[5][6][7][9] Many former members of the Jazz Messengers established careers as solo musicians, such as Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Timmons, Hank Mobley, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Billy Harper, Keith Jarrett, Joanne Brackeen, Woody Shaw, Chuck Mangione, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison and Mulgrew Miller.

[3][5][7] Some members, such as bassist Clarence Seay and Gregory Charles Royal,[10][11] are documented to have played in the Jazz Messengers but did not record with the group.

This octet included Kenny Dorham, Howard Bowe, Sahib Shihab, Musa Kaleem, Ernest Thompson, Walter Bishop Jr., and LaVerne Barker.

[13] Some cite the group that included Blakey, Silver, Kenny Dorham, Lou Donaldson and Gene Ramey in 1953 as the original Jazz Messengers.

[1][12][13] On February 21, 1954, a group billed as the "Art Blakey Quintet" produced the live set of records called A Night at Birdland.

[12][15][20] A pair of earlier recordings from sessions in late 1954 and early 1955—released on Blue Note 10" LPs as the Horace Silver Quintet, vol.

[15][20][21] The pioneering members of the Jazz Messengers (Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Kenny Dorham, Doug Watkins, and of course Blakey) believed that the band needed a professional look, and they abandoned jam sessions.

It included Kenny Drew, Wilbur Ware, and Ira Sullivan playing tenor sax rather than his main instrument, trumpet.

[12][30] In 1958, Blakey formed a new lineup with four Philadelphia natives: Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Bobby Timmons, and Jymie Merritt.

[4][15][31] Golson left the band in 1959 after a European tour (which produced live albums and a film soundtrack on Fontana Records and French RCA)[32][33][34] to be replaced, briefly, by Hank Mobley.

[11]: 63  This lineup recorded Three Blind Mice for United Artists[37] and two albums for Blue Note: Mosaic and Buhaina's Delight.

[11]: 66  This version of the group produced three albums for Riverside:[40][41][42] Caravan, Ugetsu, and Kyoto; in addition to another Blue Note[12][43] under the name Free for All.

[13] Around this time—the recording date is unknown—the band produced an album from the musical Golden Boy for the Colpix label with an expanded lineup.

This lineup included both Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan on trumpet, plus Charles Davis, Julius Watkins, and Bill Barber.

[12][11]: 71 [45] In September 1964, Wayne Shorter left the Messengers to join the Miles Davis band that was later called the Second Great Quintet.

Alto saxophonist Gary Bartz replaced the departing John Gilmore and this quintet—with Freddie Hubbard sitting in alongside Morgan—recorded Soul Finger for Limelight.

Now Chuck Mangione occupied the trumpet chair with Frank Mitchell on tenor sax, Keith Jarrett on piano and Reggie Johnson on bass.

In various combinations, between 1966 and 1972 the band included trumpet players Woody Shaw and Randy Brecker[c] in addition to Hardman; saxophonists Garnett, Mitchell, Billy Harper and Ramon Morris; and trombonists Slide Hampton and Julian Priester.

After Jarrett, pianists included Mike Nock, Lonnie Liston Smith, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, Ronnie Mathews, George Cables, Joanne Brackeen, Albert Dailey, plus occasionally veterans John Hicks, Cedar Walton, and Walter Davis Jr. Bassists included Juni Booth, Buster Williams, Larry Evans, Scotty Holt, Arnet, and Mickey Bass.

The regular Messengers on the album were Woody Shaw; Ramon Morris; John Hicks, Walter Davis Jr. and George Cables on both acoustic and electric pianos; and Mickey Bass.

The band was augmented by Buddy Terry (soprano sax), Manny Boyd (flute), Michael Howard (guitar), Stanley Clarke (electric bass), and percussionists Nathaniel Bettis, Sonny Morgan, Pablo Landrum, Emmanuel Rahim and Ray Mantilla for different tunes across the two sessions.

[12][49] In 1973, a regular lineup of Woody Shaw, newcomer Carter Jefferson, Cedar Walton, and Mickey Bass recorded two more Prestige albums: Anthenagin and Buhaina.

[12][52] In that year Blakey began a professional relationship with Wim Wigt, a Dutch music booker and owner of the Timeless label.

[11]: 202  A second record for Roulette followed, featuring Schnitter, Walter Davis Jr. and newcomers Valery Ponomarev, Bobby Watson, and Dennis Irwin.

This band was unique in that it included two sets of brothers: Wynton and Branford Marsalis and Robin and Kevin Eubanks, and that the group had the first guitarist that Blakey ever hired, Bobby Broom.

[13][54] The regular working sextet that emerged from this European tour now included Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson, Bill Pierce, James Williams and Charles Fambrough.

This group produced Art Blakey in Sweden on the Amigo label, Album of the Year on Timeless and Straight Ahead on the Concord Jazz imprint—all in early 1981.

[11]: 137 [13] The new lineup was Terence Blanchard and Donald Harrison on the front line, and Johnny O'Neal on piano, joining Pierce and Fambrough.

Playing were the current messengers, plus many special guests: Freddie Hubbard, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Jackie McLean, Wayne Shorter, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, Walter Davis Jr., Buster Williams, Roy Haynes, and Michele Hendricks singing a song composed for the occasion by Horace Silver.