Art Blakey founded the Jazz Messengers in 1954 with Horace Silver.
The partnership created one of the most influential hard-bop groups in jazz. Blakey’s powerful, polyrhythmic drumming gave the band its force, while Silver contributed compositions and piano playing during the group’s formative period.
The Jazz Messengers became famous not only for performances and recordings but also for developing young musicians. Players associated with later editions included Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson, and Wynton Marsalis. This led to the band’s reputation as a “hard-bop academy.”
The group’s history is sometimes simplified by treating it as a permanent fixed lineup. In reality, personnel changed repeatedly over several decades, with Blakey remaining its central leader until his death in 1990.