Art Blakey & The Jazz Messenger’s First Flight To Tokyo 1961 concert gets first release

Recorded at a 1961 performance in Hibiya Public Hall

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messenger’s First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings is being released on Blue Note this November,

It features Blakey on drums alongside Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Bobby Timmons on piano, and Jymie Merritt on bass.

The 2xLP includes a booklet with: rare photos by Japanese photographers Shunji Okura and Hozumi Nakadaira; a historical essay by jazz critic Bob Blumenthal; interviews with Wayne Shorter in conversation with Blue Note president Don Was, saxophonist Lou Donaldson, Japanese jazz musician Sadao Watanabe, Japanese music critic Reiko Yukawa, Blakey’s son Takashi Blakey, as well as drummers Louis Hayes, Billy Hart, and Cindy Blackman Santana.

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messenger’s First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings audio was transferred from the original tapes, and mastered by Bernie Grundman.