Art Blakey

Big Beat Art Blakey

"The Big Beat" is probably the most famous album by the great jazz drummer Art Blakey. Even in the more than 40 years since its release, it has lost none of its energy. Together with bassist Jymie Merritt, trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter and pianist Bobby Timmons, Blakey rages through explosive hard bop. "Dat Dere" and "Lester Left Town" stand out, and "It's Only a Paper Moon" rounds off the album.

This track is part of a series of XRCD24 reissues from the Blue Note catalogue, remastered from the analogue stereo tapes at Oceanway Studios in Hollywood by Alan Yoshida, one of the inventors of the XRCD process. The sonic qualities of the XRCDs, newly released under the Audio Wave label, far surpass previous digitisations and in some cases sound considerably better than the original LPs. The XRCD comes with a lavishly designed booklet with excellent photographs.

We recommend the use of "L'Art du Son" CD/DVD conditioner for even more sonic improvement.