The Jazz Society of Fairfield County presents the music of Art Blakey in this family friendly jazz concert!

Joining Steve Davis and Essiet Essiet are JazzFC Artistic Director and tenor saxophonist Greg Wall (The Jazz Rabbi), Grammy nominees trumpeter and arranger Michael Mossman, saxophonist Antonio Hart, and pianist Mike LeDonne. Celebrated drummer Steve Johns rounds out the band of world class veterans, all whom have been under the Blakey umbrella for decades.

Art Blakey's Legacy
Drummer and bandleader Art Blakey helped define the sound of New York Jazz, from his first professional engagements at age 20 with Jazz giants Mary Lou Williams and Fletcher Henderson. After a stint as a first call NYC drummer, performing and recording with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis, Blakey formed a quintet, later a sextet, called “Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.” The Jazz Messengers set the standard for exciting New York Jazz with their virtuoso playing and crisp, highly swinging arrangements.

From the mid 1950’s until his passing in 1990, Blakey's Messengers served as a “finishing school” for young musicians, many of whom became band leaders and Jazz stars, including Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton, Keith Jarret, Chuck Mangione, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, and Grammy winning trombonist Steve Davis and bassist Essiet Essiet.