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at a glance...
Hometown: Norwalk, CT
First Recordings: 1952
Sidemen:
Art Blakey -drums
Doug Watkins -bass
Hank Mobley -tenor saxophone
Kenny Dorham -trumpet
Notes:
Hard driving and (literally) heavy-handed pianist Horace Silver created the funky, percussive, blues-drenched style of jazz known as hard bop. He knew that by the mid-1950s, practically all jazz musicians would be well-versed in the bop idiom. With that fact in mind, he incorporated elements of swing and gospel into his music, a mix that resulted in a relatively unique and innovative sound. In a sense, it was a backward-looking "innovation." His hard-bop groups have introduced the jazz world to a slew of talents, including Blue Mitchell, Joe Henderson, Louis Hayes, Woody Shaw, and the Brecker Brothers, all of whom relished the down-home blowing opportunities that Silver provided. He remains active on the jazz scene today.
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Horace Silver
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers
Blue Note, Recorded 1954 - 1955
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Along with Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Horace Silver and Art Blakey virtually invented the hard-bop style of jazz. Silver would leave the band he helped create (along with the Jazz Messengers name) in 1956, leaving Blakey in charge while he formed his own ensemble. In the two years they worked together, Silver and Blakey forged an alliance that was responsible for the emergence in jazz of a concept known as "funk." In Silver's own words, the band tried for "that old-time, gutbucket, barroom feeling." As a reaction to the blues-sapped, cool-jazz phenomenon, this quintet embraced the feeling and structure of the blues, bringing with them a highly rhythmic and percussive sound that borrowed heavily from swing and R&B. While the bop foundation remained, Silver took his men back to their roots, the backwoods as it were.
"Creepin' In," a mellow minor blues, finds Silver alternating between lyrical, bop-heavy passages and earthly blues accents. On the up-tempo "Stop Time," Silver pushes all the soloists forward with his funky piano attack while Blakey's supreme creativity shines through on his trades with hornmen Kenny Dorham (trumpet) and Hank Mobley (tenor). "The Preacher," a jubilant swinger, refers overtly to gospel as Silver digs in for his own solo before rolling and trilling behind the band. On the 12-bar blues "Doodlin'", which would become a jazz standard, Silver emphasizes the flat 3rds and flat 7ths that gives the blues its depth of feeling.
Today, this prototypical hard-bop record practically defines jazz's "straight-ahead" sound, but at the time, this bluesy, funky style and brawny sound marked a new page in jazz history.
If you like Horace Silver, check out:
Art Blakey Live at Birland
Cannonball Adderly Somethin' Else
Dave Douglas Soul On Soul
Horace Silver Blowin' the Blues Away
psst...you might wanna check out our bebop abode for more features on bebop artists.
-- Marc Greilsamer
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