Horace Silver
Encyclopedia
Horace Silver born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut
, is an American jazz pianist and composer.
Silver is known for his distinctive humorous and funky playing style and for his pioneering compositional contributions to hard bop
. He was influenced by a wide range of musical styles, notably gospel music, African music, and Latin American music and sometimes ventured into the soul jazz genre.
in Cape Verde
. His mother was born in New Canaan, Connecticut and was of Irish-African descent.
Silver began his career as a tenor saxophonist but later switched to piano
. His tenor saxophone
playing was highly influenced by Lester Young
, and his piano style by Bud Powell
. Silver was discovered in the Sundown Club in Hartford, Connecticut in 1950 by saxophonist Stan Getz
. Getz was playing at the club with Silver’s trio backing him up. Getz liked Silver’s band and brought them on the road, eventually recording three of Silver’s compositions. It was with Getz that Silver made his recording debut.
He moved to New York City
in 1951, where he worked at the jazz club Birdland
on Monday nights, when different musicians would come together and informally jam. During that year he met the executives of the label Blue Note
while working as a sideman. He eventually signed with them where he remained until 1980. It was in New York that he formed The Jazz Messengers, a co-operatively run group with Art Blakey
.
In 1952 and 1953 he recorded three sessions with his own trio, featuring Blakey on drums and Gene Ramey
, Curly Russell and Percy Heath
on bass. The drummer-pianist team lasted for four years; during this time, Silver and Blakey recorded at Birdland (A Night at Birdland Vol. 1
) with Russell, Clifford Brown
and Lou Donaldson
, at the Bohemia with Kenny Dorham
and Hank Mobley
, and also in the studios. He was also a member of the Miles Davis
All Stars, recording the crucial Walkin'
in 1954.
label, eventually becoming close to label boss Alfred Lion
who allowed him greater input on aspects of album production than was usual at the time. During his years with Blue Note, Silver helped to create the rhythmically forceful branch of jazz known as "hard bop", which combined elements of rhythm-and-blues and gospel music with jazz. Gospel elements are particularly prominent on one of his biggest hits, "The Preacher", which Lion thought corny, but Silver persuaded him to record it.
While Silver's compositions at this time featured surprising tempo shifts and a range of melodic ideas, they 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), 6 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".
musical upbringing. His 1965 hit, "Cape Verdean Blues," is the only clear rhythmic reference to his childhood home where his father and friends jammed, with traditional Capeverdean morna and coladeira as the main fare. In the interview for the liner notes to 1964's Song for My Father (Cantiga Para Meu Pai)
, however, Silver remarked of the title track, "This tune is an original of mine, but it has a flavor of it that makes me think of my childhood days. Some of the family, including my father and my uncle, used to have musical parties with three or four stringed instruments; my father played violin and guitar. Those were happy, informal sessions." Silver melded additional Lusophone influences into his music directly after his February 1964 tour of Brazil. Referring to "Song for My Father," Silver said, "I was very much impressed by the authentic bossa nova
beat. Not just the monotonous tick-tick-tick, tick-tick, the way it's usually done, but the real bossa nova feeling, which I've tried to incorporate into this number."
His early influences included the styles of boogie-woogie and the blues. It includes but is not limited to Art Tatum
, Teddy Wilson
, Nat “King” Cole, and Thelonious Monk
. He liked to quote other musicians within his own work and would often recreate famous solos in his original pieces as something of a tribute to the greats who influenced him.
During Silver's time with Blakey he rarely recorded as a leader, but after splitting with him in 1956, formed his own hard bop quintet at first featuring the same line-up as Blakey's Jazz Messengers with 18-year-old Louis Hayes
substituting for Blakey. The quintet's more enduring line-up featured Blue Mitchell
and Junior Cook
.
In 1963 Silver created a new group featuring Joe Henderson
on tenor saxophone and Carmell Jones
on trumpet; this quintet recorded most of Silver's best-known album Song for My Father
. When Jones left to settle in Europe, the trumpet chair was filled by a young Woody Shaw
and Tyrone Washington
replaced Henderson.
Silver's compositions, catchy and very strong harmonically, gained popularity while his band gradually switched to funk and soul. This change of style was not readily accepted by many long-time fans. The quality of several albums of this era, such as The United States of Mind (on which Silver himself provided vocals on several tracks), is to this day contested by fans of the genre. Silver's spirituality displayed on these albums also has a mixed reputation. However, many of these later albums featured many interesting musicians (such as Randy Brecker
). Silver was the last musician to be signed to Blue Note in the 1970s before it went into temporary abeyance. In 1981 he formed his own short-lived labels, Silveto and Emerald.
will focus on Horace Silver's music for their 2010 season.
, influencing such pianists as Bobby Timmons
, Les McCann
, and Ramsey Lewis
. Second, the instrumentation of his quintet (trumpet, tenor sax, piano, double bass, and drums) served as a model for small jazz groups from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s. Further, Silver's ensembles provided an important training ground for young players, many of whom (such as Donald Byrd
, Art Farmer
, Blue Mitchell
, Woody Shaw
, Junior Cook
, and Joe Henderson
) later led similar groups of their own.
Silver's talent did not go unnoticed among rock musicians who bore jazz influences, either; Steely Dan
sent Silver into the Top 40 in the early 1970s when they crafted their biggest hit single, "Rikki, Don't Lose That Number," off the bass riff that opens "Song for My Father."
As social and cultural upheavals shook the nation during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Silver responded to these changes through music. He commented directly on the new scene through a trio of records called United States of Mind (1970–1972) that featured the spirited vocals of Andy Bey
. The composer got deeper into cosmic philosophy as his group, Silver 'N Strings, recorded Silver 'N Strings Play The Music of the Spheres (1979).
