About this item

In the summer of 1980, the jazz world bore witness to an electrifying fusion of talent, rhythm, and soul as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Big Band took the stages of two icon- ic European festivals: Montreux and North Sea. The Big Band performers, next to Art Blakey on drums, consisted of a stellar line-up with Bill Pierce, Bobby Watson, Valery Ponomarev, James Williams, Charles Fambrough, Wynton Marsalis, Bran- ford Marsalis, Robin Eubanks, Kevin Eubanks and John Ram- sey. For the Marsalis brothers, Wynton and Branford, and also Eubanks brothers Robin and Kevin these were their first ever recordings of them together. Tracks include “Minor Thesis”, “A Wheel Within A Wheel”, “Bit A Bittadose” and two more com- positions serve as a testament to the power of improvisation.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Minor Thesis
2. A Wheel Within A Wheel

Side B
1. Bit A Bittadose
2. Stairway To The Stars
3. Linwood