Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers* – The Witch Doctor

What she said. This recording is not perfect but takes you back 60 years and just snaps.

Not the best recording in the Blue Note canon but “A Little Busy” is worth the price of ission in whatever form you take it.

Personally, the distortion on the drums only adds to this release. Goes to show how hot-shit of a player Blakey was. Proto-blast beats... and the rest of the band absolutely kills it on this recording, particularly the horn arrangements and solos. Love this one! Very progressive hard-bop. Don't miss out!

I'll try to add some nuance to all the reviews here. It seems as if some people just trash this release, and then some other people feel the need to defend it.

Okay, there is distortion at times on the drums, probably due to mic placement or something else with the recording that day. But that's only in the solos and maybe here and there when Art really puts force on the drums. And maybe that is the reason for this recording being shelved in the first place?

With that said, I don't think the overall sound is bad. I really enjoy this Tone Poet, and the session is really burning hot, in all the right ways. I even think there are nice dynamics there if you look past the occasional drum distortion.

Since people have gotten crazy about a '60s recording not being perfect, this record can be had for cheap. So buy it!

I don’t understand some of the reviews here. This is one of my best sounding and best musical jazz records in my collection. Art Blakey is on fire! The drums are in your living room. If distortion is what you call it then I love distortion.

Wow. I was expecting the worst reading these reviews. Sounds wonderful to me: really clean, dynamic, good separation and maybe my ears are dead to distortion, but the drums sounds great. There’s a drum solo in Afrique where the snares feature - even this sounds sharp and good. Very happy with this excellent album. BTW - 1972 Technics 1500 - Ortofon Blue, Yamaha receiver and Polk Audio bookshelf speakers. Nothing too special. Listening as I type - excellent clarity.

While I can’t say I noticed any of the surface noise others mentioned, the drums are super hot and distort in places. To me though, this sounds more like a recording issue than poor mastering.

Really enjoyed this one.

Unfortunately I have to agree … Tom tons have some distortion particularly on side A. This record is cut way too hot. But the music is awesome, groovy. Lee Morgan kills here. If you are a fan of Art Blakey, get it. Otherwise, there are better options

Another Crackle shit show, Jesus Bluenote!!!! Musically on another level.

Played it several times. Musically a fantastic Messengers record. Great playing and very swinging sounds here. The sound is superb and the pressing ist very quit and clear. Don't understand the problem with distortions. My copy don't have any distortions from the beginning to the end. Maybe some here have either mispressings or the used systems are shitty adjusted or simply bad. Played it with Van Den Hul DDT II and Nagaoka MP 110.