Arthur “Art” Blakey was an American jazz drummer and bandleader.
From 1939 to 1944, Blakey played with fellow Pittsburgh native Mary Lou Williams and toured with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra.
Blakey made a name for himself in the 1940s in the big bands of Fletcher Henderson and Billy Eckstine.
In the mid-1950s, Horace Silver and Blakey formed the Jazz Messengers, a group that the drummer was associated with for the next 35 years.
Blakey went on to record dozens of albums with a constantly changing group of Jazz Messengers.
