Ugetsu (LP)

The place was a Broadway cellar that, with characteristic and not very exaggerated swagger, proclaimed itself "The Jazz Corner of the World." The date was mid-June 1963, when the New York post-bop era was still very much in progress. The bandleader was Art Blakey, then - as he continued to be for over two decades - celebrated as a developer of major new talent (the young lineup on this occasion included the likes of Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter).

The result, the Jazz Messengers album, Ugetsu, remains a swinging pleasure and a reaffirmation of the belief that this kind of on-the-scene adventure can create some of the most effective recorded jazz.