On this day (May 14) in 1957, Art Blakey and his famous Jazz Messengers entered the studio with pianist Thelonious Monk to record a one-off album for Atlantic Records. Blakey had recorded with Monk on previous sessions for Blue Note and Riverside, but this collaboration marked the first time Monk sat in with the Jazz Messengers. The resulting album, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk, is a true meeting of the minds, a beautiful union of Monk’s endearingly off-kilter melodies with Blakey’s unshakable sense of swing. The Messengers at the time included Bill Hardman on trumpet and Johnn Griffin on tenor sax, and they both get into some serious blowing on “In Walked Bud,” today’s Song of the Day.
