5 Minutes to Make You Love Art Blakey

Video by Dante Zaballa, New York Times.

Originally published in the New York Times, July 2025 (see full article here).

Blakey was a larger-than-life presence behind the drums, but he also made space for new stars to shine, and he thrived among them. “Kozo’s Waltz,” from the Jazz Messengers’ 1961 LP “A Night in Tunisia,” exhibits that symbiotic relationship. Written by Lee Morgan, a rising-star trumpeter at the time, the tune is a classic jazz waltz filled with dynamic solos and tight grooves. Right from the jump, Blakey grabs our attention with a dramatic and propulsive drum solo. Morgan’s bold, muscular trumpet goes toe to toe with Wayne Shorter’s cooler, more laid-back sax. Bobby Timmons’s soulful piano underpins it all with delicate yet sprightly lines, and then Blakey comes all the way back around with a fiery yet perfectly controlled solo. It’s a complex track, yet supremely listenable and downright danceable.