Jazz drummer Art Blakey was such a hard hitting drummer he was called the jazz tiger.  He started the Jazz Messengers with Horace Silver in 1954, and kept it going with different artists for over thirty years.  His band was a jazz university for many young players who went on to become jazz giants themselves.  Hear the many messengers of Art Blakey, tonight on the 9 o'clock special.

Two legendary jazz drummers share a birthday today, Billy Higgins, from LA and Art Blakey, from Pittsburgh.  Blakey started the Jazz Messengers with Horace Silver, and his band continued to be a school for modern jazz  players, including Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard.  Billy Higgins who started in LA playing rock n roll with Bo Diddley also played free jazz with Ornette Coleman and became the hard bop house drummer for Blue Note records.  Enjoy the different styles of two jazz Icons, Art Blakey and Billy Higgins, tonight on the 9 O'clock Special.  Jazz awakes tonight at 8.