Silveto Records/Emerald Records
Columbia Records
Impulse! Records
Other labels
Compilations
:
with Art Blakey
:
with Dee Dee Bridgewater
:
with Kenny Burrell
:
with Donald Byrd
:
with Paul Chambers
:
with Kenny Clarke
:
with Al Cohn
:
with Miles Davis
:
with Kenny Dorham
:
with Lou Donaldson
:
with Art Farmer
:
with Leonard Feather
:
with Stan Getz
:
With Giant of Jazz
with Terry Gibbs
:
with Gigi Gryce
:
with Coleman Hawkins
:
with J. J. Johnson :
with Milt Jackson
:
with Cliff Jordan
& John Gilmore
with Howard McGhee
:
with Hank Mobley
:
with J. R. Monterose
:
with Lee Morgan
:
with Clifford Jordan
and John Gilmore
:
with Rita Reys
:
with Sonny Rollins
:
with Sonny Stitt
:
with Clark Terry
:
with Phil Urso
:
with Lester Young
:
Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...
, is an American jazz pianist and composer.
Silver is known for his distinctive humorous and funky playing style and for his pioneering compositional contributions to hard bop
Hard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
. He was influenced by a wide range of musical styles, notably gospel music, African music, and Latin American music and sometimes ventured into the soul jazz genre.
Early life and career
His father, who was known as John Tavares Silva, was from the island of MaioMaio, Cape Verde
Maio is the easternmost of the Sotavento islands of Cape Verde. Maio is located south of the islands of Boa Vista and east of Santiago. The island is also known for its large forest, which is unusual for Cape Verde.-Geography:The island covers an area of 269 km²...
in Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
. His mother was born in New Canaan, Connecticut and was of Irish-African descent.
Silver began his career as a tenor saxophonist but later switched to piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. His tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
playing was highly influenced by Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
, and his piano style by Bud Powell
Bud Powell
Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell was an American Jazz pianist. Powell has been described as one of "the two most significant pianists of the style of modern jazz that came to be known as bop", the other being his friend and contemporary Thelonious Monk...
. Silver was discovered in the Sundown Club in Hartford, Connecticut in 1950 by saxophonist Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
. Getz was playing at the club with Silver’s trio backing him up. Getz liked Silver’s band and brought them on the road, eventually recording three of Silver’s compositions. It was with Getz that Silver made his recording debut.
He moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1951, where he worked at the jazz club Birdland
Birdland (jazz club)
Birdland is a jazz club started in New York City on December 15, 1949. The original Birdland, which was located at 1678 Broadway, just north of West 52nd Street in Manhattan, was closed in 1965 due to increased rents, but it re-opened for one night in 1979...
on Monday nights, when different musicians would come together and informally jam. During that year he met the executives of the label Blue Note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
while working as a sideman. He eventually signed with them where he remained until 1980. It was in New York that he formed The Jazz Messengers, a co-operatively run group with Art Blakey
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
.
In 1952 and 1953 he recorded three sessions with his own trio, featuring Blakey on drums and Gene Ramey
Gene Ramey
Gene Ramey was an American jazz double bassist.Ramey was born in Austin, Texas, and played trumpet in college, but switched to sousaphone when playing with George Corley's Royal Aces, The Moonlight Serenaders, and Terrence Holder. In 1932 he moved to Kansas City and took up the bass, studying with...
, Curly Russell and Percy Heath
Percy Heath
Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother to tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975...
on bass. The drummer-pianist team lasted for four years; during this time, Silver and Blakey recorded at Birdland (A Night at Birdland Vol. 1
A Night at Birdland Vol. 1
A Night at Birdland Vol. 1 is a 1954 release by jazz artist Art Blakey. It was first released by Blue Note Records as a 10" LP and then as a 12" LP containing material from the third 10" album...
) with Russell, Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown , aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings...
and Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.His first recordings were...
, at the Bohemia with Kenny Dorham
Kenny Dorham
McKinley Howard Dorham was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer born in Fairfield, Texas. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did...
and Hank Mobley
Hank Mobley
Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...
, and also in the studios. He was also a member of the Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
All Stars, recording the crucial Walkin'
Walkin'
-Performers:*Miles Davis - Trumpet*Lucky Thompson - Tenor saxophone *J. J. Johnson - Trombone *David Schildkraut - Alto saxophone *Horace Silver - Piano*Percy Heath - Bass*Kenny Clarke - drums...
in 1954.
Blue Note years
From 1956 onwards, Silver recorded exclusively for the Blue NoteBlue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
label, eventually becoming close to label boss Alfred Lion
Alfred Lion
Alfred Lion was a Jewish German-born American record executive who co-founded Blue Note Records in 1939 Blue Note recorded many of the biggest names in jazz throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.-Biography:...
who allowed him greater input on aspects of album production than was usual at the time. During his years with Blue Note, Silver helped to create the rhythmically forceful branch of jazz known as "hard bop", which combined elements of rhythm-and-blues and gospel music with jazz. Gospel elements are particularly prominent on one of his biggest hits, "The Preacher", which Lion thought corny, but Silver persuaded him to record it.
While Silver's compositions at this time featured surprising tempo shifts and a range of melodic ideas, they 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
Junior Cook
Herman "Junior" Cook was a hard bop tenor saxophone player.-Biography:Cook was born in Pensacola, Florida. After playing with Dizzy Gillespie in 1958, Cook gained some fame for his longtime membership in the Horace Silver Quintet ; when he and Blue Mitchell left that band, Cook played in...
and Hank Mobley
Hank Mobley
Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...
, trumpeter Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell
Richard Allen Mitchell was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and funk trumpeter, known for many albums recorded as leader and sideman for Riverside, Blue Note and then Mainstream Records.-Biography:...
