyone is locked into a groove and moves as a magical unit.--Andrew Bartlett