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Horace Silver
When Horace Silver once wrote out his rules for musical composition (in the liner notes to the 1968 record, Serenade to a Soul Sister), he expounded on the importance of "meaningful simplicity." The pianist could have just as easily been describing his own life. For more than fifty years, Silver has simply written some of the most enduring tunes in jazz while performing them in a distinctively personal style. It's all been straight forward enough, while decades of incredible experiences have provided the meaning.
Silver was born in Norwalk, Connecticut on September 2, 1928. His father had immigrated to the United States from Cape Verde—-and that island nation's Portuguese influences would play a big part in Silver's own music later on. When Silver was a teenager, he began playing both piano and saxophone while he listened to everything from boogie-woogie and blues to such modern musicians as Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. As Silver's piano trio was working in Hartford, Connecticut, the group received saxophonist Stan Getz's attention in 1950. The saxophonist brought the band on the road and recorded three of Silver's compositions.
In 1951, Silver moved to New York City where he accompanied saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and many other legends. In the following year, he met the executives at Blue Note while working as a sideman for saxophonist Lou Donaldson. This meeting led to Silver signing with the label where he would remain until 1980. He also collaborated with Art Blakey in forming the Jazz Messengers during the early 1950s (which Blakey would continue to lead after Silver formed his own quintet in 1956).
During these years, Silver helped create the rhythmically forceful branch of jazz known as "hard bop" (chronicled in David H. Rosenthal's 1992 book, Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music, 1955-1965). He based much of his own writing on blues and gospel—-the latter is particularly prominent on one of his biggest tunes, "The Preacher." While his compositions at this time featured surprising tempo shifts and a range of melodic ideas, they immediately caught the attention of a wide audience. Silver's own piano playing easily shifted from aggressively percussive to lushly romantic within just a few bars. At the same time, his sharp use of repetition was funky even before that word could be used in polite company. Along with Silver's own work, his bands often featured such rising jazz stars as saxophonists Junior Cook and Hank Mobley, trumpeter Blue Mitchell, and drummer Louis Hayes. Some of his key albums from this period included Horace Silver Trio (1953), Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers (1955), Six Pieces of Silver (1956) and Blowin' The Blues Away (1959), which includes his famous, "Sister Sadie." He also combined jazz with a sassy take on pop through the 1961 hit, "Filthy McNasty."
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Horace Silver: Live New York Revisited
by Stefano Merighi
Benchè il profilo artistico di Horace Silver sia preso a modello in modo paradigmatico per definire lo stile hard bop nel jazz moderno, è altresì interessante notare come Silver, sin dalle sue prime uscite, abbia sempre cercato di evitare gli schemi predeterminati che soprattutto le etichette discografiche cercavano di replicare dopo aver trovato la formula del successo. Ad esempio, Silver non amava le scalette miste, quelle cioè che infilavano d'abitudine uno standard proveniente da Tin Pan Alley all'interno di un ...
read moreA Silver Set, A Bit of Brubeck + Recent Releases
by David Brown
This week, a welcome adventure in music! Jazz is Dead, A bluesy Horace Silver set, a bit of Brubeck (pre-classic quartet) plus recent releases form Daniel Carter, Billy Drummond, Sasha Berliner, Walt Weiskopf, and more. Playlist Thelonious Monk “Esistrophy (Theme)" from Live at the It Club-Complete (Columbia) 00:30 Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge “Summer Solstice" from Katalyst—Jazz Is Dead 13 (Jazz Is Dead ) 02:00 Yusef Lateef “In The Evening" from The Complete Yusef Lateef (Atlantic ) ...
read moreHorace Silver: His Only Mistake Was To Smile
by Chris May
In his sleeve note for the audio restored Horace Silver album Live New York Revisited (ezz-thetics, 2022), British writer Brian Morton cut to the chase. “[Silver]'s only mistake," he wrote, “was to smile while he was playing... a challenge to the notion that jazz should be deadly serious and played with a pained rictus." From a historical point of view, Silver's cheerful face--his natural, default expression on stage—has done him no favours. It has fostered a perception ...
read moreHorace Silver Quintet: Live New York Revisited
by Chris May
This fabulous album, recorded during three New York club engagements in 1964, 1965 and 1966, ranks among the finest in the pianist/composer's illustrious catalogue. There are several things going for it: the quality and shared intentionality of the two, slightly different, lineups; the choice of material and its careful sequencing; the vibrancy of the performances, which is enough to practically raise the dead; and the quality of the CD mastering by the ezz-thetics label's sonic jedi Michael Brändli, whose work ...
read moreBlue Note 50th Anniversaries: April 1970
by Marc Cohn
Time for 50th anniversary Blue Notes from April, 1970 from Duke Pearson (It Could Only Happen With You), Horace Silver (That Healin' Feelin'), Chick Corea (The Song Of Singing), and Wayne Shorter (Moto Grosso Feio). We've also got BN-21 from January 6, 1939 with Albert Ammons on the 88s. Along the way, Stanley Turrentine, Erik Jekabson, Miles Davis & Enrico Rava. Enjoy the show. R.I.P. (too many!): Wallace Roney (May 25, 1960--March 31, 2020); Ellis Marsalis (November 14, ...
