# CD review: Ralph Peterson and The Messenger Legacy – Onward & Upward 2020: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2020/09/20/cd-review-ralph-peterson-and-the-messenger-legacy-onward-upward-2020-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2020-09-20T20:19:20+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Master drummer Ralph Peterson continues to advance the continuum of his late mentor
Art Blakey on Onward & Upward, his ambitious and expansive 25th release as a leader.
On this historical release, due out September 18th, Peterson brings together 14 
former Jazz Messengers and three Legacy Messengers to write a new page in the Jazz
Messenger songbook.**

Last year, Ralph Peterson and the Messenger Legacy released their first recording
Legacy: Alive Volume 6 at the Side Door. With Bill Pierce, Brian Lynch, Bobby Watson,
Geoffrey Keezer, Essiet Essiet and with Peterson in the drum chair, Legacy went 
on to receive worldwide acclaim and was regarded as one of the top releases of the
year. Onward & Upward continues this trajectory. Says Peterson: “‘Onward and Upward’
is a phrase I got from my Rutgers Trumpet Professor and mentor Bill Fielder. This
project, for me, is the natural and necessary next step in keeping alive one of 
the most important musical and bandleader producing legacies in American music history.
It felt like a conclave for a group of artists that is finite and distinctive. The
spirit of Buhaina was present and felt by everyone.”

While Onward & Upward is rooted in the Blakey tradition, it is decidedly forward-
thinking as it features all new material written by the band members. As writer 
Michael J. West says in his liner notes, Blakey’s tutelage was about martialing 
creative resources and asserting individuality.

He kept his signature tunes in the set, but he also required his musicians to compose
and arrange—to replenishing the repertoire. That demand for fresh ideas and personal
development while also honoring the jazz tradition? That’s the real Messenger Legacy.“
He wouldn’t have had us stick to playing ‘One by One’ and ‘Blues March’ and ‘Children
of the Night!’” says Peterson. “It’s great to play and honor those tunes. But to
write a new page in the Jazz Messengers songbook, that’s what Art expected of us.”

This new chapter in the Messenger songbook bears all the hallmarks of the Messengers
including the variety of colors, the polyrhythms, the harmonies, the vast reservoirs
of blues and soul, and the importance of continuity and telling a story. “There 
was no piece of music that didn’t fit what the record was saying,” Peterson says.“
As each new piece came in, it was apparent that cats were looking at what had already
been presented, and looking to fill stylistic, idiomatic or compositional gaps in
the arc of the record.”

The choice to include seventeen musicians on this project was deliberate. While 
most of the tracks are performed by a sextet (with the exception of one quintet 
and one septet), the total number of seventeen harkens back to Blakey’s first foray
into leading a working band: a circa-1947 large ensemble called the Seventeen Messengers.
Even as Peterson and the band extend the tradition, they also bring it full circle.
That, too, is the Messenger Legacy. “I feel so fortunate to have been able to gather
these amazing musicians for this project. Our relationships span close to four decades.
I am eternally grateful for the high level of musicianship and professionalism demonstrated
by these artists,” says Peterson.

Fully aware that modern history was being made, Peterson had the foresight to ensure
that the entire two day recording session (which took place right before the COVID-
19 lockdown in early March) was recorded and filmed. Leading up to the September
street date, Onyx Productions will be releasing exclusive, on-site interviews with
the participants as well as two full-length videos.

01. Forth and Back
 02. Sonora 03. Onward and Upward 04. Waltz for Etienne and Ebony
05. Red Black and Green Blues 06. Un Poco Haina 07. Sudan Blue 08. Portrait of Lord
Willis 09. Tricks of the Trade 10. El Grito 11. Along Came Benny

**Ralph Peterson – Drums**
 **Joanne Brackeen – Piano** **Kevin Eubanks – Guitar****
Robin Eubanks – Trombone** **Essiet Essiet – Bass** **Steve Davis – Trombone** **
Craig Handy – Tenor Sax** **Philip Harper – Trumpet** **Brian Lynch – Trumpet** **
Lonnie Plaxico – Bass** **Bill Pierce – Saxophone** **Melisaa Slocum – Bass** **
Jean Touissant – Saxophone** **Peter Washington – Bass** **Zaccai Curtis – Piano****
Anthony Wonsey – Piano** **Reinaldo DeJesus – Percussion**

![Onward and Upward | Ralph Peterson and the Messenger Legacy | Ralph Peterson/Onyx
Music Label](https://i0.wp.com/f4.bcbits.com/img/a1099577277_10.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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