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The Horace Silver Quintet: Horace-Scope
ByWhile Blue Mitchell and Junior Cook are exceptionally tight on the ensemble passages, they complement one another with their strikingly different solo styles, Mitchell's lyrical lines and smooth, rich trumpet sound contrasting with Cook's scorching probes and vibrato-less, brambly-edged tenor tone. Mitchell blows flawlessly throughout, but it's Cook who makes the memorable statements on both "Strollin'" and "Yeah!," saving his altissimo top tones for the moments when they matter most.
Always a flame-stoking accompanist, Silver as a soloist is still the catch-phrase percussive pianist, perhaps at his best when he limits his solo time (his solo on "Strollin'" is a curiously clumsy combination of "Mairzy Dotes" and "St. Thomas"). Nevertheless, on the up-tempo "Yeah!" he manages to combine the heat with some cohesive storytelling, and he brings a similar connected logic to the churchy funk of his solo on the ensuing "Me and My Baby." What always strikes me as most original about Silver's soloing are the percussive bass-note clusters he drops like bombs in his left hand. (An influence and carryover from his playing days with Blakey?)
Thanks to the late Roy Brooks (what an underrated drummer!), this session swings as much as Silver's early dates with Blakey. At the same time, the faster, more perfunctory version of "Nica's Dream" concluding this Blue Note recording is a reminder that Horace-Scope, for all its delights, is no The Jazz Messengers, the eponymous 1956 Columbia date listed under Blakey's leadership that not only features a deeper, more evocative "Nica's Dream" but represents Silver, Mobley, Byrd, Watkins and Blakey at arguably their collective, creative best.
Track Listing
Strollin'; Where You At?; Without You; Horace-Scope; Yeah!; Me And My Baby; Nica's Dream.
Personnel
Horace Silver
pianoBlue Mitchell: trumpet; Junior Cook: tenor saxophone; Horace Silver: piano; Gene Taylor: bass; Roy Brooks: drums.
Album information
Title: Horace-Scope | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: Blue Note Records
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The Horace Silver Quintet
CD/LP/Track Review
Horace Silver
Samuel Chell
Blue Note Records
United States
Horace-Scope