, and drummer Louis Hayes
Louis Hayes
Louis Hayes is an American jazz drummer.-Biography:His father played drums and piano and his mother the piano and he refers to the early influence of hearing jazz, especially that of big bands, on the radio...
. Some of his key albums from this period included Horace Silver Trio (1953), Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers is a 1955 album by jazz pianist Horace Silver and drummer Art Blakey. It was an important album in the establishment of the hard bop style, and was the first album released under the band name Jazz Messengers, which Blakey would use for the rest of his career...
(1955), 6 Pieces of Silver
6 Pieces of Silver
6 Pieces of Silver is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1956 featuring performances by Silver with Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins, and Louis Hayes...
(1956) and Blowin' the Blues Away
Blowin' the Blues Away
Blowin' the Blues Away is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver, released on the Blue Note label in 1959 featuring performances by Silver with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor, and Louis Hayes....
(1959), which includes his famous, "Sister Sadie." He also combined jazz with a sassy take on pop through the 1961 hit, "Filthy McNasty".
Influences
Silver tended not to play up that he was proficient in Portuguese, nor draw directly on his rich LusophoneLusophone
A Lusophone is someone who speaks the Portuguese language, either as a native, as an additional language, or as a learner. As an adjective, it means "Portuguese-speaking"...
musical upbringing. His 1965 hit, "Cape Verdean Blues," is the only clear rhythmic reference to his childhood home where his father and friends jammed, with traditional Capeverdean morna and coladeira as the main fare. In the interview for the liner notes to 1964's Song for My Father (Cantiga Para Meu Pai)
Song for My Father
Song for My Father is a 1965 album by The Horace Silver Quintet, released on the Blue Note label in 1965. The album was inspired by a trip that Silver had made to Brazil. The cover artwork features a photograph of Silver's father, John Tavares Silva, to whom the title song was dedicated...
, however, Silver remarked of the title track, "This tune is an original of mine, but it has a flavor of it that makes me think of my childhood days. Some of the family, including my father and my uncle, used to have musical parties with three or four stringed instruments; my father played violin and guitar. Those were happy, informal sessions." Silver melded additional Lusophone influences into his music directly after his February 1964 tour of Brazil. Referring to "Song for My Father," Silver said, "I was very much impressed by the authentic bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
beat. Not just the monotonous tick-tick-tick, tick-tick, the way it's usually done, but the real bossa nova feeling, which I've tried to incorporate into this number."
His early influences included the styles of boogie-woogie and the blues. It includes but is not limited to Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
, Teddy Wilson
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.-Biography:Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in...
, Nat “King” Cole, and Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
. He liked to quote other musicians within his own work and would often recreate famous solos in his original pieces as something of a tribute to the greats who influenced him.
During Silver's time with Blakey he rarely recorded as a leader, but after splitting with him in 1956, formed his own hard bop quintet at first featuring the same line-up as Blakey's Jazz Messengers with 18-year-old Louis Hayes
Louis Hayes
Louis Hayes is an American jazz drummer.-Biography:His father played drums and piano and his mother the piano and he refers to the early influence of hearing jazz, especially that of big bands, on the radio...
substituting for Blakey. The quintet's more enduring line-up featured Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell
Richard Allen Mitchell was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and funk trumpeter, known for many albums recorded as leader and sideman for Riverside, Blue Note and then Mainstream Records.-Biography:...
and Junior Cook
Junior Cook
Herman "Junior" Cook was a hard bop tenor saxophone player.-Biography:Cook was born in Pensacola, Florida. After playing with Dizzy Gillespie in 1958, Cook gained some fame for his longtime membership in the Horace Silver Quintet ; when he and Blue Mitchell left that band, Cook played in...
.
In 1963 Silver created a new group featuring Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than forty years Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note.-Early life:From a very large family with five sisters and nine...
on tenor saxophone and Carmell Jones
Carmell Jones
Carmell Jones was an American jazz trumpet player.Jones was born in Kansas City, Kansas. He is best known for his work with Horace Silver, appearing in the album Song for My Father....
on trumpet; this quintet recorded most of Silver's best-known album Song for My Father
Song for My Father
Song for My Father is a 1965 album by The Horace Silver Quintet, released on the Blue Note label in 1965. The album was inspired by a trip that Silver had made to Brazil. The cover artwork features a photograph of Silver's father, John Tavares Silva, to whom the title song was dedicated...
. When Jones left to settle in Europe, the trumpet chair was filled by a young Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and band leader, often referred to as the "last innovator" in the jazz trumpet lineage...
and Tyrone Washington
Tyrone Washington (musician)
Tyrone Washington is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.He is known best for his 1967 debut album for Blue Note Records.-As Leader:*1967: Natural Essence...
replaced Henderson.
Silver's compositions, catchy and very strong harmonically, gained popularity while his band gradually switched to funk and soul. This change of style was not readily accepted by many long-time fans. The quality of several albums of this era, such as The United States of Mind (on which Silver himself provided vocals on several tracks), is to this day contested by fans of the genre. Silver's spirituality displayed on these albums also has a mixed reputation. However, many of these later albums featured many interesting musicians (such as Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker
Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
). Silver was the last musician to be signed to Blue Note in the 1970s before it went into temporary abeyance. In 1981 he formed his own short-lived labels, Silveto and Emerald.
Later years
After Silver's long tenure with Blue Note ended, he continued to create vital music. The 1985 album, Continuity of Spirit (Silveto), features his unique orchestral collaborations. In the 1990s, Silver directly answered the urban popular music that had been largely built from his influence on It's Got To Be Funky (Columbia, 1993). Now living surrounded by a devoted family in California, Silver has received much of the recognition due a venerable jazz icon. In 2005, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) gave him its President's Merit Award. The SFJazz CollectiveSFJAZZ Collective
The SFJAZZ Collective is a jazz ensemble comprising eight performer/composers. Launched in 2004 by , a West Coast non-profit jazz institution and the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, with funding from the James Irvine Foundation, the Collective was critically acclaimed by The...
will focus on Horace Silver's music for their 2010 season.
