2008 release featuring the complete original 1957 album Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk plus bonus tracks. Although this album marks Thelonious Monk's sole recording as a member of Art Blakey's celebrated Jazz Messengers, the pianist and drummer were very close friends who understood each other well on both a personal and musical level. In fact, Blakey was present on both Monk's first and last studio sessions, spanning a period of 24 years from the 1947 quintet and trio recordings to the last sets taped in London in 1971, when Blakey and Monk were touring with the so-called Giants of Jazz. In fact, all of these recordings are true masterpieces in their own right. Essential Jazz Classics.