The seminal group called The Jazz Messengers spent April 6, 1955 in the studio recording their first album on the Columbia label. The record’s release the following year was met with mostly positive reviews by the critics. Here is one written by Fred Sherman for the Miami Herald on January 13, 1957:

“There’s nothing missing in Columbia’s special delivery from the Jazz Messengers (CL 897). Here is one of the more exciting combos of our times. Making up the quintet at the time of recording were Art Blakey, drums; Donald Byrd, trumpet; Hank Mobley, tenor sax; Horace Silver, piano and Doug Watkins, bass. There are seven tunes on the album; two ballads and five contributions from Silver and Mobley. The writing is such that sustained solos are the rule, not the exception. And you have the talent to justify this treatment. It’s too much to expect five such men to cling together too long. The Messengers have started going separate ways. Art Blakey still has the name group, but you can thank Columbia for preserving the sound of this particular combination. It’s good solid jazz.“

Here is a link to a cut from the album:

"NICA'S DREAM"