Caravan (180g) [LP]

Art Blakey's legendary Jazz Messengers recorded for numerous labels large and small over the 35 years of their existence. Few periods in the band's history were as inspired as their time at Riverside in 1962-63, when the Messengers were a sextet with the incredible Freddie Hubbard/Curtis Fuller/Wayne Shorter front line and the Cedar Walton/Reggie Workman/Blakey rhythm section. This was the Messengers' Riverside debut, and it achieved instant classic status for its memorable Shorter and Hubbard compositions (two of which can be heard in alternate bonus takes), great ballad contributions from Hubbard and Fuller, and a much-covered arrangement of the title track that shows the leader at his most intense.