October 10th there was a concert by the Messenger Legacy. This band is an elite lineup of former members of one of jazz’s most influential bands, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. This configuration features bassist Reggie Workman, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, trumpeter Brian Lynch, tenor saxophonist Billy Pierce, pianist Donald Brown, and drummer Ralph Peterson. They wish to preserve, protect, and honor the legacy of a man who was much more than a bandleader to all of them.
Since Berklee is so busy and there is a lot of concerts going on all the time, I didn’t have a chance to get a ticket, but I really wanted to go. I met my teacher Marco Pignataro in front of the BPC (Berklee Performance centre) and he told me he had a spare ticket!!
After the show I went backstage with Danilo Perez and Marco Pignataro and two of my fellow students Milena Jancuric en Angi Santos. Danilo was talking to Donald Brown, who was his first piano teacher. Here some pictures from that meeting.
The concert was amazing, I’ve been listening to a lot of the Jazz messengers, and it was really fun to see them perform in the spirit of Art Blakey. Ralph Peterson is a drum teacher at Berklee, and he played with Art Blakey and the Jazz messenger orchestra. The oldest member of the group was Reggie Workman on bass. I found a really old recording of him playing with Art Blakey in 1963…
More about the group;
About forming the group, Peterson said, “Every time I play the drums it is in tribute to Art, but I wanted to do something that goes beyond me, beyond any individual. I wanted to pay tribute in a way that was authentic, genuine, and meaningful not just to a few, but to every person he touched through his music.” In an age when cover bands and tribute acts are commonplace and contrived, this band proves to be the exception. “Having multiple generations of Messengers represented in this band, this is the closest you can get to the source,” Peterson said through his raspy chuckle. “This is the real deal.”
