The Cape

After the success of Song for My Father and its hit title cut, Horace Silver was moved to pay further tribute to his dad, not to mention connect with some of his roots. Silver's father was born in the island nation of Cape Verde (near West Africa) before emigrating to the United States, and that's the inspiration behind The Cape Verdean Blues. Not all of the tracks are directly influenced by the music of Cape Verde (though some do incorporate Silver's taste for light exoticism); however, there's a spirit of adventure that pervades the entire album, a sense of exploration that wouldn't have been quite the same with Silver's quintet of old…

The Cape Verdean Blues is an album by the Horace Silver Quintet, led by jazz pianist Horace Silver. The quintet is joined on half of these tracks by trombonist J.J. Johnson, with whom Silver had been eager to work for some time. The album was inspired by Silver's father, John Tavares Silva, who was born in Cape Verde.