Legacy
Silver's music has been a major force in modern jazz. He was one of the first pioneers of the style known as Hard BopHard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
, influencing such pianists as Bobby Timmons
Bobby Timmons
Robert Henry "Bobby" Timmons was an African American jazz pianist and composer.He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is best known for his role as sideman in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the composition of "Moanin'", "Dat Dere", and "This Here", each of which are typical of his...
, Les McCann
Les McCann
Les McCann is an American soul jazz piano player and vocalist whose biggest successes came as a crossover artist into R&B and soul.-Biography:...
, and Ramsey Lewis
Ramsey Lewis
Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis, Jr. is an American jazz composer, pianist and radio personality. Ramsey Lewis has recorded over 80 albums and has received seven gold records and three Grammy Awards so far in his career.-Biography:...
. Second, the instrumentation of his quintet (trumpet, tenor sax, piano, double bass, and drums) served as a model for small jazz groups from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s. Further, Silver's ensembles provided an important training ground for young players, many of whom (such as Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
, Art Farmer
Art Farmer
Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
, Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell
Richard Allen Mitchell was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and funk trumpeter, known for many albums recorded as leader and sideman for Riverside, Blue Note and then Mainstream Records.-Biography:...
, Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and band leader, often referred to as the "last innovator" in the jazz trumpet lineage...
, Junior Cook
Junior Cook
Herman "Junior" Cook was a hard bop tenor saxophone player.-Biography:Cook was born in Pensacola, Florida. After playing with Dizzy Gillespie in 1958, Cook gained some fame for his longtime membership in the Horace Silver Quintet ; when he and Blue Mitchell left that band, Cook played in...
, and Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than forty years Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note.-Early life:From a very large family with five sisters and nine...
) later led similar groups of their own.
Silver's talent did not go unnoticed among rock musicians who bore jazz influences, either; Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
sent Silver into the Top 40 in the early 1970s when they crafted their biggest hit single, "Rikki, Don't Lose That Number," off the bass riff that opens "Song for My Father."
As social and cultural upheavals shook the nation during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Silver responded to these changes through music. He commented directly on the new scene through a trio of records called United States of Mind (1970–1972) that featured the spirited vocals of Andy Bey
Andy Bey
Andrew W. Bey is a jazz singer and pianist.Bey has a wide vocal range, with his four octave baritone voice.He worked on a television show, Startime, with Connie Francis and sang for Louis Jordan....
. The composer got deeper into cosmic philosophy as his group, Silver 'N Strings, recorded Silver 'N Strings Play The Music of the Spheres (1979).
As leader
Blue Note RecordsBlue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
- 1955: Horace Silver and the Jazz MessengersHorace Silver and the Jazz MessengersHorace Silver and the Jazz Messengers is a 1955 album by jazz pianist Horace Silver and drummer Art Blakey. It was an important album in the establishment of the hard bop style, and was the first album released under the band name Jazz Messengers, which Blakey would use for the rest of his career...
- 1956: "Horace Silver Trio"
- 1956: 6 Pieces of Silver6 Pieces of Silver6 Pieces of Silver is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1956 featuring performances by Silver with Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins, and Louis Hayes...
- 1957: The Stylings of SilverThe Stylings of SilverThe Stylings of Silver is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1957 featuring performances by Silver with Art Farmer, Hank Mobley, Teddy Kotick, and Louis Hayes...
- 1958: Further ExplorationsFurther ExplorationsFurther Explorations by the Horace Silver Quintet is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1958 featuring performances by Silver with Art Farmer, Clifford Jordan, Teddy Kotick, and Louis Hayes. The Japanese editions feature the same artwork shown here, but have...
- 1958: Live at Newport '58Live at Newport '58Live at Newport '58 is a live album by jazz pianist Horace Silver. The album was recorded on July 6, 1958 at the Newport Jazz Festival. Blue Note Records released the album in 2008. It is one of the few officially released live albums with Silver as bandleader.Producer Michael Cuscuna discovered...
- 1959: Finger Poppin'Finger Poppin'Finger Poppin' with the Horace Silver Quintet is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1959 featuring performances by Silver with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor, and Louis Hayes....
- 1959: Blowin' the Blues AwayBlowin' the Blues AwayBlowin' the Blues Away is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver, released on the Blue Note label in 1959 featuring performances by Silver with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor, and Louis Hayes....
- 1960: Horace-ScopeHorace-ScopeHorace-Scope is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1960 featuring performances by Silver with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor, and Roy Brooks....
- 1961: Doin' the ThingDoin' the ThingDoin' the Thing is a live album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1961 featuring performances by Silver with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor, and Roy Brooks recorded at the Village Gate in New York City....
- 1962: The Tokyo BluesThe Tokyo BluesThe Tokyo Blues is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1962, featuring performances by Silver with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor, and John Harris Jr...
- 1963: Silver's SerenadeSilver's SerenadeSilver's Serenade is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1963 featuring performances by Silver with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor, and Roy Brooks...
- 1964: Song for My FatherSong for My FatherSong for My Father is a 1965 album by The Horace Silver Quintet, released on the Blue Note label in 1965. The album was inspired by a trip that Silver had made to Brazil. The cover artwork features a photograph of Silver's father, John Tavares Silva, to whom the title song was dedicated...
