Art Blakey in ’85

Here’s video of Art Blakey playing in 1985. I saw him in Eugene, Oregon during this same tour, when I was a senior in high school. He played impressively loud— he had this heavy ride cymbal, same one in this video, that was very metallic sounding, and he really laid into it. All these years I thought it was a Paiste heavy, but I’m certain it’s the same cymbal as in this video. Also noted that his bass drum was wide open— no muffling at all, but when he played it it just sounded big. Also noted that the front head was moving all the time— he was clearly playing it as part of his time feel, sometimes obviously pretty strongly.