After Ms. Vaughan's lovely but somewhat sedate tunes, I was hoping for this week to bring a little more energy, and The Jazz Messengers definitely delivered on that front. Wikipedia tells me we're in hard bop territory now, and it's not hard to hear why it might've earned that moniker.

Art Blakey is undeniably a monster on the drums, but some of his solos end up sounding a little… samey to me? Take the first big solo from Infra-Rae: it starts to get repetitive for me in a way that I've never felt when listening to say, Neil Peart. Listen for yourself and see if you agree:

Not too much more to say on this one, other than that I'm glad to have some high-tempo, vocal-free jazz—good music for when you really need to get something done. Oh, and "Carol's Interlude" on this album really reminds me of "Epistrohpy" from another Monk/Coltrane album I have.

Favourite track: Hank's Symphony