- 1965: The Cape Verdean BluesThe Cape Verdean BluesThe Cape Verdean Blues is an album by the Horace Silver Quintet, led by jazz pianist Horace Silver. The quintet is joined on half of these tracks by trombonist J.J. Johnson, with whom Silver had been eager to work for some time...
- 1966: The Jody GrindThe Jody GrindThe Jody Grind is a 1966 album by the Horace Silver Quintet, led by jazz pianist Horace Silver.-Track listing:# "The Jody Grind" – 5:53# "Mary Lou" – 7:12# "Mexican Hip Dance" – 5:56# "Blue Silver" – 6:00# "Grease Piece" – 7:34# "Dimples" – 7:18...
- 1968: Serenade to a Soul SisterSerenade to a Soul SisterSerenade to a Soul Sister is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1968, featuring performances by Silver with Charles Tolliver, Stanley Turrentine, Bennie Maupin, Bob Cranshaw, John Williams, Mickey Roker and Billy Cobham...
- 1969: You Gotta Take a Little LoveYou Gotta Take a Little LoveYou Gotta Take a Little Love is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1969 featuring performances by Silver with Randy Brecker, Bennie Maupin, John Williams, and Billy Cobham...
- 1970: That Healin' Feelin'That Healin' Feelin'That Healin' Feelin' is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1970 featuring performances by Silver with Randy Brecker, George Coleman, Houston Person, Bob Cranshaw, Jimmy Lewis, Mickey Roker and Idris Muhammad with vocals by Andy Bey, Gail Nelson, and Jackie...
- 1971: Total ResponseTotal ResponseTotal Response is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1971 featuring performances by Silver with Cecil Bridgewater, Harold Vick, Richie Resnicoff, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker with vocals by Salome Bey, and Andy Bey...
- 1972: AllAll (Horace Silver album)All is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1972 featuring performances by Silver with Cecil Bridgewater, Harold Vick, Richie Resnicoff, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker with vocals by Andy Bey, Salome Bey and Gail Nelson...
- 1972: In Pursuit of the 27th ManIn Pursuit of the 27th ManIn Pursuit of the 27th Man is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1972 featuring performances by Silver with David Friedman, Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars and states...
- 1975: Silver 'n BrassSilver 'n BrassSilver 'n Brass is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1975 featuring performances by Silver with Tom Harrell, Bob Berg, Ron Carter, Al Foster, Bob Cranshaw, and Bernard Purdie with an overdubbed brass section arranged by Wade Marcus featuring Oscar Brashear,...
- 1976: Silver 'n WoodSilver 'n WoodSilver 'n Wood is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1975 featuring performances by Silver with Tom Harrell, Bob Berg, Ron Carter and Al Foster with an overdubbed horn section conducted by Wade Marcus featuring Buddy Collette, Fred Jackson, Jr., Jerome...
- 1977: Silver 'n VoicesSilver 'n VoicesSilver 'n Voices is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1976 featuring performances by Silver with Tom Harrell, Bob Berg, Ron Carter, and Al Foster, with an overdubbed choir directed by Alan Copeland featuring Monica Mancini, Avery Sommers, Joyce...
- 1978: Silver 'n PercussionSilver 'n PercussionSilver 'n Percussion is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1977. The Allmusic review by Michael G. Nastos awarded the album 3 stars and states "Silver's best work came prior to this recording, but this may be his best work of the '70s...
- 1979: Silver 'n Strings Play the Music of the SpheresSilver 'n Strings Play the Music of the SpheresSilver 'n Strings Play the Music of the Spheres is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver, his final released on the Blue Note label, featuring performances by Silver with Tom Harrell, Larry Schneider, Ron Carter, and Al Foster, with vocals by Gregory Hines, Brenda Alford, Carol Lynn Maillard, and ...
Silveto Records/Emerald Records
- 1964: Live 1964
- 1965: The Natives are Restless Tonight
- 1981: Guides to Growing UpGuides to Growing UpGuides to Growing Up is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver, his first released on the Silverto label, featuring performances by Silver with Eddie Harris, Joe Diorio, Bob Magnusson, and Ron McCurdy, with recitations by Bill Cosby and vocals by Weaver Copeland, and Mahmu Pearl.In a 1981 interview...
- 1983: Spiritualizing the SensesSpiritualizing the SensesSpiritualizing the Senses is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver, his second released on the Silverto label, featuring performances by Silver with Eddie Harris, Bobby Shew, Ralph Moore, Bob Maize, and Carl Burnett....
- 1984: There's No Need to StruggleThere's No Need to StruggleThere's No Need to Struggle is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver, his third released on the Silverto label, featuring performances by Silver with Eddie Harris, Bobby Shew, Ralph Moore, Bob Maize, and Carl Burnett with vocals by Weaver Copeland and Mahmu Pearl...
- 1985: The Continuity of SpiritThe Continuity of SpiritThe Continuity of Spirit is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver, his fourth released on the Silverto label, featuring performances by Silver with Carl Saunders, Buddy Collette, Ray Pizzi, Ernie Watts, Don Menza, Bob Maize and Carl Burnett with the Los Angeles Modern String Orchestra conducted by...
- 1988: Music to Ease Your DiseaseMusic to Ease Your DiseaseThere's No Need to Struggle is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver, his fifth and final release on the Silverto label, featuring performances by Silver with Clark Terry, Junior Cook, Ray Drummond, and Billy Hart, with vocals by Andy Bey...
Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
- 1956: Silver's BlueSilver's BlueSilver's Blue is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver recorded for the Columbia label in 1956 featuring performances by Silver with Joe Gordon, Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins, and Kenny Clarke and another session with Donald Byrd and Art Taylor replacing Gordon and Clarke...
