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Newport Jazz Festival 1959
by Marc Davis
The collector asks: When is it OK to say, “I have enough, thanks. I don't need the live version, too." Consider the dilemma of Wolfgang's Vault, a musical treasure trove of old jazz and rock performances. If you've never been there, go now. The site is stunning. It is an enormous collection of long-lost jazz shows, mostly from the 1950s, '60s and '70s. For the fan and collector, it's a must see. But is it also ...
read moreHorace Silver: The United States of Mind – Revisited
by Marc Davis
At what point did Blue Note Records jump the shark? Is there a single moment when Blue Note stopped being the world's greatest purveyor of jazz and instead became an irrelevant producer of schlock? Truth is, it was a long, slow slide. In the 1950s, Blue Note was the greatest source of hard bop. In the 1960s, it produced the best soul-jazz on earth. And then, one day in the 1970s--poof! It was all gone. Where did it ...
read moreHorace Silver: Serenade to a Soul Sister - 1968
by Marc Davis
Is it possible to love an album for just one song? I think I do. Serenade to a Soul Sister is the happy marriage of jazz's funkiest pianist (Horace Silver) with its most soulful saxman (Stanley Turrentine). Throw in a fabulously underrated trumpeter with a big fat tone (Charles Tolliver) and you've got one of the best soul-jazz classics of the 1960s. Serenade features six original compositions by Silver, and every one is a gem. One, ...
read moreBlue Note's Golden Decade
by John Eyles
Blue Note! For many of us, the words alone are enough to send a tingle down the spine, conjuring up the indefinable magic of a golden age of jazz. What were the elements that made classic Blue Note records so special? The look? The feel? The sound? All of these and more. Alfred Lion's production? Francis Wolff's photography? Reid Miles design? Rudy Van Gelder's engineering? None of these alone is an essential element, but when all four come together you've ...
read moreHorace Silver Quintet: June 1977 (livelove Series Vol 2)
by Mark Sullivan
When the Horace Silver Quintet took the stage in Bremen in June, 1977, Silver was nearing the end of his long association with Blue Note Records. Much of the band's book was drawn from recent albums: the title tune from In Pursuit of the 27th Man (Blue Note, 1973), and two each from Silver 'N Brass (Blue Note, 1975) and Silver 'N Voices (Blue Note, 1976). Producer Peter Schulze's liner notes tell the story of how the show also became ...
read moreHorace Silver: Six Pieces of Silver – Blue Note 1539
by Marc Davis
Yep, this is the “Senor Blues" album. That's not the name, obviously, but it could be. This outstanding hard bop CD, recorded by Horace Silver's quintet in 1956, has 10 tracks, and three of them are “Senor Blues." No wonder. It's arguably the best track in the collection--a Spanish-tinged slow blues toe-tapper. Even so, three versions may be one too many. First, there's the album version. It's a 7-minute original by Silver himself. It's a groovy ...
read moreHorace Silver: Recollections and Retrospections
by Nick Catalano
In the halcyon days of the first Birdland (the early 50's) Monday night was jam session night and the house rhythm section featured a young pianist named Horace Silver. Though in his early 20's (he was born in 1928) Silver appeared much younger and his diminutive figure at the keyboard is still etched in my mind intensely pouring out the hot-tempoed lines of the still-novel bebop literature. I, together with my fellow musician friends, sat there mesmerized as he gushed ...
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