Art Blakey biography
Profile
Art Blakey was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 11, 1919. He got his start in the music business by playing the drums in nightclubs while working in steel mills during the day. By 1939, Blakey was performing with Billy Eckstine and developing the modern bebop style of jazz drumming. In the late 1940s, Blakey traveled to Africa and converted to Islam, taking the name Abdullah Ibn Buhaina. After returning, he founded the influential Jazz Messengers. He died in 1990.