Horace+silver

The Horace Silver Quintet - Horace-Scope (1965) [2006 Blue Note Rudy Van Gelder Remaster]
MP3 @320 -> 90 MB
Full Artwork HQ -> 9.6 MB
© 2006 Blue Note | 3552072
Jazz / Hard Bop / Classical Jazz

Horace-Scope is the third album by Horace Silver's classic quintet – or most of it, actually, as drummer Louis Hayes was replaced by Roy Brooks starting with this session. The rhythmic drive and overall flavor of the group are still essentially the same, though, and Horace-Scope continues the tight, sophisticated-yet-swinging blueprint for hard bop pioneered on its two classic predecessors. The program is as appealing as ever, and even though not as many tunes caught on this time – at least not on the level of a "Juicy Lucy" or "Sister Sadie" – Silver's writing is tuneful and tasteful. The best-known selections are probably the lovely closing number "Nica's Dream," which had been around for several years but hadn't yet been recorded on a Silver LP, and the genial, laid-back opener "Strollin'." But really, every selection is full of soulful grooves and well-honed group interplay, the qualities that made this band perhaps the top hard bop outfit of the early '60s. Silver was in the midst of a hot streak that wouldn't let up for another few years, and Horace-Scope is another eminently satisfying effort from that period.

One of Blue Note's greatest mainstream hard bop dates, "Song for My Father" is Horace Silver's signature LP and the peak of a discography already studded with classics…it hangs together remarkably well, and Silver's writing is at his tightest and catchiest.

Horace Silver - Horace Silver and The Jazz Messengers (1955) {Blue Note Japan, CP32-5223, Early Press}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 231 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 104 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 186 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1954-55, 1986 Blue Note / Toshiba EMI Japan | CP32-5223
Jazz / Hard Bop / Piano

A record with Horace Silver on the cover, but a set that's really more of a Jazz Messengers date overall – as it features a smoking quintet that not only includes Art Blakey on drums and Doug Watkins on bass – but which also has some great frontline work from Hank Mobley on tenor and Kenny Dorham on trumpet! The group's got the rougher, less-iconic feel of the Messengers at their start – similar to their early live dates – but all the right energy is firmly in place, and maybe given even more direction under Silver's leadership and great ear for a tune! The writing is superb, especially on classics like "Doodlin", "The Preacher", "Hippy", and the amazing "To Whom It May Concern" – one of our all-time favorite tunes in the 50s Blue Note catalog – and the solos are all top-shelf too. A real Blue Note classic!

Horace Silver - Silver's Blue (1956) {Epic–Legacy EK93856 rel 2005}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 200 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 106 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 13 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1956, 2005 Epic / Legacy / Sony BMG Music | EK 93856
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Piano

Horace Silver never did much for me on the several occasions when I caught him live: his compositions were showcased at the expense of musicians' solos, and Horace's piano work–with its limited technique and "catch-phrase" melodies–would pale considerably if another pianist were on the same concert bill. Hearing him on record is another matter–especially the recordings he made under his own name as well as with Art Blakey in the 1950's. His Blue Note session with Blakey and Clifford Brown at Birdland is legendary, and the set for Columbia entitled "Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers" is simply quintessential music, not to mention exemplary–make that "sterling"–Messengers' material.