- 1993: It's Got to Be FunkyIt's Got to Be FunkyIt's Got to Be Funky is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver, his first release on the Columbia label since Silver's Blue , featuring performances by Silver with Oscar Brashear, Ron Stout, Bob Summers, Bob McChesney, Maurice Spears, Suzette Moriarty, Eddie Harris, Branford Marsalis, Red Holloway,...
- 1994: Pencil Packin' PapaPencil Packin' PapaPencil Packin' Papa is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Columbia label in 1994 featuring performances by Silver with Oscar Brashear, Ron Stout, Jeff Bernell, George Bohanon, Maurice Spears, Suzette Moriarty, Red Holloway, James Moody, Eddie Harris, Rickey Woodard, Bob Maize,...
Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records was an American jazz record label, originally established in 1960 by producer Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records, based in New York City...
- 1996: The Hardbop GrandpopThe Hardbop GrandpopThe Hardbop Grandpop is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Impulse! label in 1996 featuring performances by Silver with Claudio Roditi, Steve Turre, Michael Brecker, Ronnie Cuber, Ron Carter, and Lewis Nash...
- 1997: A Prescription for the BluesA Prescription for the BluesA Prescription for the Blues is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Impulse! label in 1997 featuring performances by Silver with Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, Ron Carter, and Louis Hayes...
Other labels
- 1962: Paris Blues (Pablo)
- 1991: Rockin' with RachmaninoffRockin' with RachmaninoffRockin' with Rachmaninoff is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver, recorded in 1991 and released on the Bop City label in 2003, featuring performances by Silver with Michael Mossman, Bob Summers, Ricky Woodard, Ralph Bowen, Doug Webb, Andy Martin, Bob McChesney, Bob Maize, and Carl Burnett, with...
(Bop City) - 1999: Jazz Has a Sense of HumorJazz Has a Sense of HumorJazz Has a Sense of Humor is the final studio album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Verve label in 1998 featuring performances by Silver with Ryan Kisor, Jimmy Greene, John Webber, and Willie Jones III. The Allmusic review by Michael G...
(Verve)
Compilations
- The Best of Horace Silver: The Blue Note Years
- The Best of Horace Silver Vol. II
- Retrospective
- The United States of MindThe United States of MindThe United States of Mind is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 2004 compiling the three separate 'Phases' previously released as That Healin' Feelin , Total Response , and All featuring performances by Silver with Randy Brecker, George Coleman, Houston...
(Blue Note) - compiles That Healin' Feelin'That Healin' Feelin'That Healin' Feelin' is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1970 featuring performances by Silver with Randy Brecker, George Coleman, Houston Person, Bob Cranshaw, Jimmy Lewis, Mickey Roker and Idris Muhammad with vocals by Andy Bey, Gail Nelson, and Jackie...
, Total ResponseTotal ResponseTotal Response is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1971 featuring performances by Silver with Cecil Bridgewater, Harold Vick, Richie Resnicoff, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker with vocals by Salome Bey, and Andy Bey...
, and AllAll (Horace Silver album)All is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1972 featuring performances by Silver with Cecil Bridgewater, Harold Vick, Richie Resnicoff, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker with vocals by Andy Bey, Salome Bey and Gail Nelson...
As sideman
with Nat AdderleyNat Adderley
Nathaniel Adderley was an American jazz cornet and trumpet player who played in the hard bop and soul jazz genres. He was the brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley....
:
- Introducing Nat AdderleyIntroducing Nat Adderley-Track listing:# "Watermelon" - 2:47# "Little Joanie Walks" - 4:06# "Two Brothers" - 3:32# "I Should Care" - 4:28# "Crazy Baby" - 6:03# "New Arrival" - 6:43# "Sun Dance" - 3:53# "Fort Lauderdale" - 3:22...
(1955, EmArcy)
with Art Blakey
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
:
- A Night at Birdland Vol. 1A Night at Birdland Vol. 1A Night at Birdland Vol. 1 is a 1954 release by jazz artist Art Blakey. It was first released by Blue Note Records as a 10" LP and then as a 12" LP containing material from the third 10" album...
(1954, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
) - A Night at Birdland Vol. 2A Night at Birdland Vol. 2A Night at Birdland Vol. 2 is a 1954 release by jazz drummer Art Blakey. It was first released by Blue Note Records as BLP 5038 and two years later as BLP 1521 incorporating material from the third 10" release...
(1954, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
) - A Night at Birdland Vol. 3A Night at Birdland Vol. 3A Night at Birdland Vol. 3 is a 1954 jazz 10" LP release by Art Blakey Quintet for Blue Note Records. It was originally the third in a series of albums recorded during a pre-Jazz Messengers date at Birdland Jazz Club with Blakey leading...
(1954, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
) - At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 is a 1955 live album release by jazz drummer Art Blakey for Blue Note Records. It featured the third incarnation of the Jazz Messengers, Blakey's career-spanning band, and is the first of two volumes recorded on November 23, 1955 at Café Bohemia, a famous night club in...
(1955, Blue Note) - At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2 is a 1955 live album release by jazz drummer Art Blakey. It was first released by Blue Note Records. This record featured the third incarnation of The Jazz Messengers, one of Blakey's most endearing bands, and was the second of two volumes recorded at Café Bohemia, a...
(1955, Blue Note) - Art Blakey with the Original Jazz MessengersArt Blakey with the Original Jazz MessengersArt Blakey with the Original Jazz Messengers is a 1956 album by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, released by Columbia Records. It was the last recording by the inaugural Jazz Messengers lineup featuring pianist Horace Silver.The LP is out-of-print...
(1956, ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
) - OriginallyOriginally (Art Blakey album)Originally is a 1956 LP release by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers for Columbia records. Though recorded in 1956, it was not printed until decades later....
