In 1956, while performing with the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, Benny Golson wrote “Whisper Not”. The band recorded it in November of that year and in 1957 Golson recorded it with his own group. It’s a wonderfully mellow tune, performed here by Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers in 1958 … with Benny on tenor, Lee Morgan on trumpet, Bobby Timmons at the piano, Jymie Merritt on bass and of course Blakey, himself, playing drums.
By contrast, the Duke Jordan composition “No Problem” unleashes a more typical Messenger sound … and the message is “HOT!” It’s 1959 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and the personnel are the same, except Wayne Shorter is on tenor and Walter Davis, Jr. plays piano.
