Videos: Horace Silver

I wound up on a Horace Silver jag yesterday. While writing, I let Silver run on my iTunes and found myself marveling yet again at Silver's gospel-funk syncopation and the tight, bright Latin-influenced horn lines. Silver perfected the hard bop quintet, rivaled only by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. I thought I'd share a few videos with you:

Here's Silver playing Song for My Father, which gives you a great view of his playing style. Bill Hardman on trumpet, Bennie Maupin on tenor sax, John Williams on bass and Billy Cobham on drums...



Here's the Natives Are Restless Tonight, with Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Carmell Jones on trumpet, Teddy Smith on bass and Roger Humphries on drums in 1964...



Here's Silver with Pretty Eyes and the same group...



Here's Tokyo Blues...



And here's Cool Eyes in 1958 with Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Junior Cook on tenor saxophone, Gene Taylor on bass and Louis Hayes on drums...