(1956, ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
)
with Dee Dee Bridgewater
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Dee Dee Bridgewater is an American Jazz singer. She is a three-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award - winning stage actress and host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater...
:
- Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace SilverLove and Peace: A Tribute to Horace SilverLove and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver is a 1995 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater, recorded in tribute to Horace Silver.Silver himself makes two guest appearances on this album, on "Nica's Dream" and "Song for My Father". Silver's contributions were recorded on December 1, 1994...
(1994, VerveVerve RecordsVerve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
)
with Kenny Burrell
Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...
:
- K.B. Blues (1957, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
)
with Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
:
- Byrd's Eye View (1955, Transition)
with Paul Chambers
Paul Chambers
Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was a jazz bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time, intonation, and virtuosic...
:
- Whims of ChambersWhims Of ChambersWhims of Chambers is a jazz album by bassist Paul Chambers released on the Blue Note label in 1956. The album features performances by Chambers with Donald Byrd, John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Horace Silver and Philly Joe Jones....
(1956, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
)
with Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke , born Kenneth Spearman Clarke, nicknamed "Klook" and later known as Liaqat Ali Salaam, was a jazz drummer and an early innovator of the bebop style of drumming...
:
- Bohemia After DarkBohemia After DarkBohemia After Dark is an album by jazz drummer Kenny Clarke, featuring the earliest recordings by Cannonball Adderley and Nat Adderley, produced for the Savoy label...
(1955, SavoySavoySavoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
)
with Al Cohn
Al Cohn
Al Cohn was an American jazz saxophonist and arranger and composer.-Biography:Alvin Gilbert Cohn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was initially known in the 1940s for playing in Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the Four Brothers, along with Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Serge Chaloff...
:
- Al Cohn's Tones (1953, SavoySavoySavoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
)
with Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
:
- Miles Davis Volume 1Miles Davis Volume 1Miles Davis Volume 1 is an album which compiles tracks recorded by Miles Davis for Blue Note Records on 9 May 1952 and 6 March 1954. The music has been issued in a variety of formats over the years - the track listing below is that of the 2001 CD reissue containing all the music recorded at the...
(1954, Blue Note RecordsBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
) - Blue HazeBlue HazeBlue Haze is an album recorded in 1953 and 1954 by Miles Davis for Prestige Records. The first track on the album is from the 3 April 1954 session which resulted in half of the album Walkin...
(1954, Prestige RecordsPrestige RecordsPrestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
) - Walkin'Walkin'-Performers:*Miles Davis - Trumpet*Lucky Thompson - Tenor saxophone *J. J. Johnson - Trombone *David Schildkraut - Alto saxophone *Horace Silver - Piano*Percy Heath - Bass*Kenny Clarke - drums...
(1954, Prestige RecordsPrestige RecordsPrestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
) - Bags' GrooveBags' GrooveBags' Groove is a jazz album recorded by Miles Davis in 1954 for Prestige Records. Both takes of the title track come from a session on December 24, 1954 . The rest of the album was recorded earlier in the year, on 29 June. Bags' Groove is a jazz album recorded by Miles Davis in 1954 for Prestige...
(1954, Prestige RecordsPrestige RecordsPrestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
)
with Kenny Dorham
Kenny Dorham
McKinley Howard Dorham was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer born in Fairfield, Texas. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did...
:
- Afro-CubanAfro-CubanThe term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
(1955, Blue Note RecordsBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
)
with Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.His first recordings were...
:
- Quartet/Quintet/SextetQuartet/Quintet/SextetQuartet/Quintet/Sextet is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson featuring his earliest recordings as a leader on the Blue Note label performed by Donaldson's Quartet with Horace Silver, Gene Ramey and Art Taylor, his Quintet with Silver, Blue Mitchell, Art Blakey, and Percy Heath, and a Sextet...
(1952, Blue Note RecordsBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
)
with Art Farmer
Art Farmer
Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
:
- Early Art (1954, Prestige)
- Art Farmer Septet (1954, Prestige)
with Leonard Feather
Leonard Feather
Leonard Geoffrey Feather was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.-Biography:...
:
- Cats vs. Chicks (1954, MGM)
with Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
:
- The Complete Roost Recordings (1951, Blue Note RecordsBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
) - Birdland Sessions (1952, Fresh SoundFresh SoundFresh Sound, or Fresh Sound New Talent, is a Spanish jazz label based in Barcelona, specializing in American jazz music.Fresh Sound was founded in 1983 as a reissue label for 1950s jazz...
)
With Giant of Jazz
- Giants of Jazz (1955, Mercury RecordsMercury RecordsMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
)
with Terry Gibbs
Terry Gibbs
Terry Gibbs is an American jazz vibraphonist and band leader.He has performed and/or recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Chubby Jackson, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Louie Bellson, Charlie Shavers, Mel Tormé, Buddy DeFranco, and others...
:
- Jazz USA (1951, BrunswickBrunswick RecordsBrunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
)
with Gigi Gryce
Gigi Gryce
Gigi Gryce was an American saxophonist, flautist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, educator, and big band bandleader.His performing career was relatively short and, in comparison to other musicians of his...
:
- When Farmer Met Gryce (1954, Prestige)
- Nica's TempoNica's TempoNica's Tempo is an album by Gigi Gryce recorded in 1955. The title track is a reference to Nica de Koenigswarter aka "The Bebop Baroness" or "The Jazz Baroness," a patron of jazz greats such as Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker.-Track listing:#"Speculation" – 4:03 #"In a...
(1955, SavoySavoySavoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
)
with Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
:
- Disorder at the Border (1952, Spotlite)
with J. J. Johnson :
- The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 2The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 2The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 2 is an album by American jazz trombonist J. J. Johnson featuring performances recorded in 1954 and 1955 originally released on the Blue Note label as 10 inch LP records.-Reception:...
