Jazz Messengers

The Jazz Messengers were a jazz ensemble founded by Art Blakey in 1955. He had already used the name for an album he recorded with Horace Silver, Kenny Dorham[?], Doug Watkins[?], and Hank Mobley[?], and in 1955 he established a permanent group with that name. The name may have religious significance, since Blakey was a Muslim. Over the years the band included Jackie McLean, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter[?], Cedar Walton[?], Lee Morgan, Benny Golson[?], Bobby Timmons[?], and Jymie Merritt. It is now widely regarded as an important training ground for many of the best young players of the 1950s and 1960s.