The Freedom Rider is an album by jazz drummer Art Blakey and his group the Jazz Messengers. Continuing Blakey’s distinct brand of hard bop, this album features contributions from Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Blakey himself, and Kenny Dorham, a former Jazz Messenger. This was the final album by this particular edition of the Jazz Messengers, who had been together for 18 months, as Lee Morgan left after this album and was replaced by a Freddie Hubbard. The compositions themselves are varied, with Blakey contributing an energetic drum solo on “The Freedom Rider”; at least three of the compositions on the album are blues pieces. “El Toro” features a solo by Shorter incorporating the sheets of sound technique pioneered by John Coltrane. The CD version contains three bonus tracks originally released on the album Pisces.
The album’s title track, a drum solo by Blakey, was recorded three weeks after the first of the 1961 freedom rides. These were a series of civil rights protests against segregation that took place on interstate buses traveling through the Southern United States.
Tracklist:
1. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Tell It Like It Is! (Remastered)
2. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – The Freedom Rider (Remastered)
3. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – El Toro (Remastered)
4. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Petty Larceny (Remastered)
5. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Blue Lace (Remastered)
6. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Uptight (Remastered)
7. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Pisces (Remastered)
8. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Blue Ching (Remastered)
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Caravan (Original Jazz Classics Series / Remastered) (1963/2023) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2024/03/01/r4q15ie6kmygb_600.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Caravan (Original Jazz Classics Series / Remastered) (1963/2023) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]")
![Art Blakey - Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (with Thelonious Monk) (2022 Remaster) (1958/2022) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/07/13/h0fxjq3lf5u5b_600.jpg "Art Blakey - Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (with Thelonious Monk) (2022 Remaster) (1958/2022) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]")
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings (2021) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2021/12/30/tqsipaxg2nbua_600.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings (2021) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]")
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Caravan (1963) [Reissue 2004] SACD ISO + FLAC 24bit/96kHz](https://getimg.link/images/imgimgimg/uploads/2021/10/2CHB2gW.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Caravan (1963) [Reissue 2004] SACD ISO + FLAC 24bit/96kHz")
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Caravan (1963) [Reissue 2004] {SACD ISO + FLAC 24bit/96kHz}](https://getimg.link/images/imgimgimg/uploads/2018/11/2CHB2gW.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Caravan (1963) [Reissue 2004] {SACD ISO + FLAC 24bit/96kHz}")
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Just Coolin’ (2020) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]](https://getimg.link/images/imgimgimg/uploads/2020/09/loxxlMo.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Just Coolin’ (2020) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]")
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - The Art of Jazz - Live in Leverkusen (1996/2016) [FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/02/16/c7z7lb53heq1a_600.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - The Art of Jazz - Live in Leverkusen (1996/2016) [FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]")
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Mosaic (1961/2015) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/192kHz]](https://getimg.link/images/imgimgimg/uploads/2016/03/ZlB99zg.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Mosaic (1961/2015) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/192kHz]")
![Art Blakey - Art Blakey And His Driving Big Band! (1965/2021) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2021/11/17/hb3avd4tp6fma_600.jpg "Art Blakey - Art Blakey And His Driving Big Band! (1965/2021) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]")
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Roots & Herbs (1961/2013) [HDTracks FLAC 24bit/192kHz]](https://getimg.link/images/imgimgimg/uploads/2016/03/XggSKPx.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Roots & Herbs (1961/2013) [HDTracks FLAC 24bit/192kHz]")
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Ugetsu: Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers at Birdland (1963/2011) [HDTracks FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz]](https://getimg.link/images/imgimgimg/uploads/2016/03/9eoyuFf.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Ugetsu: Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers at Birdland (1963/2011) [HDTracks FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz]")
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - The Witch Doctor (1961/2021) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]](https://getimg.link/images/imgimgimg/uploads/2022/03/IsqzVDL-1.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - The Witch Doctor (1961/2021) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]")
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers With Thelonious Monk (1958/2021) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]](https://getimg.link/images/imgimgimg/uploads/2022/03/hNnTI1r.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers With Thelonious Monk (1958/2021) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]")
![Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Three Blind Mice, Vol. 1 (1962/2021) [FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]](https://getimg.link/images/imgimgimg/uploads/2022/03/x7BljzV-1.jpg "Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Three Blind Mice, Vol. 1 (1962/2021) [FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]")
![Art Blakey - Blakey in Paris (2021) [FLAC 24bit/48kHz]](https://getimg.link/images/imgimgimg/uploads/2021/08/vsGW3gB.jpg "Art Blakey - Blakey in Paris (2021) [FLAC 24bit/48kHz]")