Art Blakey & The Jazz MessengersFree For Allwas perhaps the bands most potent album featuring a powerful sextet line-up with the great drummer joined by tenor saxophonistWayne Shorter, trumpeterFreddie Hubbard, trombonistCurtis Fuller, pianistCedar Walton, and bassistReggie Workman. Recorded in February 1964, it had been more than two years since the Messengers had recorded for Blue Note, and the music bristled with the charged energy of the civil rights movement including the blistering title track and roiling Hammer Head, both composed by Shorter, as well as Hubbards kinetic piece The Core dedicated to the Congress Of Racial Equality. The album closes in a joyful mood with a timeless rendition of Clare Fischers bossa nova flavored jazz standard Pensativa.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Tracklist:
A1 Free For All
A2 Hammer Head
B1 The Core
B2 Pensativa