read moreHorace Silver in the '60s (1959-1965)
by Russell Perry
Despite revisionist history that suggests that the energy of hard bop was spent by the time the sixties came, in the last hour we heard from the great 1960s Freddie Hubbard— Wayne Shorter—Curtis Fuller—Cedar Walton edition of The Jazz Messengers. In this hour of Jazz at 100, we will turn to Horace Silver's terrific 1960s quintets, featuring trumpeters Blue Mitchell, Carmel Jones and Woody Shaw; tenor players Junior Cook and Joe Henderson and guest trombonist—the veteran—JJ Johnson. The two flagship ...
read moreBlue Note 50th Anniversaries: January 1969 & More
by Marc Cohn
We celebrate Blue Note 50th anniversary recordings from Frank Foster (material never formally released until a CD reissue of Manhattan Fever), Lonnie Smith and Horace Silver. Certamente, there's more--including a 75th anniversary salute to sides by clarinetist Edmond Hall with Red Norvo and Teddy Wilson, and a 78 rpm recording of Blue Note 5 by Earl Hines, solo at the 88s. Enjoy the show! Playlist Edward Simon “Chega De Saudade" from Latin American Songbook (Sunnyside) 00:00 Frank Foster ...
read moreJazz Musician of the Day: Horace Silver
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Silver's birthday today!
When Horace Silver once wrote out his rules for musical composition (in the liner notes to the 1968 record, Serenade to a Soul Sister), he expounded on the importance of “meaningful simplicity." The pianist could have just as easily been describing his own life. For more than fifty years, Silver has simply written some of the most enduring tunes in jazz while performing them in a distinctively personal style. It's all ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Horace Silver
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Silver's birthday today!
When Horace Silver once wrote out his rules for musical composition (in the liner notes to the 1968 record, Serenade to a Soul Sister), he expounded on the importance of “meaningful simplicity." The pianist could have just as easily been describing his own life. For more than fifty years, Silver has simply written some of the most enduring tunes in jazz while performing them in a distinctively personal style. It's all ...
read more
Backgrounder: Horace Silver, 'Horace-Scope'
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
One of my favorite Horace Silver albums is Horace-Scope. Recorded on July 8 and 9 in 1960, the Horace Silver Quintet at the time consisted of Horace Silver on piano, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Junior Cook on tenor saxophone, Gene Taylor on bass and Roy Brooks on drums. The tracks are Strollin', Where You At?, Don Newey's Without You, Horace-Scope, Yeah!, Me and My Baby and Nica's Dream. Here's the full album that you can listen to without ads or ...
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Horace Silver: 'Blowin' the Blues Away'
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
I'm hard-pressed to think of a post-war jazz pianist-composer who was as electrifying and addictive as Horace Silver. Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans are certainly in the pantheon of exceptional player-songwriters. But Silver was really in a class by himself. In addition to being a gorgeous balladeer and a lyrical hard-bop pioneer, he was a penetrating keyboardist who favored intriguing sweet-and-sour chord voicings, and many of his catchy songs are now standards. Most of all, Silver was first to develop ...
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Color Videos: Horace Silver Quintet
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
While writing yesterday, I fell into a Horace Silver groove. Funk meets hard bop, with a twist of Silver's spectacular rhythmic counterpoint and chord voicings. Which sent me onto YouTube to see what was new with Horace. There, I found a bunch of videos that had been colorized. Now you can see and hear them, too. Here are seven Horace Silver color videos: Here's Nutville and Song for My Father, colorized on the Danish TV show Jazz Omkring Midnat, in ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Horace Silver
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Silver's birthday today!
When Horace Silver once wrote out his rules for musical composition (in the liner notes to the 1968 record, Serenade to a Soul Sister), he expounded on the importance of “meaningful simplicity." The pianist could have just as easily been describing his own life. For more than fifty years, Silver has simply written some of the most enduring tunes in jazz while performing them in a distinctively personal style. It's all ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Horace Silver
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Silver's birthday today!
When Horace Silver once wrote out his rules for musical composition (in the liner notes to the 1968 record, Serenade to a Soul Sister), he expounded on the importance of “meaningful simplicity." The pianist could have just as easily been describing his own life. For more than fifty years, Silver has simply written some of the most enduring tunes in jazz while performing them in a distinctively personal style. It's all ...
read more
Stan Getz + Horace Silver
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Born in Norwalk, Conn., in 1928, pianist Horace Silver found himself leading the house trio at a Hartford club called the Sundown in 1950. That year, the club brought in Stan Getz, and the Silver trio played behind him. Getz liked their feel so much he promised to call them. Yeah, right, they thought. But two weeks later, Getz did call and hired all three musicians—Silver on piano, Joe Calloway on bass and Walter Bolden on drums. They joined him ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Horace Silver
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Silver's birthday today!
When Horace Silver once wrote out his rules for musical composition (in the liner notes to the 1968 record, Serenade to a Soul Sister), he expounded on the importance of “meaningful simplicity." The pianist could have just as easily been describing his own life. For more than fifty years, Silver has simply written some of the most enduring tunes in jazz while performing them in a distinctively personal style... Read more. ...
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Horace Silver
Instrument: Piano
Born: September 2, 1928
Died: June 18, 2014
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