(1955, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
)
with Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson
Milton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms...
:
- Milt Jackson Quartet/Quintet (1954, Prestige RecordsPrestige RecordsPrestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
) - Milt Jackson Quartet (1955, Prestige RecordsPrestige RecordsPrestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
) - Plenty, Plenty Soul (1957, AtlanticAtlantic RecordsAtlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
)
with Cliff Jordan
Clifford Jordan
Clifford Laconia Jordan was a jazz saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after which he recorded three albums for Blue Note. He also recorded with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, Kenny...
& John Gilmore
John Gilmore (musician)
John Gilmore was an American jazz tenor saxophone player best-known for his long tenure as a member of Sun Ra's Arkestra...
- Blowing in from ChicagoBlowing in from ChicagoBlowing in from Chicago is an album by American jazz saxophonists Cliff Jordan and John Gilmore featuring performances recorded in 1957 and released on the Blue Note label...
(1957, Blue Note)
with Howard McGhee
Howard McGhee
Howard McGhee was one of the very first bebop jazz trumpeters, together with Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro and Idrees Sulieman. He was known for lightning-fast fingers and very high notes...
:
- Howard McGhee, Volume 2 (1953, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
)
with Hank Mobley
Hank Mobley
Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...
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- Hank Mobley QuartetHank Mobley QuartetHank Mobley Quartet is the debut album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley released on the Blue Note label in 1955 as BLP 5066, a 10" LP. It was recorded on March 27, 1955 and features Mobley, Horace Silver, Doug Watkins and Art Blakey...
(1955, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
) - The Jazz Message of Hank MobleyThe Jazz Message of Hank MobleyThe Jazz Message of Hank Mobley is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley released on the Savoy label in 1956. It was recorded on February 8, 1956 and features performances by Mobley, Donald Byrd, Ronnie Ball, Horace Silver, Doug Watkins, Wendell Marshall, John LaPorta and Kenny Clarke.- Track...
(1956, SavoySavoySavoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
) - Hank Mobley SextetHank Mobley SextetHank Mobley Sextet is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley released on the Blue Note label in 1957 as BLP 1540...
(1956, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
) - Hank Mobley and his All StarsHank Mobley and his All StarsHank Mobley and His All Stars is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley, released on the Blue Note label in 1957 as BLP 1544. It was recorded on January 13, 1957 and features Mobley, Milt Jackson, Horace Silver, Doug Watkins and Art Blakey.-Reception:...
(1957, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
) - Hank Mobley QuintetHank Mobley QuintetHank Mobley Quintet is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley released on the Blue Note label in 1957 as BLP 1550. It was recorded on March 8, 1957 and features Mobley, Art Farmer, Doug Watkins, Horace Silver, and Art Blakey...
(1957, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
)
with J. R. Monterose
J. R. Monterose
J. R. Monterose , born Frank Anthony Peter Vincent Monterose, Jr. in Detroit, Michigan,was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.- Early life :...
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- J. R. MonteroseJ. R. Monterose (album)J. R. Monterose is the debut album by American saxophonist J. R. Monterose recorded in 1956 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "J. R...
(1956, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
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with Lee Morgan
Lee Morgan
Edward Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...
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- Lee Morgan Indeed!Lee Morgan Indeed!Lee Morgan Indeed! is the debut album by jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan released on the Blue Note label in 1956. It was recorded on November 4, 1956 and features performances by Morgan, Clarence Sharpe, Horace Silver, Wilbur Ware and Philly Joe Jones....
(1956, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
) - Lee Morgan SextetLee Morgan SextetLee Morgan Sextet is an album by jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan released on the Blue Note label in 1957. It was recorded on December 2, 1956 and features performances by Morgan, Hank Mobley, Kenny Rogers, Horace Silver, Paul Chambers and Charlie Persip...
(1956, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
)
with Clifford Jordan
Clifford Jordan
Clifford Laconia Jordan was a jazz saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after which he recorded three albums for Blue Note. He also recorded with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, Kenny...
and John Gilmore
John Gilmore (musician)
John Gilmore was an American jazz tenor saxophone player best-known for his long tenure as a member of Sun Ra's Arkestra...
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- Blowing In from ChicagoBlowing in from ChicagoBlowing in from Chicago is an album by American jazz saxophonists Cliff Jordan and John Gilmore featuring performances recorded in 1957 and released on the Blue Note label...
(1957, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
)
with Rita Reys
Rita Reys
Rita Reys is a jazz singer from the Netherlands.At the 1960 jazz festival of Juan Les Pins , she received the title 'Europe’s first lady of jazz'.-Early career:...
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- The Cool Voice of Rita Reys (1956, ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
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with Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
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- Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 is a jazz album by Sonny Rollins, released in 1957 on Blue Note Records, catalogue 1558. Among other things, it is noted for the appearance of pianists Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver, both playing on the same track, the song "Misterioso" by Monk...
(1957, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
)
with Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
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- Arrangements by Richards (1953, Roost/Mosaic)
with Clark Terry
Clark Terry
Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
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- Introducing Clark Terry (1955, EmArcy)
with Phil Urso
Phil Urso
Phil Urso was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and composer....
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- The Philosophy of Urso (1954, SavoySavoySavoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
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with Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
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- The Pres Box, Vol. 10-12 (1953, Jazz Up)
Quotation
External links
- Official site
- Horace Silver Discography at the Hard Bop Home Page
- Horace Silver entry at the Jazz Discography Project
- Listening In: An Interview with Horace Silver by Bob Rosenbaum, Los Angeles, December 1981 (PDF file)
- "The Dozens: Twelve Essential Horace Silver Recordings" by Bill Kirchner (Jazz.com)